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diff --git a/75341-h/75341-h.htm b/75341-h/75341-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b2b1134 --- /dev/null +++ b/75341-h/75341-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3456 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + The dreadful dragon of Hay Hill | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + +.pagenum { + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} + + +.bt {border-top: 2px solid;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.ph1 {text-align: center; font-size: large; font-weight: bold;} + +div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; page-break-after: always;} +div.titlepage p {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 2em;} + +.large {font-size: 125%;} +.small {font-size: 70%;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold; text-align: center;} + +.x-ebookmaker .hide {display: none; visibility: hidden;} + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} +img.w100 {width: 100%;} + + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +.footnote {margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 75%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +p.drop-cap { + text-indent: -0.35em; +} + +p.drop-cap:first-letter +{ + float: left; + margin: 0em 0.15em 0em 0em; + font-size: 250%; + line-height:0.85em; + text-indent: 0em; +} + +.x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap +{ + text-indent: 0em; +} +.x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap:first-letter + { + float: none; + margin: 0; + font-size: 100%; +} + +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:smaller; + margin-left: 17.5%; + margin-right: 17.5%; + padding: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; } + +.illowe28_125 {width: 28.125em;} + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75341 ***</div> + +<div class="figcenter hide"><img src="images/coversmall.jpg" width="450" alt=""></div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<figure class="figcenter illowe28_125" id="i_frontis"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_frontis.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p class="caption">Thia and Thol—B.C. 39,000. </p></figcaption> +</figure> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<figure class="figcenter illowe28_125" id="i_title"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_title.jpg" alt="title page"> +</figure> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="titlepage"> +<h1><span class="small">THE</span><br> +DREADFUL DRAGON<br> +<span class="small">OF</span><br> +HAY HILL</h1> + +<p><span class="large">MAX BEERBOHM</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_title_logo.jpg" alt="1929"></div> +<p><span class="bt">LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD.</span></p> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center"> +<i>First published in “A Variety of Things”</i> (<i>Volume ten<br> +of the Limited Edition of Max Beerbohm’s Works</i>).<br> +<br> +<i>First published separately in book form, November, 1928.</i><br> +<br> +<i>New impression, January, 1929.</i><br> +<br> +<br> +<i>Printed in Great Britain</i></p> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span> + +<h2 class="nobreak">THE DREADFUL DRAGON<br> +OF<br> +HAY HILL</h2> +</div> + +<p class="drop-cap">IN the faint early dawn of a day in the +midst of a golden summer, a column of +smoke was seen rising from Hay Hill, rising +thickly, not without sparks in it. Danger +to the lives of the dressmakers in Dover +Street was not apprehended. The fire-brigade +was not called out. The fire-brigade +had not been called into existence. Dover +Street had not yet been built. I tell of a +time that was thirty-nine thousand years +before the birth of Christ.</p> + +<p>To imagine Hay Hill as it then was, you +must forget much of what, as you approach +it from Berkeley Square or from Piccadilly, +it is now. You knew it in better days, as +I did?—days when its seemly old Georgian +charm had not vanished under the superimposition +of two vast high barracks for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span> +the wealthier sort of bachelors to live in? +You remember how, in frosty weather, the +horse of your hansom used to skate hopelessly +down the slope of it and collapse, +pitching you out, at the foot of it? Such +memories will not serve. They are far too +recent. You must imagine just a green hill +with some trees and bushes on it. You +must imagine it far higher than it is +nowadays, tapering to a summit not yet +planed off for the purpose of Dover Street; +and steeper; and with two caves aloft in +it; and bright, bright green.</p> + +<p>And conceive that its smiling wildness +made no contrast with aught that was around. +Berkeley Square smiled wildly too. Berkeley +Square had no squareness. It was but +a green valley that went, uninterrupted by +any Piccadilly, into the Green Park. And +through the midst of it a clear stream went +babbling and meandering, making all manner +of queer twists and turns on its off-hand +way to the marshlands of Pimlico down +yonder. Modern engineers have driven this +stream ignominiously underground; but at +that time there it still was, visible, playful, +fringed with reeds, darted about in by small<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span> +fishes, licensed to reflect sky. And it had +tributaries! The landscape that I speak +of, the great rolling landscape that comprised +all Mayfair, was everywhere intersected +by tiny brooks, whose waters, for +what they were worth, sooner or later trickled +brightly into that main stream. Here and +there, quite fortuitously, in groups or singly, +stood willows and silver birches, full of +that wistful grace which we regard as peculiarly +modern. But not till the landscape +reached Hyde Park did trees exert a strong +influence over it. Then they exerted a very +strong influence indeed. They hemmed the +whole thing in. Hyde Park, which was a +dense and immemorial forest, did not pause +where the Marble Arch is, but swept on +to envelop all Paddington and Marylebone +and most of Bloomsbury, and then, skirting +Soho, over-ran everything from Covent Garden +to Fetter Lane, and in a rush southward +was brought up sharp only by the +edge of the sheer cliffs that banked this +part of the Thames.</p> + +<p>The Thames, wherever it was not thus +sharply opposed, was as tyrannous as the +very forest. It knew no mercy for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span> +lowly. Westminster, like Pimlico, was a +mere swamp, miasmal, malarial, frequented +by frogs only, whose croaks, no other sound +intervening, made hideous to the ear a +district now nobly and forever resonant +with the silver voices of choristers and the +golden voices of senators. Westminster is +firm underfoot nowadays; yet, even so, +as you come away from it up the Duke of +York’s steps, you feel that you are mounting +into a drier, brisker air; and this sensation +is powerfully repeated when anon you climb +St. James’s Street. Not lower, you feel, +not lower than Piccadilly would you have +your home. And this, it would seem, was +just what the average man felt forty-one +thousand years ago. Nature had placed +in the steep chalky slopes from the marshes +a fair number of commodious caves; but +these were almost always vacant. Only on +the higher levels did human creatures +abound.</p> + +<p>And scant enough, by our present +standards, that abundance was. In all the +space which the forest had left free—not +merely all Mayfair, remember: all Soho, +too, and all that lies between them—the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span> +population was hardly more than three +hundred souls. So low a figure is hard to +grasp. So few people, in a place so teeming +now, are almost beneath our notice. Almost, +but not quite. What there was of them +was not bad.</p> + +<p>Nature, as a Roman truly said, does not +work by leaps. What we call Evolution +is a quite exasperatingly slow process. We +should like to compare favourably with +even the latest of our predecessors. We +wince whenever we read a declaration by +some eminent biologist that the skull of +the prehistoric man whose bones have just +been unearthed in this or that district differs +but slightly from the skull of the average +man in the twentieth century. I hate having +to tell you that the persons in this +narrative had well-shaped heads, and that +if their jaws were more prominent, their +teeth sharper, their backs less upright, their +arms longer and hairier, and their feet +suppler than our own, the difference in +each case was so faint as to be almost +negligible.</p> + +<p>Of course they were a simpler folk than +we are. They knew far less than we know.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span> +They did not, for example, know they were +living thirty-nine thousand years before +Christ; and ‘protopalaeolithic’ was a term +they <i>never</i> used. They regarded themselves +as very modern and very greatly enlightened. +They marvelled at their ingenuities in the +use of flint and stone. They held that their +ancestors had been crude in thought and +in mode of life, but not unblest with a +certain vigour and nobility of character +which they themselves lacked. They +thought that their descendants would be a +rather feeble, peevish race, yet that somehow +in the far future, a state of general goodness +and felicity would set in, to abide forever. +But I seem to be failing in my effort to +stress the difference between these people +and ourselves. Let us hold fast to the +pleasing fact that they really were less +well-educated.</p> + +<p>They could neither read nor write, and +were so weak in their arithmetic that not a +shepherd among them could count his sheep +correctly, nor a goat-herd his goats. And +their pitiful geography! Glancing northward +above their forest, they saw the mountainous +gaunt region that is Hampstead,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span> +that is Highgate; southward, across the +river and its wide fens, the ridges of a nameless +Surrey; but as to how the land lay +beyond those barriers they had only the +haziest notion. That there was land they +knew. For, though they themselves never +ventured further than the edge of the +marshes, or than the fringe of the tangled +forest that bounded the rest of their domain, +certain other people were more venturesome: +often enough it would happen that +some stranger, some dark-haired and dark-eyed +nomad, passed this way, blinking from +the forest or soaked from the river; and +glad always was such an one to rest awhile +here, and tell to his good hosts tales of the +outlying world. Tales very marvellous to +the dwellers in this sleek safe homeland!—tales +of rugged places where no men are, +or few, and these in peril by night and by +day; tales of the lion, a creature with +yellow eyes and a great mop of yellow +hair to his head, a swift and strong creature, +without pity; and of the tusked mastodon, +taller than the oldest oak, and shaking the +ground he walks on; and of the winged +dragon, that huge beast, poising so high in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span> +the air that he looks no bigger than a hawk, +yet reaching his prey on earth as instantly +as a hawk his; and of the huge crawling +dragon, that breathes fire through his nostrils +and scorches black the grass as he +goes hunting, hunting; of the elephant, +who fears nothing but mastodons and dragons; +of the hyena and the tiger, and of +beasts beside whom these seem not dreadful.</p> + +<p>Wide-eyed, open-mouthed, the homelanders +would sit listening. ‘O wanderer,’ +would say one, ‘tell us more of the mastodon, +that is taller than the oldest oak.’ +And another would say, ‘Make again for +us, O wanderer, the noise that a lion makes.’ +And another, ‘Tell us more of the dragon +that scorches black the grass as he goes +hunting, hunting.’ And another, ‘O you +that have so much wandered, surely you +will abide here always? Here is not hardship +nor danger. We go not in fear of the +beasts whose roast flesh you have tasted +and have praised. Rather go they in great +fear of us. The savoury deer flees from +us, and has swifter feet than we have, yet +escapes not the point of the thrown spear,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span> +and falls, and is ours. The hare is not +often luckier, such is our skill. Our goats +and our sheep would flee from us, but +dare not, fearing the teeth of certain dogs +who love us. We slay what we will for +food. For us all there is plenty in all +seasons. You have drunk of the water of +our stream. Is it not fresh and cold? +Have you cracked in your wanderings better +nuts than ours? or bitten juicier apples? +Surely you will abide here always.’</p> + +<p>And to the wanderer it would seem no +bad thing that he should do so. Yet he +did not so. When the sun had sunk and +risen a few times he would stretch his arms, +maybe gazing round at the landscape with +a rather sardonic smile, and be gone through +the forest or across the water. And the +homelanders, nettled, would shrug their +shoulders, and thank their gods for having +rid them of a fool.</p> + +<p>Their gods were many, including the sun +and moon, their clear stream, apple-trees +and cherry-trees and fig-trees and trees +that gave nuts, rose-bushes in summer, +rain, and also fire—fire, the god that themselves +had learnt to make from flint, fire<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span> +that made meat itself godlike. But they +prayed to no god, not being aware that they +needed anything. And they had no priesthood. +When a youth lost his heart to a +maid he approached her, and laid his hands +gently upon her shoulders, and then, if +she did not turn away from him, he put +his hands about her waist and lifted her +three times from the ground. This sufficed: +they were now man and wife, and lived +happily, or not so, ever after. Nor was it +needful that the rite should be only thus. +If a maid lost her heart to a youth, the laid +hands could be hers, and the shoulders +his, and if he turned not away from her, +if thrice he lifted her from the ground, this +too was wedlock.</p> + +<p>If there were no good cave for them to +take as their own, bride and bridegroom +built them a hut of clay and wattles. Such +huts were already numerous, dotted about +in all directions. Elder folk thought them +very ugly, and said that they spoilt the +landscape. Yet what was to be done? It +is well that a people should multiply. +Though these homelanders now deemed +themselves very many indeed (their number,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span> +you see, being so much higher than +they ever could count up to, even incorrectly), +yet not even the eldest of them +denied that there was plenty of room and +plenty of food for more. And plenty of +employment, you ask? They did not worry +about that. The more babies there were, +the more children and grown folk would +there be anon to take turns in minding +the ample flocks and herds, and the more +leisure for all to walk or sit around, talking +about the weather or about one another. +They made no fetish of employment.</p> + +<p>I have said that they were not bad. Had +you heard them talked about by one another, +you might rather doubt this estimate. You +would have heard little good of any one. +No family seemed to approve of its neighbours. +Even between brothers and sisters +mutual trust was rare. Even husbands and +wives bickered. To strangers, as you have +seen, these people could be charming. I +do not say they were ever violent among +themselves. That was not their way. But +they lacked kindness.</p> + +<p>Happiness is said to beget kindness. Were +these people not happy? They deemed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span> +themselves so. Nay, there was to come a +time when, looking back, they felt that they +had been marvellously happy. This time +began on the day in whose dawn smoke was +seen rising from Hay Hill.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>The title of my tale has enabled you +to guess the source of that smoke: the +nostrils of some dreadful dragon. But +had you been the little girl named Thia, +by whom first that smoke was seen, you +would not have come upon the truth so +quickly.</p> + +<p>Thia had slept out under the stars, and, +waking as they faded, had risen, brushed +the dew from her arms and legs, shaken it +off her little goatskin tunic, and gone with +no glance around or upward to look for +mushrooms. Presently, as there seemed to +be no mushrooms this morning anywhere, +she let her eyes rove from the ground +(ground that is now Lord Lansdowne’s +courtyard) and, looking up, saw the thick<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span> +smoke above the hill. She saw that it +came from the cave where dwelt the widow +Gra with her four children. How could +Gra, how could any one, want a fire just +now? Thia’s dark eyes filled with wonder. +On wintry nights it was proper that there +should be a fire at the mouth of every cave, +proper that in wintry dawns these should +still be smouldering. But—such smoke as +this on such a morning! Heavier, thicker +smoke than Thia had ever seen in all the +ten years of her existence! Of course fire +was a god. But surely he would not have +us worship him to-day? Why then had +Gra lit him? Thia gave it up, and moved +away with eyes downcast in renewed hope +of mushrooms.</p> + +<p>She had not gone far before she stared +back again, hearing a piteous shrill scream +from the hill. She saw a little boy flying +headlong down the slope—Thol, the little +red-haired boy who lived in the other +cave up there. Thol slipped, tumbled +head over heels, rolled, picked himself +up, saw Thia, and rushed weeping towards +her.</p> + +<p>‘What ails you, O child?’ asked Thia,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span> +than whom Thol was indeed a year younger +and much smaller.</p> + +<p>‘O!’ was all that the child vouchsafed +between his sobs, ‘O!’</p> + +<p>Thia thought ill of tears. Scorn for Thol +fought the maternal instinct in her. But +scorn had the worst of it. She put her +arms about Thol. Quaveringly he told her +what he had just seen, and what he believed +it to be, and how it lay there asleep, with +just its head and tail outside Gra’s cave, +snoring. Then he broke down utterly. Thia +looked at the hill. Maternal instinct was +now worsted by wonder and curiosity and +the desire to be very brave—to show how +much braver than boys girls are. Thia +went to the hill, shaking off Thol’s wild +clutches and leaving him behind. Thia went +up the hill quickly but warily, on tiptoe, +wide-eyed, with her tongue out upon her +underlip. She took a sidelong course, and +she noticed a sort of black path through +the grass, winding from the mouth of Gra’s +cave, down one side of the hill, and away, +away till it was lost in the white mists over +the marshes. She climbed nearly level with +the cave’s mouth, and then, peering through<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span> +a bush which hid her, saw what lay behind +the veil of smoke.</p> + +<p>Much worse the sleeping thing was than +she had feared it would be, much huger and +more hideous. Its face was as long as a +man’s body, and lay flat out along the +ground. Had Thia ever seen a crocodile’s +face, that is of what she would have been +reminded—a crocodile, but with great +pricked-up ears, and snuffling forth fiery +murk in deep, rhythmic, luxurious exhalations. +The tip of the creature’s tail, sticking +out from the further side of the cave’s +mouth, looked to her very like an arrow-head +of flint—green flint! She could awfully +imagine the rest of the beast, curled around +in the wide deep cave. And she shuddered +with a great hatred, and tears started to +her eyes, as she thought of Gra and of +those others.</p> + +<p>When she reached the valley, it was +clear to Thol that she had been crying. +And she, resenting his scrutiny, made haste +to say, ‘I wept for Gra and for her children; +but you, O child, because you are +a coward.’</p> + +<p>At these words the boy made within<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span> +him a great resolve. This was, that he +would slay the dragon.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>How? He had not thought of that. +When? Not to-day, he felt, nor to-morrow. +But some day, somehow. He knew himself +to be small, even for his age, and the +dragon big for whatever its age might be. +He knew he was not very clever; he was +sure the dragon was very clever indeed. +So he said nothing to Thia of his great +resolve that she should be sorry.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the sun had risen over the +hills beyond the water, and the birds been +interrupted in their songs by the bleating +of penned sheep. This sound recalled Thol +from his dreams of future glory.</p> + +<p>For he was a shepherd’s lad. It was the +custom that children, as they ceased to +toddle, should begin to join in whatever +work their parents were by way of doing +for the common good. Indeed it was felt +that work was especially a thing for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span> +young. Thol had no parents to help; for +his mother had died in giving him birth; +and one day, when he was but seven years +old, his father, who was a shepherd, had +been attacked and killed by an angry ram. +In the sleek safe homeland this death by +violence had made a very painful impression. +There was a general desire to hush it up, +to forget it. Thol was a reminder of it. +Thol was ignored, as much as possible. +He was allowed to have the cave that had +been his father’s, but even the widow Gra, +in the cave so near to his, disregarded him, +and forbade her children to play with him. +However, there dwelt hard by in the valley +a certain shepherd, named Brud, and he, +being childless, saw use for Thol as helping-boy, +and to that use put him. Every +morning, it was Thol’s first duty to +wake his master. It was easy for Thol +himself to wake early, for his cave faced +eastwards. To-day in his great excitement +about the dragon he had forgotten +his duty to Brud. He went running now +to perform it.</p> + +<p>Brud and his dog, awakened, came out +and listened to Thol’s tale. Truthfulness<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span> +was regarded by all the homelanders as a +very important thing, especially for the young. +Brud took his staff, and ‘Now, O Thol,’ +he said, ‘will I beat you for saying the +thing that is not.’ But the boy protested +that there was indeed a dragon in Gra’s +cave; so Brud said sagely, ‘Choose then +one of two things: either to run hence into +Gra’s cave, or to be beaten.’ Thol so +unhesitatingly chose to be beaten that it +was clear he did believe his own story. +Thia, moreover, came running up to say +that there truly was a dragon. So Brud +did not beat Thol very much, and went +away with his dog towards the hill, +curious to know what really was amiss up +there.</p> + +<p>Perhaps Thia was already sorry she had +called Thol a coward, for, though he was +now crying again loudly, she did but try to +comfort him. His response to her effort +was not worthy of a future hero: he complained +through his tears that she had not +been beaten, too, for saying there was a +dragon. Thia’s eyes flashed fiercely. She +told Thol he was ugly and puny and freckle-faced, +and that nobody loved him. All<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span> +this was true, and it came with the more +crushing force from pretty Thia, whom +every one petted.</p> + +<p>No one ever made Thia work, though +she was strong and agile, and did wondrously +well whatever task she might do +for the fun of it. She could milk a goat, or +light a fire, or drive a flock of geese, or +find mushrooms if there were any, as quickly +and surely as though she had practised +hard for years. But the homelanders preferred +to see her go flitting freely all the +day long, dancing and carolling, with flowers +in her hair.</p> + +<p>Thia’s hair was as dark as her eyes. Thia +was no daughter of the homeland. She +was the daughter of two wanderers who, +seven years ago, had sojourned here for a +few days. Their child had then attained +just that age which was always a crisis in +the lives of wanderers’ children: she had +grown enough to be heavy in her parents’ +arms, and not enough to foot it beside +them. So they had left her here, promising +the homelanders that in time they would +come back for her; and she, who had had +no home, had one now. Although (a relic,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span> +this, of primitive days) no homelander ever +on any account went near to the mouth of +another’s dwelling, Thia would go near and +go in, and be always welcome. The homelanders +seldom praised one another’s children; +but about Thia there was no cause +for jealousy: they all praised her strange +beauty, her fearless and bright ways. And +withal she was very good. You must not +blame her for lack of filial sense. How +should she love parents whom she did not +remember? She was full of love for the +homelanders; and naturally she hated the +thought they hated: that some day two +wanderers might come and whisk her away.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> +She loved this people and this place the +more deeply perhaps because she was not +of them. Forget the harsh things she +has just said to Thol. He surely was to +blame. And belike she would even have +begged his pardon had she not been preoccupied +with thoughts for the whole +homeland, with great fears of what the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span> +dreadful dragon might be going to do when +he woke up.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>And a wonder it was that he did not +wake forthwith, so loud a bellow of terror +did Brud and his dog utter at the glimpse +they had of him. The glimpse sufficed +them: both bounded to the foot of the +hill with incredible speed, still howling. +From the mouths of caves and huts people +darted and stood agape. Responsive sheep, +goats, geese, what not, made great noises +of their own. Brud stood waving his arms +wildly towards the hill. People stared from +him to the column of smoke, and from it +to him. They were still heavy with sleep. +Unusual behaviour at any time annoyed +them; they deeply resented behaviour so +unusual as this so early in the morning. +Little by little, disapproval merged into +anxiety. Brud became the centre of a circle. +But he did not radiate conviction. A dragon? +A dragon in the homeland? Brud +must be mad!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span>Brud called Thol to witness. Thol, afraid +that if he told the truth he would be beaten +by everybody but Brud, said nothing. +Favourite Thia was not so reticent. She +described clearly the dragon’s head and +tail and the black path through the grass. +Something like panic passed around the +circle; not actual panic, for—surely Thia’s +bright dark eyes had deceived her. A dragon +was one thing, the homeland another: there +couldn’t possibly be a dragon in the homeland. +Mainly that they might set Thia’s +mind at rest, a few people went to reconnoitre. +Presently, with palsied lips, they +were admitting that there could be, and +was, a dragon in the homeland.</p> + +<p>They ran stuttering the news in all directions, +ran knowing it to be true, yet themselves +hardly believing it, ran hoping others +would investigate it and prove it a baseless +rumour, ran gibbering it to the very confines +of the homeland. Slowly, incredulously, +people from all quarters made their way to +the place where so many were already +gathered. The whole population was at +length concentrated in what is Berkeley +Square. Up the sky the sun climbed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span> +steadily. Surely, thought the homelanders, +a good sign? This god of theirs could not +look so calm and bright if there were really +a dragon among his chosen people? Bold +adventurers went scouting hopefully up the +hill, only to return with horror in their +eyes, and with the same old awful report +upon their lips. Before noon the whole +throng was convinced. Eld is notoriously +irreceptive of new ideas; but even the +oldest inhabitant stood convinced now.</p> + +<p>Silence reigned, broken only by the bleatings, +cacklings, quackings, of animals unreleased +from their pens or coops, far and +near. Up, straight up through the windless +air went the column of smoke steadfastly, +horribly, up higher than the eyes +of the homelanders could follow it.</p> + +<p>What was to be done? Could nothing +be done? Could not some one, at any rate, +say something? People who did not know +each other, or had for years not been on +speaking terms, found themselves eagerly +conversing, in face of the common peril. +Solemn parties were formed to go and view +the dragon’s track, its odious scorched track +from the marshes. People remembered having<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span> +been told by wanderers that when a +dragon swam a river he held high his head, +lest his flames should be quenched. The +river that had been crossed last night by +this monster was a great god. Why had he +not drowned the monster? Well, fire was +a great god also, and he deigned to dwell +in dragons. One god would not destroy +another. But again, would even a small +god deign to dwell in a dragon? The homelanders +revised their theology. Fire was +not a god at all.</p> + +<p>Then, why, asked some, had the river not +done his duty? The more rigid logicians +answered that neither was the river a god. +But this doctrine was not well received. +People felt they had gone quite far enough +as it was. Besides, now was a time rather +for action than for thought. Some of those +who were skilled in hunting went to fetch +their arrows and spears, formed a sort of +army, and marched round and round the +lower slopes of the hill in readiness to withstand +and slay the dragon so soon as he +should come down into the open. At first +this had a cheering and heartening effect +(on all but Thol, whose personal aspiration<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span> +you remember). But soon there recurred +to the minds of many, and were +repeated broadcast, other words that had +been spoken by wanderers. ‘So hard,’ had +said one, ‘are the scales of a crawling +dragon that no spear can prick him, howsoever +sharp and heavy and strongly hurled.’ +And another had grimly said, ‘Young is +that dragon who is not older than the +oldest man.’ And another, ‘A crawling +dragon is not baulked but by the swiftness +of men’s heels.’</p> + +<p>All this was most depressing. Confidence +in the spearmen was badly shaken. The +applause for them whenever they passed by +was quieter, betokening rather pity than +hope. Nay, there were people who now +deprecated any attempt to kill the dragon. +The dragon, they argued, must not be +angered. If he were not mistreated he +might do no harm. He had a right to +exist. He had visited Gra’s cave in a friendly +spirit, but Gra had tried to mistreat him, +and the result should be a lesson to them +all.</p> + +<p>Others said, more acceptably, ‘Let us +think not of the dragon. What the spearmen<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span> +can do, that will they do. Let this day be +as other days, and each man to the task +that is his.’ Brud was one of those who +hurried away gladly. Nor was Thol loth +to follow. The chance that the dragon +might come out in his absence did not +worry a boy so unprepared to-day for single +combat; and if other hands than his were +to succeed in slaying the dragon, he would +liefer not have the bitterness of looking +on.</p> + +<p>Thia also detached herself from the +throng. Many voices of men and women +and children called after her, bidding +her stay. ‘I would find me some task,’ +she answered.</p> + +<p>‘O Thia,’ said one, ‘find only flowers for +your hair. And sing to us, dance for us. +Let this day be as other days.’ And so +pleaded many voices.</p> + +<p>But Thia answered them, ‘My heart is +too sad. We are all in peril. For myself +I am not afraid. But how should I dance, +who love you? Not again, O dear ones, +shall I dance, until the dragon be slain or +gone back across the water. Neither shall +I put flowers in my hair nor sing.’</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span>She went her way, and was presently +guiding a flock of geese to a pond that does +not exist now.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>She sat watching the geese gravely, fondly, +as they swam and dived and cackled. She +was filled with a sense of duty to them. +They too were homelanders and dear ones. +She wished that all the others could be +so unknowing and so happy.</p> + +<p>A breeze sprang up, swaying the column +of smoke and driving it across the valley, +on which it cast a long, wide, dark +shadow.</p> + +<p>Thia felt very old. She remembered a +happy and careless child who woke—how +long ago!—and went looking for mushrooms. +And this memory gave her another +feeling. You see, she had eaten nothing all +day.</p> + +<p>Near the pond was a cherry-tree. She +looked at it. She tried not to. This was +no day for eating. The sight of the red +cherries jarred on her. They were so very<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span> +red. She went to the tree unwillingly. +She hoped no one would see her. In your +impatience at the general slowness of man’s +evolution, you will be glad to learn that +Thia, climbing that tree and swinging among +the branches, had notably more of assurance +and nimble ease than any modern child +would have in like case. It was only her +mind that misgave her.</p> + +<p>Ashamed of herself, ashamed of feeling +so much younger and stronger now, she +dropped to the ground and wondered how +she was to atone. She chose the obvious +course. She ran around the homeland urging +every one to eat something. All were +grateful for the suggestion. The length of +their fast is the measure of the shock they +had received that day, and of the strain +imposed on them. Eating had ever been +a thing they excelled in. Most of them +were far too fat. Thia’s suggestion was +acted on with all speed. Great quantities +of cold meat were consumed. And this +was well. The night in store was to make +special demands on the nerves of the homelanders.</p> + +<p>As the sun drew near down to the west,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span> +the breeze dropped with it, and the smoke +was again an upright column, reddened +now by the sun. Later, while afterglow +faded into twilight, to some of the homelanders +it seemed that the base of the +column was less steady, was moving. They +were right. The time of their testing was +at hand. The dragon was coming down +the hill.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>The spearmen opened out their ranks +quickly and hovered in skirmishing order. +The dragon’s pace was no quicker than +that of a man strolling. His gait was at +once ponderous and sinuous. The great +body rocked on the four thick leglets that +moved in a somehow light and stealthy +fashion. They ended, these leglets, in +webbed feet with talons. The long neck +was craned straight forward, flush with the +ground, but the tail, which was longer still, +swung its barbed tip slowly from side to +side, and sometimes rose, threshing the +air. Neck, body and tail were surmounted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> +by a ridge of upstanding spurs. In fact, +the dragon was just what I have called +him: dreadful.</p> + +<p>Spears flew in the twilight. Ringing +noises testified that many of them hit the +mark. They rang as they glanced off the +scales that completely sheathed the brute, +who, now and again, coiled his neck round +to have a look at them, as though they rather +interested and amused him. One of them +struck him full on the brow (if brow it +can be called) without giving him an instant’s +pause.</p> + +<p>Anon, however, he halted, rearing his +neck straight up, turning his head slowly +this way and that, and seemed to take, +between his great puffs of fiery smoke, a +general survey of the valley. Twilight was +not fading into darkness, for a young moon +rode the sky, preserving a good view for, +and of, the dragon. Most of the homelanders +had with one accord retired to the +further side of the valley, across the dividing +stream. Only the spearmen remained on +the dragon’s side, and some sheep that +were in a fold there. One of the spearmen, +taking aim, ventured rather near to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> +dragon—so near that the dragon’s neck, +shooting down, all but covered the distance. +The clash of the dragon’s jaws resounded. +The spearman had escaped only by a hair’s +breadth. The homelanders made a faint +noise, something between a sigh and a +groan.</p> + +<p>The dragon looked at them for a long +time. He seemed to be in no hurry. He +glanced at the moon, as though saying, +‘The night is young.’ He glanced at the +sheepfold and slowly went to it. Wanderers +had often said of dragons that they devoured +no kind of beast in any land that had human +creatures in it. What would this dragon +do? The huddled sheep bleated piteously +at him. He reared his neck high and +examined them from that altitude. Suddenly +a swoop and a clash. The neck was +instantly erect again, with a ripple down it. +The head turned slowly towards the homelanders, +then slowly away again. The mind +was seemingly divided. There was a pause. +This ended in another swoop, clash, recoil +and ripple. Another dubious pause; and +now, neck to ground, the dragon headed +amain for the homelanders.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span>They drew back, they scattered. Some +rushed they knew not whither for refuge, +wailing wildly; others swarmed up the +trunks of high trees (swiftlier, yes, than we +could). Across the stream stepped the dragon +with a sort of cumbrous daintiness, +and straightway, at his full speed, which was +that of a man walking quickly, gave chase. +If you care for the topographical side of +history, you should walk out of Berkeley +Square by way of Charles Street, into Curzon +Street, past Chesterfield House, up +Park Lane, along Oxford Street, down South +Molton Street and back into Berkeley Square +by way of Bruton Street. This, roughly, +was the dragon’s line of route. He did +not go exactly straight along it. He often +swerved and zigzagged; and he made in +the course of the night many long pauses. +He would thrust his head into the mouth +of some cave or hut, on the chance that +some one had been so foolish as to hide +there; or he would crane his neck up +among the lower branches of a tall tree, +scorching these with his breath, and peering +up into the higher branches, where +refugees might or might not be; or he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span> +would just stay prone somewhere, doing +nothing. For the rest, he pursued whom +he saw. High speed he never achieved; +but he had cunning, and had power to +bewilder with fear. Before the night was +out he was back again in his cave upon the +hill. And the sleepless homelanders, forgathering +in the dawn to hear and tell +what things had befallen, gradually knew +themselves to be the fewer by five souls.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>It is often said that no ills are so hard to +suffer as to anticipate. I do not know that +this is true. But it does seem to be a fact +that people comport themselves better under +the incidence of an ill than under the +menace of it; better also in their fear of +an ill’s recurrence than when the ill is +first feared. Some of the homelanders, you +will have felt, had been rather ridiculous +on the first day of the dragon’s presence +among them. They had not been so in +the watches of the night. Even Brud and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span> +his dog had shown signs of courage and +endurance. Even Thol had not cried much. +Thia had behaved perfectly. But this is +no more than you would expect of Thia. +The point is that after their panic at the +dragon’s first quick onset, the generality +of the homelanders had behaved well. +And now, haggard though they were in +the dawn, wan, dishevelled, they were not +without a certain collective dignity.</p> + +<p>When everything had been told and heard, +they stood for a while in silent mourning. +The sun rose from the hills over the water, +and with a common impulse they knelt to +this great god, beseeching him that he would +straightway call the dragon back beyond +those hills, never to return. Then they +looked up at the cave. To-day the dragon +was wholly inside, his smoke rolling up +from within the cave’s mouth. Long looked +the homelanders for that glimmer of nether +fire which would show that he was indeed +moving forth. There was nothing for them +to see but the black smoke. ‘Peradventure,’ +said one, ‘the sun is not a god.’ ‘Nay,’ +said another, ‘rather may it be that he is +so great a god that we cannot know his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span> +purposes, nor he be turned aside from +them by our small woes.’ This was accounted +a strange but a wise saying. ‘Nevertheless,’ +said the sayer, ‘it is well that we +should ask help of him in woes that to us +are not small.’ So again the homelanders +prayed, and though their prayer was still +unanswered they felt themselves somehow +strengthened.</p> + +<p>It was agreed that they should disperse +to their dwellings, eat, and presently reassemble +in formal council.</p> + +<p>And here I should mention Shib; for +he was destined to be important in this +council, though he was but a youth, and +on his cheeks and chin the down had but +begun to lengthen. I may as well also +mention Veo, his brother, elder than him +by one year. They were the sons of Oc +and Loga, with whom they lived in a cave +near the valley. Veo had large eyes which +seemed to see nothing, but saw much. +Shib had small eyes which seemed to see +much, and saw it. Shib’s parents thought +him very clever, as indeed he was. They +thought Veo a fool; but Mr. Roger Fry, +had he seen the mural drawings in their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span> +cave, would have assured them that he was +a master.</p> + +<p>Said Veo to Shib, as they followed their +parents to the cave, ‘Though I prayed +that he might not, I am glad that the dragon +abides with us. His smoke is as the trunk +of a great tree whose branches are the +sky. When he comes crawling down the +hill he is more beautiful than Thia +dancing.’</p> + +<p>Shib’s ideas about beauty were academic. +Thia dancing, with a rose-bush on one side +of her and a sunset on the other, was beautiful. +The dragon was ugly. But Shib was +not going to waste breath in argument +with his absurd brother. What mattered +was not that the dragon was ugly, but that +the dragon was a public nuisance, to be +abated if it could not be suppressed. The +spearmen had failed to suppress it, and +would continue to fail. But Shib thought +he saw a way to abatement. He had carefully +watched throughout the night the +dragon’s demeanour. He had noted how, +despite so many wanderers’ clear testimony +as to the taste of all dragons, this creature +had seemed to palter in choice between<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span> +the penned sheep near to him and the +mobile people across the stream; noted +that despite the great talons on his feet he +did not attempt to climb any of the trees; +noted the long rests he took here and there. +On these observations Shib had formed a +theory, and on this theory a scheme. And +during the family meal in the cave he +recited the speech he was going to make +at the council. His parents were filled +with admiration. Veo, however, did not +listen to a word. Nor did he even attend +the council. He stayed in the cave, making +with a charred stick, on all vacant spaces, +stark but spirited pictures of the dragon.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>I will not report in even an abridged +form the early proceedings of the council. +For they were tedious. The speakers +were many, halting, and not to the point. +Shib, when his chance at length came, +shone. He had a dry, unattractive manner; +but he had something to say, he said it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> +clearly and tersely, and so he held his +audience.</p> + +<p>Having stated the facts he had noted, +he claimed no certainty for the deduction +he had made from them. He did not say, +‘Know then surely, O homelanders, that +this is a slothful dragon.’ Nor, for the +matter of that, did he say he had furnished +a working hypothesis, or a hypothesis that +squared with the known facts, or a hypothesis +that held the field. Such phrases, +alas, were impossible in the simple and +barbarous tongue of the homelanders. But +‘May it not be,’ Shib did say, ‘that this +is a slothful dragon?’ There was a murmur +of meditative assent. ‘Hearken then,’ said +Shib, ‘to my counsel. Let the spearmen +go slay two deer. Let the shepherds go +slay two sheep, and the goat-herds two +goats. Also let there be slain three geese +and as many ducks. Or ever the sun leave +us, and the dragon wake from his sleep, let +us take all these up and lay them at the +mouth of the cave that was Gra’s cave. +Thus it may be that this night shall not be +as the last was, but we all asleep and safe. +And if so it betide us, let us make to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span> +dragon other such offerings to-morrow, and +on all days that are to come.’</p> + +<p>There was prompt and unanimous agreement +that this plan should be tried. The +spearmen went hunting. Presently they returned +with a buck and a roe. By this time +the other animals prescribed had been slain +in due number. It remained that the feast +should be borne noiselessly up the hill and +spread before the slumbering dragon. The +homelanders surprised one another, surprised +even themselves, by their zeal for +a share of this task. Why should any one +of them be wanting to do work that others +could do? and willing to take a risk that +others would take? Really they did not +know. It was a strange foible. But there +it was. A child can carry the largest of +ducks; but as many as four men were +lending a hand in porterage of a duck to-day. +Not one of the porters enjoyed this +work. But somehow they all wanted to +do it, and did it with energy and good +humour.</p> + +<p>Very soon, up yonder on the flat shelf of +ground in front of the cave’s mouth, lay +temptingly ranged in a semicircular pattern<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> +two goats, three ducks, two deer, three +geese and two sheep. All had been done +that was to be done. The homelanders +suddenly began to feel the effects of their +sleepless night. They would have denied +that they were sleepy, but they felt a +desire to lie down and think. The valley +soon had a coverlet of sleeping figures, +prone and supine. But, as you know, +the mind has a way of waking us when +it should; and the homelanders were all +wide awake when the shadows began to +lengthen.</p> + +<p>Very still the air was; and very still +stood those men and women and children, +on the other side of the dividing stream. +The sun, setting red behind them, sent +their shadows across the stream, on and +on slowly, to the very foot of the hill up +to which they were so intently looking. +The column of smoke, little by little, +lost its flush. But anon it showed fitful +glimpses of a brighter red at the base +of it, making known that the dragon’s +head was not inside the cave. And +now it seemed to the homelanders, in +these long moments, that their hearts<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span> +ceased beating, and all hope died in +them. Suddenly—clash! the dragon’s jaws +echoed all over the valley; and then what +silence!</p> + +<p>Through the veil of smoke, dimly, it +was seen that the red glow rose, paused, +fell—clash! again.</p> + +<p>Twelve was a number that the homelanders +could count up to quite correctly. +Yet even after the twelfth clash +they stood silent and still. Not till the +red glow faded away into the cave did +they feel sure that to-night all was well +with them.</p> + +<p>Then indeed a great deep sigh went up +from the throng. There were people who +laughed for joy; others who wept for the +same reason. None was happier than Thia. +She was on the very point of singing and +dancing, but remembered her promise, and +the exact wording of it, just in time. In all +the valley there was but one person whose +heart did not rejoice. This was Veo. He +had come out late in the afternoon, to +await, impatiently, the dragon’s reappearance. +He had particularly wanted to +study the action of the hind-legs, which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> +he felt he had not caught rightly. Besides, +he had wanted to see the whole magnificent +creature again, just for the sight of it. +Veo was very angry. Nobody, however, +heeded him. Everybody heeded the more +practical brother. It was a great evening +for Oc and Loga. They were sorry there +was a dragon in the homeland, but even +more (for parents will be parents) were +they proud of their boy’s success. The +feelings of Thol, too, were not unmixed. +Though none of the homelanders, except +Thia, had ever shown him any kindness, he +regretted the dragon, and was very glad that +the dragon was not coming out to-night; +but he was even gladder that the dragon +had not been slain by the spearmen nor +called back across the water by the sun. +It was true that if either of these things had +happened he could have gone to sleep +comfortably in his own cave, and that he +dared not sleep there now, and saw no +prospect of sleeping there at all until he +had slain the dragon. But he bethought +him of the many empty caves on the way +down to the marshes. And he moved into +that less fashionable quarter—sulkily indeed,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span> +but without tears, and sustained by a +great faith in the future.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>On the morning of next day the homelanders +prayed again to the sun that he +would call the dragon away from them. He +did not so. Therefore they besought him +that he would forbid the dragon to come +further than the cave’s mouth, and would +cause him to be well-pleased with a feast +like yesterday’s.</p> + +<p>Such a feast, in the afternoon, was duly +laid at the cave’s mouth; and again, when +the sun was setting, the dragon did not +come down the hill, but ate aloft there, +and at the twelfth clash drew back his +glowing jaws into the cave.</p> + +<p>Day followed day, each with the same +ritual and result.</p> + +<p>Shib did not join in the prayers. He +regarded them as inefficacious, and also as +rather a slight to himself. The homelanders, +be it said, intended no slight. They thought<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span> +Shib wonderfully clever, and were most +grateful to him; but it never occurred to +them to rank him among gods.</p> + +<p>Veo always prayed heartily that the dragon +should be called away forthwith. He wanted +to see the dragon by daylight. But he did +not pray that the dragon should not come +forth in the evening. Better a twilit dragon +than none at all.</p> + +<p>Little Thol, though he prayed earnestly +enough that the dragon should stay at home +by night, never prayed for him to leave the +homeland. He prayed that he himself might +grow up very quickly, and be very big and +very strong and very clever and very brave.</p> + +<p>For the rest, the homelanders were all +orthodox in their devotions.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>The young moon had grown old, had +dwindled, and disappeared. The sound of +the clashed jaws ceased to be a novelty. +The vesperal gatherings in the valley became +smaller. The great column of smoke,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> +by day and by night, was for the homelanders +a grim reminder of what had happened, +and of what would happen again if once +they failed to fulfil the needs of their uninvited +guest. They were resolved that they +would not fail. In this resolution they had +a sombre sense of security. But there came, +before the leaves of the trees were yellow, +an evening when the dragon left untasted +the feast spread for him, and crawled down +the hill. He was half-way down before +any one noticed his coming. And on that +night, a longer night than the other, he +made a wider journey around the homeland, +and took a heavier toll of lives.</p> + +<p>Thenceforth always, at sunset, guards +were posted to watch the hill and to give, +if need were, the alarm. Nor did even this +measure suffice. In the dawn of a day in +winter, when snow was lying thick on the +homeland, a goat-herd observed with wonder +a wide pathway through the snow +from the dragon’s cave; and presently he +saw afar on the level ground the dragon +himself, with his head inside the mouth of +a lonely hut that was the home of a young +man recently wedded. From the hut’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span> +mouth crept forth clouds of smoke, and, +as the dragon withdrew his head, the goat-herd, +finding voice, raised such a cry as +instantly woke many sleepers. That day +lived long in the memory of the homelanders. +The dragon was very active. He +did not plod through the snow. He walked +at his full speed upon the ground, the snow +melting before him at the approach of his +fiery breath. It was the homelanders that +plodded. Some of them stumbled head +foremost into snowdrifts and did not escape +their pursuer. There was nothing slothful +in the dragon’s conduct that day. Hour +after hour in the keen frosty air he went +his way, and not before nightfall did he +go home.</p> + +<p>Thus was inaugurated what we may call +the Time of Greater Stress. No one could +know at what hour of night or day the +dragon might again raid the homeland. +Relays of guards had to watch the hill +always. No one, lying down to sleep, knew +that the dragon might not forthcome before +sunrise; no one, throughout the day, knew +that the brute might not be forthcoming +at any moment. True, he forthcame<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> +seldom. The daily offerings of slain beasts +and birds sufficed him, mostly. But he +was never to be depended on—never.</p> + +<p>Shib’s name somewhat fell in the general +esteem. Nor was it raised again by the +execution of a scheme that he conceived. +The roe and buck stuffed with poisonous +herbs were swallowed by the dragon duly, +but the column of smoke from the cave’s +mouth did not cease that evening, as had +been hoped. And on the following afternoon—a +sign that the stratagem had not +been unnoticed—one of the men who were +placing the food in front of the cave perished +miserably in the dragon’s jaws.</p> + +<p>Other devices of Shib’s failed likewise. +The homelanders had to accept the dragon +as a permanent factor in their lives. Year +by year, night and day, rose the sinister +column of smoke, dense, incessant. Happy +those tiny children who knew not what a +homeland without a dragon was like! So, +at least, thought the elders.</p> + +<p>And yet, were these elders so much less +happy than they had erst been? Were they +not—could they but have known it—happier? +Did not the danger in which they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span> +lived make them more appreciative of life? +Surely they had a zest that in the halcyon +days was not theirs? Certainly they were +quicker-witted. They spoke less slowly, +their eyes were brighter, all their limbs +nimbler. Perhaps this was partly because +they ate less meat. The dragon’s diet made +it necessary that they should somewhat +restrict their own, all the year round. The +dragon, without knowing it, was a good +physician to them.</p> + +<p>Without being a moralist or a preacher, +he had also improved their characters. Quarrels +had become rare. Ill-natured gossip +was frowned on. Suspicions throve not. +Manners had unstiffened. The homelanders +now liked one another. They had been +drawn charmingly together in brotherhood +and sisterhood. You would have been surprised +at the change in them.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>But for his bright red hair, perhaps you +would not have recognised Thol at all.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span> +He was a great gawky youth now. Spiritually, +however, he had changed little. He +was still intent on slaying the dragon.</p> + +<p>In the preceding years he had thought +of little else than this, and as he never had +said a word about it he was not accounted +good company. Nor had he any desire to +shine—in any light but that of a hero. +The homelanders would have been cordial +enough to him, throughout those years, if +he had wished them to be so. But he +never was able to forget how cold and +unkind they had been to him in his +early childhood. It was not for their +sake that he had so constantly nursed and +brooded over his great wish. It was for his +own sake only.</p> + +<p>An unsympathetic character? Stay!—let +me tell you that since the dawn of his +adolescence another sake had come in to +join his own: Thia’s sake.</p> + +<p>From the moment when she, in childhood, +had called him a coward, it always had +been Thia especially that he wished to +impress. But in recent times his feeling +had changed. How should such a lout as +he ever hope to impress Thia, who was a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span> +goddess? Thol hoped only to make Thia +happy, to see her go dancing and singing +once more, with flowers in her hair. Thol +did not even dare hope that Thia would +thank him. Thol was not an unsympathetic +character at all.</p> + +<p>As for Thia, she was more fascinating +than ever. Do not be misled by her seeming +to Thol a goddess. Remember that +the homelanders worshipped cherry-trees +and rain and fire and running water and +all such things. There was nothing of the +statuesque Hellenic ideal about Thia. She +had not grown tall, she was as lissom and +almost as slight as ever; and her alien +dark hair had not lost its wildness: on +windy days it flew out far behind her, like +a thunder cloud, and on calm days hid her +as in a bush. She had never changed the +task that she chose on the day of the dragon’s +advent. She was still a goose-girl. But +perhaps she was conscious now that the +waddling gait of her geese made the grace +of her own gait the lovelier by its contrast. +Certainly she was familiar with her face. +She had often leaned over clear pools to +study it—to see what the homelanders saw<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span> +in it. She was very glad of her own charms +because they were so dear to all those +beloved people. But sometimes her charms +also saddened her. She had had many +suitors—youths of her own age, and elder +men too. Even Veo, thinking her almost +as beautiful as the dragon, had laid his +hands upon her shoulders, in the ritual +mode. Even the intellectual Shib had +done so. And even from such elders as +these it was dreadful to turn away. Nor +was Thia a girl of merely benevolent +nature: she had warm desires, and +among the younger suitors more than one +had much pleased her fancy. But stronger +than any other sentiment in her was her +love for the homeland. Not until the +dragon were slain or were gone away +across the waters would Thia be wife of +any man.</p> + +<p>So far as she knew, she had sentenced +herself to perpetual maidenhood. Even had +she been aware of Thol’s inflexible determination, +she would hardly have become +hopeful. Determination is one thing, doing +is another.</p> + +<p>The truth of that old adage sometimes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span> +forced itself on poor Thol himself, as he +sat watching the sheep that he herded near +his cave on the way to the marshes; and +at such time his sadness was so great that +it affected even his sheep, causing them to +look askance at him and bleat piteously, +and making drearier a neighbourhood that +was in itself dreary.</p> + +<p>But, one day in the eighteenth summer +of his years, Thol ceased to despond. +There came, wet from the river and +mossy from the marshes, an aged wanderer. +He turned his dark eyes on Thol and +said with a smile, pointing towards the +thick smoke on the hill, ‘A dragon is here +now?’</p> + +<p>‘Yea, O wanderer,’ Thol answered.</p> + +<p>‘There was none aforetime,’ said the old +man. ‘A dragon was what your folk +needed.’</p> + +<p>‘They need him not. But tell me, O +you that have so much wandered, and have +seen many dragons, tell me how a dragon +may be slain!’</p> + +<p>‘Mind your sheep, young shepherd. Let +the dragon be. Let not your sheep mourn +you.’</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span>‘They shall not. I shall slay the dragon. +Only tell me how! Surely there is a +way?’</p> + +<p>‘It is a way that would lead you into his +jaws, O fool, and not hurt him. Only +through the roof of his mouth can a dragon +be pierced and wounded. He opens not +his jaws save when they are falling upon +his prey. Do they not fall swiftly, O +fool?’</p> + +<p>‘O wanderer, yea. But’——</p> + +<p>‘Could you deftly spear the roof of +that great mouth, O prey, in that little +time?’</p> + +<p>‘Yea, surely, if so the dragon would +perish.’</p> + +<p>The old man laughed. ‘So would the +dragon perish, truly; but so only. So +would be heard what few ears have heard—the +cry that a dragon utters as he is slain. +But so only.’ And he went his way northward.</p> + +<p>From that day on, Thol did not watch his +sheep very much. They, on the other hand, +spent most of their time in watching him. +They rather thought he was mad, standing +in that odd attitude and ever lunging his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> +crook up at one of the nodding boughs of +that ash tree.</p> + +<p>Twice in the course of the autumn the +dragon came down the hill; but when the +watchman sounded the alarm Thol did not +go forth to meet him. He was not what his +flock thought him.</p> + +<p>He had now exchanged his crook for a +spear—a straight well-seasoned sapling of +oak, with a long sharp head of flint. With +this, day by day, hour after hour, he lunged +up at the boughs of fruit-trees. His flock, +deploring what seemed to them mania, could +not but admire his progressive skill. Rarely +did he fail now in piercing whatever plum +or apple he aimed at.</p> + +<p>When winter made bare the branches, +it was at the branches that Thol aimed his +thrusts. His accuracy was unerring now. +But he had yet to acquire the trick of +combining the act of transfixion with the +act of leaping aside. Else would he perish +even in victory.</p> + +<p>Spring came. As usual, her first care +was to put blossoms along the branches of +such almond trees as were nearest to the +marshes.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span>The ever side-leaping Thol pricked off +any little single blossom that he chose.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>Spring was still active in the homeland +when, one day, a little while before sunset, +the watchers of the hill blew their +horns. There came from all quarters +the usual concourse of young and old, to +watch the direction of the dragon and +to keep out of it. Down came the +familiar great beast, the never-ageing +dragon, picking his way into the green +valley. And he saw an unwonted sight +there. He saw somebody standing quite +still on the nearer bank of the stream; a +red-haired young person, holding a spear. +About this young person he formed a +theory which had long been held by certain +sheep.</p> + +<p>Little wonder that the homelanders also +formed that theory! Little wonder that +they needed no further proof of it when, +deaf to the cries of entreaty that they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span> +uttered through the evening air, Thol stood +his ground!</p> + +<p>Slowly, as though to give the wretched +young lunatic a chance, the dragon advanced.</p> + +<p>But quickly, very terribly and quickly, +when he was within striking distance, he +reared his neck up. An instant later there +rang through the valley—there seemed to +rend the valley—a single screech, unlike +anything that its hearers had ever heard.</p> + +<p>Those who dared to look saw the vast +length of the dragon, neck on grass, coiling +slowly round. The tip of the tail met the +head and parted from it. Presently the +vast length was straight, motionless.</p> + +<p>Yet even of those who had dared look +none dared believe that the dragon was +indeed dead.</p> + +<p>But for its death-cry, Thol himself would +hardly have believed.</p> + +<p>The second firm believer was Thia. Thia, +with swift conviction, plucked some flowers +and put them loosely into her hair. Thia, +singing as well as though she had never +ceased to sing, and dancing as prettily as +though she had for years been practising<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span> +her steps, went singing and dancing towards +the stream. Lightly she lept the stream, and +then very seriously and quietly walked to +the spot where Thol stood. She looked up +at him, and then, without a word, raised +her arms and put her hands upon his +shoulders. He, who had slain the dragon, +trembled.</p> + +<p>‘O Thol,’ she said gently, ‘you turn not +away from me, but neither do you raise +me from the ground.’</p> + +<p>Then Thol raised Thia thrice from the +ground.</p> + +<p>And he said, ‘Let our home be the cave +that was my father’s.’</p> + +<p>Hand in hand, man and wife, they went +up the hill, and round to the eastern side +of its summit. But when they came to +the mouth of the old cave there, he paused +and let go her hand.</p> + +<p>‘O Thia,’ he said wonderingly, ‘is it +indeed true that you love me?’</p> + +<p>‘O Thol,’ she answered, ‘it is most +true.’</p> + +<p>‘O Thia,’ he said, ‘love me always!’</p> + +<p>‘I have long ceased to love you, O Thol,’ +she said, five years later, in a low voice.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> +But I see that I have outstripped my narrative. +I must hark back.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>The sun had already risen far when Thol +and Thia were wakened by a continuous +great hum as of many voices. When they +looked forth and down from the mouth +of their high home, it seemed to them that +all the homelanders were there beneath +them, gazing up.</p> + +<p>And this was indeed so. Earlier in the +morning, by force of habit, all the homelanders +had gone to what we call Berkeley +Square, the place where for so many years +they had daily besought the sun to call +the dragon away across the waters. There, +where lay the great smokeless and harmless +carcass, was no need for prayers now; and +with one accord the throng had moved +from the western to the eastern foot of the +hill, and stayed there gazing in reverence +up to the home of a god greater than the +sun.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span>When at length the god showed himself, +there arose from the throng a great roar of +adoration. The throng went down on its +knees to him, flung up its arms to him, +half-closed its eyes so as not to be blinded +by the sight of him. His little mortal +mate, knowing not that he was a god, +thinking only that he was a brave man +and her own, was astonished at the +doings of her dear ones. The god himself, +sharing her ignorance, was deeply +embarrassed, and he blushed to the roots +of his hair.</p> + +<p>‘Laugh, O Thol,’ she whispered to him. +‘It were well for them that you should +laugh.’ But he never had laughed in all +his life, and was much too uncomfortable +to begin doing so just now. He backed +into the cave. The religious throng heaved +a deep moan of disappointment as he did +so. Thia urged him to come forth and +laugh as she herself was doing. ‘Nay,’ +he said, ‘but do you, whom they love, +dance a little for them and sing. Then +will they go away happy.’</p> + +<p>It seemed to Thia that really this was +the next best plan, and so, still laughing,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span> +she turned round and danced and sang +with great animation and good-will. The +audience, however, was cold. It gave her +its attention, but even this, she began to +feel, was not its kind attention. Indeed, the +audience was jarred. After a while—for +Thia’s pride forbade her to stop her performance—the +audience began to drift +away.</p> + +<p>There were tears in her eyes when she +danced back into the cave. But these she +brushed away, these she forgot instantly +in her lover’s presence.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>Love is not all. ‘I must go drive my +geese,’ said the bride.</p> + +<p>‘And I my sheep,’ said the bridegroom.</p> + +<p>‘There is good grass, O Thol, round my +geese’s pond. Let your sheep graze there +always. Thus shall not our work sever +us.’</p> + +<p>As they went forth, some children were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span> +coming up the hill, carrying burdens. The +burdens were cold roast flesh, dried figs, +and a gourd of water, sent by some elders +as a votive offering to the god. The children +knelt at sight of the god and then ran +shyly away, leaving their gifts on the ground. +The god and his mate feasted gladly. Then +they embraced and parted, making tryst at +the pond.</p> + +<p>When Thia approached the pond, she +did not wonder that Thol was already there, +for sheep go quicker than geese. But—where +were his sheep? ‘Have they all +strayed?’ she cried out to him.</p> + +<p>He came to meet her, looking rather +foolish.</p> + +<p>‘O Thia,’ he explained, ‘as I went to +the fold, many men and women were +around it. I asked them what they did +there. They knelt and made answer, +“We were gazing at the sheep that +had been the god’s.” When I made to +unpen the flock, there was a great moaning. +There was gnashing of teeth, O +Thia, and tearing of hair. It was said +by all that the god must herd sheep +nevermore.’</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span>‘And you, beloved, what said you?’</p> + +<p>‘I said nothing, O Thia, amid all that +wailing. I knew not what to say.’</p> + +<p>Thia laughed long but tenderly. ‘And +your sheep, beloved, what said they?’</p> + +<p>‘How should I know?’ asked Thol.</p> + +<p>‘And you left them there? Do you not +love them?’</p> + +<p>‘I have never loved them.’</p> + +<p>‘But they were your task?’</p> + +<p>‘O Thia, the dragon was my task.’</p> + +<p>She stroked his arm. ‘The dragon is +dead, O Thol. You have slain the dragon, +O my brave dear one. That task is done. +You must find some other. All men must +work. Since you loved not your sheep, +you shall love my geese, and I will teach you +to drive them with me.’</p> + +<p>‘That,’ said Thol, ‘would not be a man’s +work, O Thia.’</p> + +<p>‘But they say you are a god! And I think +a god may do as he will.’</p> + +<p>Her flock had swum out into the pond. +She called it back to her, and headed it +away towards some willows. From one of +these she plucked for Thol a long twig +such as she herself carried, and, having<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span> +stripped it of its leaves, gave it to him and +began to teach him her art.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>There was, as Thia had known there +must be, a great concourse of people around +and about the dragon.</p> + +<p>There was a long line of children riding +on its back; there were infants in arms +being urged by their mothers never to +forget that they had seen it; there were +many young men and women trying to +rip off some of its scales, as reminders; +and there were elders exchanging reminiscences +of its earliest raids and correcting +one another on various points. And the +whole crowd of holiday-makers was so intent +that the gradual approach of that earnest +worker, Thol, was not noticed until he +came quite near.</p> + +<p>Very gradual, very tortuous and irregular, +his approach was. Thia, just now, was +letting him shift for himself, offering no +hints at all. For the homelanders’ sake,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span> +she wished him to be seen at his worst. +It was ill that they should worship a false +god. To her, he was something better +than a real god. But this was another matter. +To the homelanders, he ought to seem +no more than a man who had done a great +deed and set a high example. And for his +own sake, and so for hers—for how could +his not be hers?—she wished him to have +no more honour than was his due. Splendid +man though he was, and only a year younger +than herself, he was yet a child; and +children, thought Thia—though she was +conscious that she herself, for all the petting +she had received, was rather perfect—are +easily spoilt. Altogether, the goose-girl’s +motives were as pure as her perception was +keen. Admirable, too, were her tactics; +and they should have succeeded. Yet they +failed. In the eyes of the homelanders the +goose-god lost not a jot of his divinity.</p> + +<p>No hint of disillusion was in the moans +evoked by the sight of him. Grief, shame, +horror at his condescension, and a deep +wrath against the whilom darling Thia, were +all that was felt by the kneeling and swaying +crowd.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span>Thia knew it. She was greatly disappointed. +Indeed, she was near to shedding +tears again. Pride saved her from that. +Besides, she was angry, and not only angry +but amused. And in a clear voice that was +audible above the collective moaning, ‘Have +patience, O homelanders,’ she cried. ‘He +is new to his work. He will grow in skill. +These geese will find that he is no fool. +And it may be that hereafter, if you are all +very good, I will teach him to sing and +dance for you, with flowers in his bright +red hair.’</p> + +<p>Having thus spoken, she ran to overtake +her husband, and soon, guiding the flock +in good order, went her way with him back +to the pond.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>There was a general desire that the dragon +should not be buried anywhere within the +confines of the homeland. Shib conceived +that if the trunks of felled trees were used +as rollers the carcass might be transported +to the swamps and be sunk there. By<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span> +its vast weight the carcass frustrated this +scheme. A long deep trench must be dug +beside it. All the able-bodied men of the +homeland offered their services, and of +course Shib was a most efficient director +of the work.</p> + +<p>You will be glad to hear that Shib was a +more sympathetic character than he once +was. The public spirit that had always +been his was unmarred now by vanity and +personal ambition. He was a quiet, +disinterested, indefatigable worker for the +common weal, burning always with that +hard, gem-like flame which Mr. Pater discerned +in the breasts of our own Civil +Servants. He had forgotten, or he remembered +without bitterness, the time when he +was a popular hero. Thol’s great deed was +a source of genuine pleasure to him. Nay +(for he had long ago outgrown his callow +atheism), he accepted Thol as a god, though +he was too cautious to rate him higher +than the sun.</p> + +<p>Thus he was much shocked when Thol +came wishing to help in the labour. Rising, +at Thol’s earnest entreaty, from his knees, +he ventured to speak firmly to the god—reverently<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span> +but very firmly pointing out to +him that the labourers, if their religious +feelings were flouted, would probably cease +work; and he hinted that he himself would +have to consider whether he could retain +his post. So Thol went back to the goose-pond +and was so much chidden by Thia +for his weakness that he almost wished she +believed him to be a god. Of course he +was not a god. Of course Thia was right. +Still, Shib was known to be a very wise +man. It was strange that Shib should be +mistaken. Inwardly, he could not agree +with Thia that Shib was a fool. And I +think she must have suspected him of this +reservation, for she looked at him with +much trouble in her eyes and was for a +while silent, and then, fondlingly, made him +promise that he never would trust any +one’s thoughts but hers.</p> + +<p>Three days later the great trench was +finished; and down into it, by leverage +of many stakes heftily wielded in unison, +was heaved the dragon (and there, to this +day, deep down under the eastern side of +the garden and road-way of Berkeley Square, +is the dragon’s skeleton—an occult memorial<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span> +of Thol’s deed). Down into the trench, +with a great thud that for a moment shook +the ground, fell Thol’s victim. Presently +the trench brimmed with earth, and this +earth was stamped firm by exultant feet, +and more earth was added to it and stamped +on till only a long brown path, that would +soon be green and unnoticeable, marked +the place of sepulture.</p> + +<p>The great occasion lacked only the god’s +presence. Of course the god had been +invited. Shib, heading a deputation on the +banks of the goose-pond, had besought +him that he would deign to throw the +first clod of earth upon the dragon; and +he had diplomatically added that all the +homelanders were hoping that Thia might +be induced to sing and dance on the grave +as soon as it had been filled. But Thia +had answered that she could not give her +husband leave, inasmuch as he had been +idle at his work that day; he would like +very much to come; but it was for that +very reason that she would not let him: +he must be punished. As for herself, she +too would very much like to come, but she +must stay and keep him to his work. Thol<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span> +saying nothing, the deputation had then +withdrawn, not without many obeisances, +which Thia, with as many curtseys, roguishly +took to herself.</p> + +<p>However, even without the light of the +god’s countenance on it, the festival was +a great and glorious one. Perhaps indeed +the revellers enjoyed themselves more than +would have been possible in the glare of +that awful luminary. The revels lasted +throughout the night, and throughout the +next day, and did not cease even then. +Dazed with sleepiness and heavy with surfeits +of meat, the homelanders continued +to caper around bonfires and to clap one +another on the back; and only because +they had not the secret of fermented liquor +were there no regrettable scenes of intoxication. +The revels had become a habit. It +seemed as though they would never cease. +But human strength is finite.</p> + +<p>Thia would have liked to be in the midst +of the great to-do. It was well that the +homelanders should rejoice. And the homelanders +were as dear to her as ever, though +she had so much offended them for Thol’s +sake and theirs. Thol’s nature was not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span> +social, as hers was; but she knew that even +he would have liked to have glimpses of the +fun. It grieved her to keep him aloof with +her among the geese. She sang and danced +round him and petted him and made much +of him, all day long.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>The autumn was rainy; and the winter +was rainy too; and thus the brown path +over the dragon’s grave vanished even before +spring came. Green also was the grass +that had for so many years been black above +and around the mouth of the dragon’s +cave. Valley and hill smiled as blandly +at each other as though they had never +seen a dragon.</p> + +<p>Little by little, likewise, the souls of the +homelanders had reverted, as we should +say, to type. There were no signs now of +that mutual good-will which had been implanted +in them by the common peril and +had overflowed so wildly at the time when +the peril ended. Mistrustfulness had revived,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span> +and surliness with it, and quickness +to take offence, and a dull eagerness to +retaliate on the offender. The shortcomings +of others were once more the main preoccupation +of the average homelander. Next +to these, the weather was once more the +favourite topic of conversation, especially +if the weather were bad; but even if it +were good, the prospect of bad weather +was dwelt on with a more than sufficient +emphasis. Work, of course, had to be done; +but as little of it was done as might be, +and that glumly, and not well. Meals were +habitually larger than appetites. Eyes were +duller, complexions less clear, chests narrower, +stomachs more obtrusive, arms and +legs less well-developed, than they had been +under the dragon’s auspices. And prayers, +of course, were not said now.</p> + +<p>Thia in her childhood had thought the +homelanders perfect; and thus after the +coming of the dragon she had observed no +improvement in them. But now, with +maturer vision, she did see that they were +growing less worthy of high esteem. This +grieved her. She believed that she loved +the homelanders as much as ever, she told<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span> +herself truly enough that it was much her +own fault that they had ceased to love her. +In point of fact, their coldness to her, in +course of time, cooled her feeling for them: +she was human. What she did love as +much as ever was the homeland. What +grieved her was that the homeland should +have an imperfect population.</p> + +<p>She talked constantly to Thol about her +sorrow. He was not a very apt auditor. +Being a native of the homeland, he could +not see it, as she could, from without. +It was not to him an idea, as it was to Thia’s +deep alien eyes. It was just the homeland. +As for the homelanders themselves, he had +never, as you may remember, loved them; +but he liked them quite well now. He +supposed he really was not a god; but it +no longer embarrassed him to be thought +so; indeed it pleased him to be thought so. +The homelanders no longer knelt when he +passed by. He had asked them not to, +and they reverently obeyed his wish. He +supposed Thia was right in saying that they +were less good than in the days of the +dragon; but in those days he had hardly +known them. He was glad to know them<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span> +better now. His nature had, in fact, become +more expansive. He wished Thia were not +so troubled about the homeland. He wished +she would think more gently of the homelanders, +and think less about them, and +talk less to him about them.</p> + +<p>Sometimes she even tried to enlist his +help. ‘To me,’ she would say, ‘they would +not hearken. But you, O Thol, whom +in their folly they still believe to be a god, +could give light to them and shame them +back to goodness and strength, and so to +happiness. I would teach you what words +to say.’ But Thol, even though he was +to be spared the throes of composition, +would look so blankly wretched that Thia’s +evangelical ardour was quenched in laughter. +He did not know why she was laughing, and +he hoped it was not at him that she was +laughing: after all, he had slain the dragon. +Nevertheless, her gaiety was a relief to +him.</p> + +<p>But her ardour was always flaming up +again.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span>She had very soon exempted him from that +task which failed to cure the homelanders of +their delusion about him. She agreed that +goose-driving was not a man’s work. As +he did not wish to be a shepherd again, and +as it was needful for his own good that he +should be set to some sort of work, she +urged him to be a goat-herd. Goats, she +said, were less dull than sheep; fiercer; +more like dragons. So, beside the goose-pond, +he herded goats; but without the +enthusiasm that she had hoped for.</p> + +<p>One day, about a year after their marriage, +he even suggested that he should have a +lad to help him. She said, with a curl of +the lip, that she had not known he was old +and feeble. He replied, seriously, that he +was younger than she; and as for feebleness, +he asked her to remember that he, +not she, had slain the dragon. He then +walked away, leaving his goats to their own +devices, and his wife to hers, and spent +the rest of the day in company that was more +appreciative of him. He returned of course +before sundown, fearful of a lecture. Thia, +who had already driven his goats into their +pen, did but smile demurely, saying that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span> +she would always be glad to do his work for +him, and that she was trustier than any +lad.</p> + +<p>But, as time went on, her temper was +not always so sweet. Indeed, it ceased to +be sweet. In his steady, rather bovine +way, he loved her as much as ever; but +his love of being with her was less great, +and his pleasure in the society of others was +greater, than of yore. Perhaps if Thia had +borne a child, she might have been less +troubled about the welfare of the homelanders. +But this diversion and solace was +not granted. Thia’s maternal instinct had +to spend itself on a community which she +could not help and did not now genuinely +love, and on a husband who did not understand +her simplest thoughts and was moreover +growing fat. Her disposition suffered +under the strain. One day, when she was +talking to him about the homeland, she +paused with sudden suspicion and asked +him what she had said last; and he could +make no answer; and she asked him to tell +her what he had been thinking about; +and he said that he had been thinking about +his having slain the dragon; and she, instead<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> +of chiding him tenderly, as she would have +done in the old days, screamed. She +screamed that she would go mad if ever +again he spoke to her of that old dragon. +She flung her arms out towards the hills +across the waters and said, with no lowering +of her voice, that every day, out yonder, +men were slaying dragons and thinking +nothing of it, and doing their work, and not +growing fat. He asked her whether she +meant that he himself was growing fat. +‘Yea,’ she answered. He said that then +indeed she was mad. Away he strode, +nor did he return at sundown; and it was +late in the night before the god retired from +a cheery party of worshippers and went +up to the cave, where Thia, faintly visible +in the moonlight, lay sleeping, with a look +of deep disdain on her face.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>Sometimes Thia wondered whether in +her childhood the characters and ways of +the homelanders had been as they were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span> +now. She hated to think that they had not +been perfect in those days; but she reasoned +that they could not have been: before the +coming of the dragon they must have been +as they were now, and the only difference +was that they had then loved her. Thus +even the memory of her bright careless +early years was embittered to her.</p> + +<p>In point of fact, the homelanders had +not been exactly as they now were. The +sudden cessation of the strain imposed on +them by the dragon’s presence, and of the +comparative hardships also imposed by it, +had caused a reaction so strong as to restore +to them in a rather accentuated form what +faults had originally been theirs. Human +nature had grown rather more human than +ever. Labour was a less than ever alluring +thing. Responsibilities had a greater irksomeness. +Freedom was all. And, as having +special measure of vital force, especially +were youths and maidens intent on making +the most of their freedom. Their freedom +was their religion; and, as every religion +needs rites, they ritualistically danced. They +danced much during the day, and then +much by moonlight or starlight or firelight,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span> +in a grim and purposeful, an angular and +indeflexible manner, making it very clear +that they were not to be trifled with.</p> + +<p>Thia, when first she saw them engaged +thus, had been very glad; she imagined +that they must be doing something useful. +When she realised that they were dancing, +she drew a deep breath. She remembered +how she herself had danced—danced +thoughtlessly and anyhow, from her heart, +with every scrap of her body. She blushed +at the recollection. She did not wonder +that the homelanders had resented her dance +on the morning after her marriage. She +wondered that they had encouraged her to +dance when she was a child. And she felt +that there must, after all, be in these young +people a deep fund of earnestness, auguring +well for their future.</p> + +<p>Time had not confirmed this notion. The +young people danced through the passing +seasons and the passing years with ever +greater assiduity and solemnity; but other +forms of seriousness were not manifested +by them. Few of them seemed to find +time even for falling in love and marrying. +They all, however, called one another ‘beloved,’<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span> +and had a kind of mutual good-will +which their elders, among themselves, would +have done well to emulate. And for those +elders they had a tolerant feeling which +ought to have been, yet was not, fully +reciprocated.</p> + +<p>Thol within five years of the dragon’s +death, Thol with his immense red beard and +his stately deportment, was of course very +definitely an elder; and still more so was +that wife of his, that rather beautiful dark +woman, Thia, whose face was so set and +stern that she looked almost as though she—she!—were +dancing. Thol was liked by +the young people. They made much of him. +They did not at all object to his being +rather pompous: after all, he had slain +that dragon, and they thought it quite +natural that their parents should imagine +he was a god. They liked him to be pompous. +They humoured him. They enjoyed +drawing him out. Among the youths there +were several who, in the hours not devoted +to earnest dancing and cursory guardianship +of flocks, made pictures upon white stones +or upon slabs of chalk. They liked +especially to make pictures of Thol, because<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> +he was so ready to pose for them, and +because he stood so still for them. They +drew in a manner of their own, a manner, +which made the veins of poor old Veo stand +out upon his forehead, and moved him +to declare that they would die young and +would die in shame and in agony. Thol, +however, was no critic. He was glad to be +portrayed in any manner. And it much +pleased him to have the colour of his mane +and beard praised constantly by the young +artists. He had supposed the colour was +wrong. Thia had been wont to laugh at +it, in her laughing days. Thia had never +called him beautiful, in her praising days. +It gladdened him that there were now many +young women—Afa, for instance, and Ola, +and Ispa, and Moa—who called him, to +his face, ‘terribly’ beautiful.</p> + +<p>Thol’s face, which Thia had admired +for its steadfast look, and later had begun +to like less for its heavy look, had now a +look that was rather fatuous. Afa and the +others did not at all object to this. They +liked it; they encouraged it by asking him +to dance with them. He did not, as they +supposed, think that he was too old to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span> +dance: he only thought that he might not +dance well and might lose his power over +them. He believed that they loved him. +How should they not? Thia, though she +never told him so now, loved him with her +whole heart, of course, and, for all the harsh +words she spoke at times, thought that no +man was his equal. How should not these +much gentler young women not have given +their hearts to him? He felt that he himself +could love one of them, if he were not +Thia’s husband. They were not beautiful, +as Thia was; and they were not wise, +as she was; but he felt that if he had +never seen Thia he might love one of +them, or even all of them.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>For lack of a calendar, the homelanders +had not the habit of keeping anniversaries. +They never knew on what day of the year a +thing had happened—did not even know +that there was a year. But they knew the +four seasons. They remembered that the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span> +apple-trees had been in blossom when Thol +slew the dragon, and that since then the +apple-trees had blossomed four times. And +it seemed good to them that at the close +of a day when those blossoms were again +on those branches, a feast should be held in +that part of the valley where the great +deed had been done. Shib, who organised +the feast, was anxious that it should be +preceded by a hymn in praise of the slayer +god. He thought this would have a good +effect on the rising generation. But Thol +opposed the idea, and it was dropped. +Shib had also been anxious that Thia should +attend the feast, sitting at Thol’s right hand +and signifying to the young the blessedness +of the married state. Thol promised that +he would beg her to come; and he did so, +as a matter of form, frequently. But Thia +of course did not grace the convivial +scene.</p> + +<p>It was at a late hour of the moonlit +night that Thol, flushed with adulation, +withdrew from the revels, amidst entreaties +that he should remain. He was still wearing +the chaplet of flowers that Afa had +woven for him. Afa herself was clinging<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span> +to one of his arms, Moa to the other, as +he went round to the eastern spur of the +hill; and Ola and Ispa and many others +were footing around lightly and lingeringly, +appealingly. It was rather the thought of +Thia’s love for him than of his for her +that withheld him from kissing these +attendants before he bade them good-night. +For his own sake he wished, as he climbed +the hill, that they would not stand cooing +so many farewells up to him so loudly. +Thia might not understand how true he +was to her. He hoped she was sleeping. +But she was awake. Nor was he reassured +by the laughter with which, after a moment, +she greeted him. She was looking at his +head. He became suddenly aware that he +had not shed that chaplet. He snatched it +off. She laughed the more, but with no +kindness in the sound of her laughter.</p> + +<p>‘O Thia,’ he said, after a search for words, +‘be not wroth against those maidens! I +love none of them.’</p> + +<p>‘Is that not cruel of you, O Thol? Do +they not love you?’</p> + +<p>‘Though they love me, O Thia, I swear +to you that I love not them.’</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span>‘Why should you not?’ she laughed. +‘Are you so foolish that you think I should +be sorry?’</p> + +<p>‘O Thia,’ he rebuked her, ‘you speak +empty words. You speak as though you +did not love me.’</p> + +<p>‘I have long ceased to love you, O Thol,’ +she said in a low voice.</p> + +<p>He stared at her blankly in the moonlight. +His slow mind strove hard. ‘But you are +my wife,’ he said at last. ‘I am your +husband. O Thia, is it indeed true that +you have ceased to love me?’</p> + +<p>‘O Thol, it is most true.’</p> + +<p>Then, by stress of the great anger that +rose in him, his mind worked more quickly—or +rather his tongue was loosened. He +told Thia that she had never loved him. +She denied this coldly. He said that she +had never understood him. She denied +this warmly. He reminded her that even +when she was a little girl she had once +called him a coward; and this too she +denied; but he maintained that it was so; +and she reminded him that after he had +been beaten by his master for seeing the +dragon he said that she too ought to have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span> +been beaten for seeing the dragon; and he +denied this; but she persisted that it was +so; and he then said that she ought to have +been beaten; and she replied that she +could be now, and she challenged him to +beat her; but he did not accept her challenge; +and this, she said, proved that he +was a coward; and he asked her to repeat +this, and she repeated it, and he then reminded +her that he had slain the dragon; +and she, stamping her foot, said she only +wished the dragon had slain him; and she +made a face at him, and rushed out of the +cave, and if there had been a door she would +have slammed it; and really he was quite +glad that she had gone; and after she had +run far she lay down upon the grass and +slept till dawn, and then, rising and brushing +the dew off her arms and legs, went in +search of some lonely spot where she should +build her a hut of clay and wattles.</p> + +<p>And perhaps it was a sign of her alien +blood that the spot chosen by her was in +what we call Soho. It was the spot on +which, many years later, many of my coævals +were to dine in the little Restaurant du +Bon-Accueil, half-way along Gerrard Street.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span> +Gone, as utterly as Thia’s hut, is the dear +little Restaurant du Bon-Accueil. But +again I must hark back.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>‘Very surely,’ thought Thol, some +moments after the sun had waked him and +shown him the empty cave and brought +back last night to his memory, ‘I shall +find her by the pond.’</p> + +<p>Thither, with much dignity of gait, but +with the promise of forgiveness on his +brow, he presently went. She was not +there. There only her geese were.</p> + +<p>These he unpenned and let go into the +pond, and then, having freed his goats also, +sat down and waited. He waited all day +long. She did not come. Nor was she +there for him in the cave when he went +back to it at sunset. Neither was she at +the pond next morning. Not even her +geese were there now.</p> + +<p>That she had wanted them, and not +him, was a bitter thought to Thol. He had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span> +not, till now, known how much he loved +her. That she had been here this morning, +or in the night, made the ground somehow +wonderful to him. But he frowned away +from his brow the promise of forgiveness. +He would not forgive Thia now. Still less +would he go in quest of her. He freed his +goats, guided them to some long grass and, +sitting down, tried to take an intelligent +interest in their doings and a lively interest +in their welfare, and not wonder where +Thia was.</p> + +<p>For three whole days he tried hard—tried +with all that fixity of purpose which had +enabled him at last to slay the dragon. It +was Afa’s visit that unmanned him.</p> + +<p>Not she nor any other of those maidens +had ever come to him at the pond in Thia’s +time. If they happened to pass that way, +they would gaze straight before them, or +up at the sky, greeting neither the husband +nor the wife, and simpering elaborately, +as much as to say, ‘We are unworthy.’ +But now it was straight at Thol that the +approaching Afa simpered. And she said, +‘I am come to be the goat-herd’s help!’</p> + +<p>He marvelled that there was a time when<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span> +he had thought he might have loved one +of these maidens. He was not even sure +that he knew which of them this one was. +He was sure only that he despised them all. +And this sentiment so contorted his mild +face that there was nothing for Afa to do +but toss her head and laugh and leave +him.</p> + +<p>Presently the look of great scorn in his +face was succeeded by a look of even +greater love. He arose and went in search +of Thia. But he did not in his quest of +her throw dignity to the winds. He did +not ask anybody where he should find her. +He walked slowly, as though bent on no +errand. It was near sunset when at length +he espied his lost one near to a lonely +pool at the edge of the forest.</p> + +<p>She did not see him. She sat busily +plaiting wattles. There was a great pile +of these beside her. And in and around +the pool were her geese.</p> + +<p>It was they that saw him first, and at +sight of him they began to quack, as though +in warning. Thia looked up quickly and +saw Thol. He held out his arms to her, +he strode towards her, calling her name;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> +but she was up, she was gone into the +darkness of the forest.</p> + +<p>Long he peered into that darkness, and +called into it, and even groped through it, +but vainly.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>For people who are not accustomed to +think, thought is a fatiguing affair. Thol, +despite his robust body, was tired when +he awoke next morning, for he had spent +a great part of the night in wondering how +to win back his wife. In the days before +he slew the dragon he had been a constant +thinker. Little by little he was now to +regain the habit.</p> + +<p>Step by step he reached the premiss that +in order to find a means of winning Thia +back he must first make clear to himself why +she had ceased to love him. He put together +what he could recall of the many +things that in the course of time she had +said in anger against him. And he came +to the conclusion that he had displeased +her most by dwelling so much upon his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span> +great deed. He would dwell less upon it, +try even to forget it. But this would not +suffice. How was she to know that he was +no longer dwelling as of yore? Perhaps he +could do a second great deed? There +seemed to be none to do. He must nevertheless +try to think of one—some second +great deed that would much please her. +It was for the homelanders’ sake that the +first one had found favour in her sight. +And then somehow the homelanders had +become less good because of it. Thia had +often said so. Of course she had never +blamed him for that. Still, perhaps she +would not have ceased to love him if his +deed had not done harm. Was there no +deed by which the harm could be undone? +Day by day, night by night, Thol went +on thinking.</p> + +<p>After the lapse of what we should call +a week or so, he began to act also.</p> + +<p>He knew that there could be no great +thickness of barrier between the back of +his cave and the back of the cave that had +been the dragon’s; for in his childhood +he had often heard through it quite clearly +the sound of the voices of Gra and her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span> +children. To make in it now a breach +big enough to crawl through on hands +and knees was the first step in the plan +that he had formed. With a great sharp +stone, hour after hour, daily, he knelt at +work. Fortunately—for else must the whole +plan have come to naught—the barrier was +but of earth, with quite small stones in +it. Nevertheless, much of strength and +patience had been exerted before the +first little chink of daylight met Thol’s +eyes.</p> + +<p>It was a glad moment for him when, +that same evening, at sunset, at last he was +able to crawl through into the western +cave; but as he rose and gazed around +the soot-blackened lair he did not exult. +His work had but begun. And his work +would never end while he lived. He prayed +earnestly to the sun that he might live +long and always do his work rightly. Also +he prayed that Thia might soon again love +him.</p> + +<p>That night, in his own cave, just as he +was falling asleep, he had a doubt which +greatly troubled him. He arose and went +forth to a place where some ducks were.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span> +One of these he took and slew, and strode +away with it to the marshes. There he +heaved it into the ooze. It was quickly +sucked down. This was well.</p> + +<p>On the next night he became a woodman; +and many were the nights he spent in +going to and fro in the dark between his +cave and the nearest margin of the forest, +lopping off great branches and bearing them +away for storage, and even uprooting saplings +and bearing away these also, and, with +a flint axe, felling young trees, and chopping +them into lengths that were portable. +He continued this night-work until both +caves were neatly stacked with wood +enough to serve his purpose for a longish +while.</p> + +<p>And then—for he had thought out everything, +with that thoroughness which is the +virtue of slow minds—he wove two thick +screens of osiers and withes, each screen +rather bigger than either end of the tunnel. +On the evening when the second of these +was finished, he made in the dragon’s cave, +not far from the left-hand side of the cave’s +mouth, a thick knee-high heap of branches +and logs, some of them dry, others green.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> +He placed at the other side of the mouth +two thick flat stones, one upon the +other.</p> + +<p>Back in his own cave, he smeared with +sheep’s fat a certain great stick of very +dry pine-wood.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>And on the following morning history +began to repeat itself. With some variations, +however. For example, it was not a +puny little boy but a great strong man who, +as the sun rose, came rushing with every +symptom of terror down the western side +of the hill. And the man was not really +frightened. He only seemed so.</p> + +<p>He careered around the valley, howling +now like one distraught. Responsive sheep, +goats, geese, what not, made great noises +of their own. From the mouths of caves +and huts people darted and stood agape. +Thol waved his arms wildly towards the +cave upon the hill. People saw a great +column of smoke climbing up from it +into the sky.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span>‘A dragon! Another dragon!’ was +Thol’s burthen.</p> + +<p>People gathered round him in deep wonder +and agitation. He told them, in gasps, +that he had come down early—very early—to +look for mushrooms—and had looked +back and—seen a dragon crawling up +the hill. He said that he had seen it +only for a moment or two: it crawled +very quickly—far more quickly than the +old one. He added that it was rather +smaller than the old one—smaller and +yet far more terrible, though its smoke +was less black. Also, that it held high +its head, not scorching the grass on its +way.</p> + +<p>There was no panic.</p> + +<p>‘O Thol,’ said one, ‘we need not fear +the dragon, for here are you, to come +between us and him.’</p> + +<p>‘Here by this stream,’ said another, ‘we +shall presently bury him with great rejoicings, +O high god.’</p> + +<p>The crowd went down on its knees, +thanking Thol in anticipation. But he, +provident plodder, had foreseen what would +happen, and had his words ready. ‘Nay,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span> +O homelanders,’ he said, plucking at his +great beard, ‘I am less young than I +was. I am heavier, and not so brave. +Peradventure some younger man will +dare meet this dragon for us, some day. +Meanwhile, let us tempt him with the +flesh of beasts, as of yore, hoping that +so he will come but seldom into our +midst.’</p> + +<p>In consternation the crowd rose from its +knees, and Thol walked quickly away, with +a rather shambling gait.</p> + +<p>The awful news spread apace. The valley +was soon full. Long and earnestly the +great throng prayed to the sun that he +would call the dragon away from them. +He did not so. Up, up went the steadfast +smoke from within the cave. Less black +it certainly was than that of the other +dragon, but not less dreadful. Almost as +great as the terror that it inspired was the +general contempt for Thol. Many quite +old men vowed to practise the needful +stroke of the spear. All the youths vowed +likewise—yea, and many of the maidens +too. It was well-known, of course, that +Thol had practised for a long while, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span> +that any haste would be folly; but such +knowledge rather heartened than dejected +the vowers. Meanwhile, the thing to do +was what the craven Thol had suggested +before he slunk away: to offer food as +of yore. Shib, bristling with precedents, +organised the labour. Thol had said that +the dragon was a smaller one than the other. +Perhaps therefore not so much food would +be needed. But it was better to be on the +safe side and offer the same ration. Up +to the little shelf of ground in front of the +cave’s mouth were borne two goats, three +ducks, two deer, three geese and two +sheep.</p> + +<p>All day long the valley was crowded with +gazers, hopers, comforters of one another, +offerers-up of prayers.</p> + +<p>As day drew to its close, the tensity +increased. Would this dragon wake and +eat at sunset, as that other had been wont +to do? How soon would appear through +the smoke that glimpse of nether fire which +proclaimed that his head was out of the +cave, alert and active? And would that +glow rise and fall, in the old way, twelve +times, with the sound of the clashed jaws?<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span> +What was in store for the homeland to-night?</p> + +<p>None but Thol knew.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>He, very wisely, had rested all day in +preparation for the tasks of evening and +night. Two or three times, moving aside +the screen that kept the smoke out of his +cave, he had crawled through the opening +and, drawing the other screen across the +other side of it, had tended the fire. For +the rest, he had been all inactive.</p> + +<p>As twilight crept into the cave, he knelt in +solemn supplication to the departing sun. +Presently, when darkness had descended, +he struck two flints, lit one end of his +pine-wood staff, moved the screen aside, +drew a long deep breath, and crawled swiftly +into the other cave. Slowly he moved his +torch from side to side of the cave’s mouth, +along the ground. He was holding it in his +left hand, and in his right hand was holding +one of the two flat stones. After a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span> +pause, still kneeling, he raised high the +torch for a moment or two and then sharply +lowered it in the direction of one of the +smoke-clouded animals. At the same time +he powerfully clashed the one stone down +upon the other. Another pause, and he +repeated these actions exactly, directing the +torch towards the next animal. He performed +them ten times in all. Then he +extinguished his torch and crept quickly +home, puffing and spluttering and snorting, +glad to escape into clear air.</p> + +<p>When he had regained his breath, he +crawled back to drag the carcasses in. The +roe and the buck he left where they were. +He had calculated that three nightly journeys +to the marshes and back would be +all that he could achieve. First he would +take the two sheep, one on each shoulder; +next, the goats; lastly the birds, three +necks in either hand. The buck and the +roe would be too heavy to be carried +together; and for five journeys there would +certainly not be time. It was for this +reason that he had described the dragon +as smaller than the old one, and had clashed +the stones ten times only.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span>From the valley rose sounds of rejoicing +that all was well for the homeland to-night. +One by one, Thol transferred the carcasses +to his own cave. He waited there among +them till the dead of night, when all folk +would be sleeping. Then, shouldering the +two sheep, he sallied forth down the hill +and away to the marshes.</p> + +<p>He accomplished the whole of his night-work +before the stars had begun to fade. +Then, having replenished and banked the +fire, he lay down to sleep. Some four +hours later he woke to go and tend the fire +again, and then again slept.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>It was a toilsome, lonesome, monotonous +and fuliginous life that Thol had chosen; +but he never faltered in it. Always at +nightfall he impersonated the dragon, and +in the small hours went his journeys to the +marshes; and never once did he let the +fire die.</p> + +<p>The afternoons passed very slowly. He<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span> +wished he could sally forth into the sunshine, +like other men. He paced round +and round his cave, hour after hour, a +strange figure, dark-handed, dark-visaged, +dark-bearded.</p> + +<p>In so far as they deigned to remember +him at all, the homelanders supposed he +had gone away, that first morning, across +the waters or through the forests, to some +land where he could look men in the +face.</p> + +<p>Here he was, however, in their midst, a +strenuous and faithful servant.</p> + +<p>He had a stern grim joy in the hardness +of his life—save that he could never ask +Thia to share it with him. He had not +foreseen—it was the one thing he had not +thought out well—how hard the life would +be. The great deed by which he had +thought to bring Thia back to him must +forever keep them asunder. Thus he had +done an even greater deed than he intended. +And his stern grim joy in it was thereby +the greater.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span>Had she so wished, Thia might have +become very popular and have regained +something of her past glory. After Thol’s +confession of cowardice she had instantly +risen in the homelanders’ esteem. How +very right she had been to leave him! +Friendly eyes and friendly words greeted +her. But when they all knelt praying the +sun to call the dragon away, she remained +upright and mute. And afterwards, when +she was asked why, she said that it was well +that the dragon should abide among them, +for thus would they all be the better, in +heart and deed, and therefore truly the +happier, could they but know it. She said +that whether or not they could know it, +so it was.</p> + +<p>These sayings of hers were taken in +bad part, and she was shunned because of +them. This did not mar the joy she had +in knowing that all was well once more +in the homeland.</p> + +<p>She felt herself not at all unblest in the +quiet spinsterly life she was leading, in +and out of her trim new hut, with her dear +flock of geese about her.</p> + +<p>Of Thol, nowadays, she thought more<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span> +gently. She felt that if he had stayed in +the homeland she would have gone back +to him. It would have been her bounden +duty to be with him and to comfort him +in his shame. Indeed his shame made +him dear to her once more. As the days +passed she thought more and more about +him. It was strange that he had gone +from the homeland. No homelander ever +had gone forth into the perils of the lands +beyond. If she herself, daughter of +wanderers, had roved away instead of building +this hut to dwell in, she might not +have much marvelled at herself, less brave +though she was than Thol. And Thol was +no longer brave. How had he, fearing a +dragon smaller than that other, conquered +his fear of known and unknown things +that were worse yet, far worse yet?</p> + +<p>And one evening a strange doubt came to +her. Might it not be that Thol was still +in the homeland? In one of all these dark +forests he might be living, with nuts and +berries to support life. Or, she further +guessed, he might even be in his own cave, +stealing out at night when all but the watchmen +on the other side of the hill were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span> +sleeping. This notion, foolish though it +seemed to her, possessed her mind.</p> + +<p>So soon as silence and sleep had descended +on the homeland, Thia herself stole out +into the clear starlit night. Not far from +the eastern spur of the hill she lay down in +a clump of long grass, and thence, gazing +up, watched the cave’s mouth steadily.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>Some one presently came forth: and +yes, it was Thol. Slowly he came down +the hill, with his head bent forward, with +his hands up to his bowed shoulders, and +two burdens at his back—two goats, as +Thia saw when presently Thol turned aside +southward. He looked very strange. His +hair and face seemed to have grown quite +dark. And what was he doing with those +two goats? Thia lay still, with a fast-beating +heart. She felt that her voice would +not have come, even had she tried to call +to him.</p> + +<p>She watched him out of sight, then rose<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span> +to her feet and, hesitatingly, went to the +foot of the hill, and then, quickly and +resolutely, went up it and into the cave.</p> + +<p>Quick-witted though she was, the sight +of three geese and three ducks and of two +sheep puzzled her deeply; and not less +did she wonder at the quantity of stacked +wood. And what was that fence of osiers +against the wall? She moved it slightly +and saw a great breach in the wall; and +through this some smoke came drifting in. +And now her quick wits began to work—but +in such wise as to make her bewilderment +the deeper.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, drawing a deep breath, she +went down on her hands and knees, and +crawled rapidly through.</p> + +<p>She was soon back again. Blinking hard +and shaking the smoke from her nostrils, +she went to breathe the clear air at the +cave’s mouth. But, good though this air +was, she hardly tasted it. She had burst +out sobbing. She, who never in all her +life had shed tears, sobbed much now. But +she remembered that tears make people’s +eyes ugly. So she controlled herself and +dried her eyes vigorously. She had not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span> +remembered that the palms of her hands +must be all black from her crawl. When +she saw them, and knew what her face +must be now, she burst out laughing. And +the sound made her feel very young, for +it was long since she had laughed. But, +as she wished to please Thol’s eyes, she +retired to the back of the cave and crouched +where she would scarcely be seen by him +when he came.</p> + +<p>He came at last, and then, very softly, +she cried out to him, ‘Thol!’</p> + +<p>He, brave though he was, started +violently.</p> + +<p>‘Do not look at me, O Thol! Not +yet! For my face is black and would displease +you. Look at me only after you +have heard me. O Thol, if they said now +that you were a god, almost would I believe +them. But if you were a god your deed +would be less great. The wonder is that +you are a man, and were once mine. O +Thol, forgive me, keep me here with you, +need me!’</p> + +<p>But he slowly answered, ‘Nay, O Thia, +this cave is not now for a woman.’</p> + +<p>‘Not for a woman that is your wife and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span> +lover? Think! Was it not for my sake +and for love of me that you thought to do +what you are doing?’</p> + +<p>‘Yea, O Thia. Yet, now that I am +doing it, itself suffices me. I am strong, +and suffer not under the burden of it. +The very heaviness of it makes me glad. +And now your knowledge of it gladdens +me, too. But I would not have you bear +the least part of it with me. Go to your +own home!’</p> + +<p>‘You speak firmly, O great dragon! Yet +will not I obey you. Tell me of your work. +Is it to the marshes that you take the beasts +and the birds?’</p> + +<p>‘Yea. Begone, small dear one!’ And +he stooped down to take the two sheep.</p> + +<p>‘Once, long ago, you wished that a lad +might help you in your hard work. O +Thol, I am as I was, trustier than any +lad. It were better that you should go +twice, not thrice, every night, to the marshes. +I will always take the birds.’ And she +rose to take them.</p> + +<p>But a thought, a very important thought, +came to her, giving her pause. And she +said, ‘The fire must first be tended.’</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span>‘It has no need yet,’ he answered. ‘I +tend it when I come back from the last +journey.’</p> + +<p>‘To-night it shall be tended earlier. And +I will so tend it that it shall last long.’ +She was down on her knees and off into the +smoke before he could stop her. He followed +her, protesting that such work was +not for her. She did it, nevertheless, very +well. And presently, side by side, he with +two sheep, she with three birds’ necks in +either fist, they went forth into the starlight, +and down away to the marshes.</p> + +<p>There, having duly sunk their burdens, +they took each other by the hand, and +turned homeward. At one of the running +brooks on their way home, Thia halted. +‘Here,’ she said, ‘will I wash my face +well. And do you, too, O Thol, wash +yours, so that when we wake in the morning +mine shall not displease you.’</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span>Every night Thia accompanied Thol on +one of the two journeys; and during the +other she would go to the forest and gather +wood, so that there should always be plenty +of fuel in hand. She was sorry to have had +to abandon her geese, for she felt they +would not be as happy with any one as +they had been with her. Nothing else whatever +was there to mar her joy in the life +that she and Thol were leading together, +and in the good that they were doing. +It amused her to know that the homelanders +would think she had wandered away—she +who was serving them so well. Its +very secrecy made her life the more +joyous.</p> + +<p>Daily she prayed to the sun and other +gods that she and Thol might live to be +very old and might never fail in their +work.</p> + +<p>But the sun and those others were not +good listeners.</p> + +<p>As the nights lengthened and the leaves +began to fall, the mists over the marshes +and around them grew ever thicker. It +was not easy to find the way through them; +and they were very cold, and had a savour<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span> +that was bitter to the tongue and to the +nostrils. And one morning Thia, when +she woke, was shivering from head to foot, +though she was in Thol’s arms. She +slipped away from him without waking him, +and went not merely to tend the fire but +also to warm herself at it. All through the +morning she was shivering; and in the +evening her hands became hot, as did her +face and all her body. She felt very weak. +She could laugh no more now at Thol’s +disquietude. She lay down, but could not +lie very still. At about the time when +they were wont to sally forth, she rose up, +feeling that even though she might not be +able to carry the birds to-night the journey +would freshen her. She soon found that +she was too weak even to stand. Thol +was loth to leave her; but she insisted that +the work must be done. Again and again, +next day and during the next night, she +implored him that if she died he would +not mourn her very much and would not +once falter in the work. He promised that +he would not falter. Other days and nights +passed. It seemed to Thol that Thia had +ceased to know him. She did not even<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span> +follow him with her eyes now. One morning, +at daybreak, soon after his return from +the third journey, she seemed, by her gaze, +to know him. But presently she died in +his arms.</p> + +<p>On that night he went to the forest and +dug a grave for his wife. Then, returning to +the cave, he took her in his arms, and carried +her away, and buried her.</p> + +<p>In the time that followed, he was not +altogether lonely. He felt by day that somehow +she was in the cave with him still, and +by night he felt that she walked with him. +He never faltered in the work.</p> + +<p>He faltered not much even when the +marshes did to him as they had done to +Thia. Shivering in every limb, or hot and +aching, and very weak, he yet forced himself +to tend the fire and at nightfall to +brandish the torch and clash the stones +and drag in the beasts and birds. It irked +him that he was not strong enough to carry +even one sheep away. Surely, he would +be strong again soon? For Thia’s sake, +and for the homeland’s, he wished ardently +to live. But there came an evening when +the watchers in the valley saw no rising<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span> +and falling, heard no clashing, of the +dragon’s jaws.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_deco.jpg" alt=""></div> + +<p>Would the dragon come forth to-night? +The valley on the further side of the stream +was now thickly crowded. On the nearer +side were many single adventurers, with +spears. Their prowess and skill were not +tested. The dragon came not forth.</p> + +<p>In the dawn it was noted that his smoke +was far less thick than it was wont to be. +Soon it ceased altogether. What had happened? +Perchance the dragon was ailing? +But even an ailing dragon would breathe. +A great glad surmise tremulously formed +itself. Was the dragon dead?</p> + +<p>The surmise quickly became a firm belief—so +firm that, in spite of protests from the +precise Shib, songs of thanksgiving were +heartily sung before the cave was approached +and examined.</p> + +<p>People were much puzzled. The dead +man lying at the cave’s mouth, grasping in +one hand a flat stone and in the other a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span> +charred staff, was not quickly recognised +as Thol, so black were his hair and skin; +nor was he at once known to have been the +dragon. The quantities of stacked wood, +the tunnel into the cave where Thol had +lived, did not quickly divulge their meaning. +Only after long arguments and many conjectures +did the homelanders understand +the trick that had been played on them. +Why, with what evil intent, it had been +played, they were almost too angry to discuss +at present. But certain words of Thia’s +were remembered; and it was felt that she +herself perhaps had put the trick into Thol’s +mind and that this was why she had fled +the homeland. She had better not set foot +in it again.</p> + +<p>Before the sun sank, Thol was buried +without honour, and far from Thia.</p> + +<p>And before the sun sank many other +times the homelanders were as they had +been before the coming of the true dragon, +and as they had been again before the +false one was among them.</p> + + +<p class="center">FINIS</p> + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span> +<p>And thus—does our tale end unhappily? +I think not. After all, the homelanders +at large are rather shadowy to us. Oc and +Loga, Shib and Veo, Afa and her like, +and all those others, all those nameless +others, do not mean much to us. It is +Thol and Thia that we care about. For +their sake we wish that the good they did +could have been lasting. But it is not in +the nature of things that anything—except +the nature of things—should last. Saints +and wise statesmen can do much. Their +reward is in the doing of it. They are +lucky if they do not live long enough to +see the undoing. It should suffice us that +Thol and Thia together in their last days +knew a happiness greater than they had +ever known—Thol a greater happiness than +in the days of his glory, and Thia than in +the days of hers.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p class="center"> +PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS, LTD.,<br> +LONDON AND TONBRIDGE.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="ph1">FOOTNOTE:</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[A]</a> Lest the reader assume that in the course of this narrative +one or both of Thia’s parents will return to claim her, let me +at once state that within a few months of her being left in the +homeland her father was killed by a lion, and her mother by +a lioness, in what has since become Shropshire.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="transnote"> +<p class="ph1">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:</p> + +<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p> + +<p>Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.</p> + +<p>Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.</p> + +<p>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.</p> +</div></div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75341 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/75341-h/images/cover.jpg b/75341-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..83ba91b --- /dev/null +++ b/75341-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/75341-h/images/coversmall.jpg b/75341-h/images/coversmall.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..64fb24c --- /dev/null +++ b/75341-h/images/coversmall.jpg diff --git a/75341-h/images/i_deco.jpg b/75341-h/images/i_deco.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2586351 --- /dev/null +++ b/75341-h/images/i_deco.jpg diff --git a/75341-h/images/i_frontis.jpg b/75341-h/images/i_frontis.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b23c3be --- /dev/null +++ b/75341-h/images/i_frontis.jpg diff --git a/75341-h/images/i_title.jpg b/75341-h/images/i_title.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cce09aa --- /dev/null +++ b/75341-h/images/i_title.jpg diff --git a/75341-h/images/i_title_logo.jpg b/75341-h/images/i_title_logo.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..db2b65f --- /dev/null +++ b/75341-h/images/i_title_logo.jpg |
