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diff --git a/873-h/873-h.htm b/873-h/873-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb39ebb --- /dev/null +++ b/873-h/873-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3870 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>A House of Pomegranates, by Oscar Wilde</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;} + div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A House of Pomegranates, by Oscar Wilde + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: A House of Pomegranates + + +Author: Oscar Wilde + + + +Release Date: October 26, 2014 [eBook #873] +[This file was first posted on April 8, 1997] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1915 Methuen and Co. edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/coverb.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Book cover" +title= +"Book cover" + src="images/covers.jpg" /> +</a></p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">TO<br /> +CONSTANCE MARY WILDE</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<h1>A HOUSE<br /> +OF POMEGRANATES</h1> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">BY</span><br +/> +OSCAR WILDE</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">METHUEN & CO. LTD.<br /> +36 ESSEX STREET W.C.<br /> +LONDON</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall"><i>Seventh +Edition</i></span></p> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p><i>First Published</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1891</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><i>First Issued by Methuen and Co.</i> (<i>Limited +Editions on Handmade Paper and Japanese Vellum</i>)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1908</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><i>Third Edition</i> (<i>F’cap.</i> 8<i>vo</i>)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1909</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><i>Fourth Edition</i> ( ,, )</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1911</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><i>Fifth Edition</i> ( ,, )</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1913</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><i>Sixth Edition</i> (<i>Crown</i> 4<i>to</i>, +<i>Illustrated by Jessie King</i>)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1915</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><i>Seventh Edition</i> (<i>F’cap.</i> +8<i>vo</i>)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">1915</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">PAGE</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Young King</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page1">1</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Birthday of the Infanta</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page31">31</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Fisherman and his Soul</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page73">73</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Star-child</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page147">147</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<h2><a name="page1"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 1</span>THE +YOUNG KING</h2> +<p style="text-align: center">TO<br /> +MARGARET LADY BROOKE<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">[THE RANEE OF SARAWAK]</span></p> +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was the night before the day +fixed for his coronation, and the young King was sitting alone in +his beautiful chamber. His courtiers had all taken their +leave of him, bowing their heads to the ground, according to the +ceremonious usage of the day, and had retired to the Great Hall +of the Palace, to receive a few last lessons from the Professor +of Etiquette; there being some of them who had still quite +natural manners, which in a courtier is, I need hardly say, a +very grave offence.</p> +<p>The lad—for he was only a lad, being but sixteen years +of age—was not sorry at their departure, and had flung +himself back with a deep sigh of relief on the soft cushions of +his embroidered couch, lying there, wild-eyed and open-mouthed, +like a brown woodland Faun, or some young animal of the forest +newly snared by the hunters.</p> +<p>And, indeed, it was the hunters who had found him, coming upon +him almost by chance as, bare-limbed and pipe in hand, he was +following the flock of the poor goatherd who had brought him up, +and whose son he had always fancied himself to be. The +child of the old King’s only daughter by a secret marriage +with one much beneath her in station—a stranger, some said, +who, by the wonderful magic of his lute-playing, had made the +young Princess love him; while others spoke of an artist from +Rimini, to whom the Princess had shown much, perhaps too much +honour, and who had suddenly disappeared from the city, leaving +his work in the Cathedral unfinished—he had been, when but +a week old, stolen away from his mother’s side, as she +slept, and given into the charge of a common peasant and his +wife, who were without children of their own, and lived in a +remote part of the forest, more than a day’s ride from the +town. Grief, or the plague, as the court physician stated, +or, as some suggested, a swift Italian poison administered in a +cup of spiced wine, slew, within an hour of her wakening, the +white girl who had given him birth, and as the trusty messenger +who bare the child across his saddle-bow stooped from his weary +horse and knocked at the rude door of the goatherd’s hut, +the body of the Princess was being lowered into an open grave +that had been dug in a deserted churchyard, beyond the city +gates, a grave where it was said that another body was also +lying, that of a young man of marvellous and foreign beauty, +whose hands were tied behind him with a knotted cord, and whose +breast was stabbed with many red wounds.</p> +<p>Such, at least, was the story that men whispered to each +other. Certain it was that the old King, when on his +deathbed, whether moved by remorse for his great sin, or merely +desiring that the kingdom should not pass away from his line, had +had the lad sent for, and, in the presence of the Council, had +acknowledged him as his heir.</p> +<p>And it seems that from the very first moment of his +recognition he had shown signs of that strange passion for beauty +that was destined to have so great an influence over his +life. Those who accompanied him to the suite of rooms set +apart for his service, often spoke of the cry of pleasure that +broke from his lips when he saw the delicate raiment and rich +jewels that had been prepared for him, and of the almost fierce +joy with which he flung aside his rough leathern tunic and coarse +sheepskin cloak. He missed, indeed, at times the fine +freedom of his forest life, and was always apt to chafe at the +tedious Court ceremonies that occupied so much of each day, but +the wonderful palace—<i>Joyeuse</i>, as they called +it—of which he now found himself lord, seemed to him to be +a new world fresh-fashioned for his delight; and as soon as he +could escape from the council-board or audience-chamber, he would +run down the great staircase, with its lions of gilt bronze and +its steps of bright porphyry, and wander from room to room, and +from corridor to corridor, like one who was seeking to find in +beauty an anodyne from pain, a sort of restoration from +sickness.</p> +<p>Upon these journeys of discovery, as he would call +them—and, indeed, they were to him real voyages through a +marvellous land, he would sometimes be accompanied by the slim, +fair-haired Court pages, with their floating mantles, and gay +fluttering ribands; but more often he would be alone, feeling +through a certain quick instinct, which was almost a divination, +that the secrets of art are best learned in secret, and that +Beauty, like Wisdom, loves the lonely worshipper.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>Many curious stories were related about him at this +period. It was said that a stout Burgo-master, who had come +to deliver a florid oratorical address on behalf of the citizens +of the town, had caught sight of him kneeling in real adoration +before a great picture that had just been brought from Venice, +and that seemed to herald the worship of some new gods. On +another occasion he had been missed for several hours, and after +a lengthened search had been discovered in a little chamber in +one of the northern turrets of the palace gazing, as one in a +trance, at a Greek gem carved with the figure of Adonis. He +had been seen, so the tale ran, pressing his warm lips to the +marble brow of an antique statue that had been discovered in the +bed of the river on the occasion of the building of the stone +bridge, and was inscribed with the name of the Bithynian slave of +Hadrian. He had passed a whole night in noting the effect +of the moonlight on a silver image of Endymion.</p> +<p>All rare and costly materials had certainly a great +fascination for him, and in his eagerness to procure them he had +sent away many merchants, some to traffic for amber with the +rough fisher-folk of the north seas, some to Egypt to look for +that curious green turquoise which is found only in the tombs of +kings, and is said to possess magical properties, some to Persia +for silken carpets and painted pottery, and others to India to +buy gauze and stained ivory, moonstones and bracelets of jade, +sandal-wood and blue enamel and shawls of fine wool.</p> +<p>But what had occupied him most was the robe he was to wear at +his coronation, the robe of tissued gold, and the ruby-studded +crown, and the sceptre with its rows and rings of pearls. +Indeed, it was of this that he was thinking to-night, as he lay +back on his luxurious couch, watching the great pinewood log that +was burning itself out on the open hearth. The designs, +which were from the hands of the most famous artists of the time, +had been submitted to him many months before, and he had given +orders that the artificers were to toil night and day to carry +them out, and that the whole world was to be searched for jewels +that would be worthy of their work. He saw himself in fancy +standing at the high altar of the cathedral in the fair raiment +of a King, and a smile played and lingered about his boyish lips, +and lit up with a bright lustre his dark woodland eyes.</p> +<p>After some time he rose from his seat, and leaning against the +carved penthouse of the chimney, looked round at the dimly-lit +room. The walls were hung with rich tapestries representing +the Triumph of Beauty. A large press, inlaid with agate and +lapis-lazuli, filled one corner, and facing the window stood a +curiously wrought cabinet with lacquer panels of powdered and +mosaiced gold, on which were placed some delicate goblets of +Venetian glass, and a cup of dark-veined onyx. Pale poppies +were broidered on the silk coverlet of the bed, as though they +had fallen from the tired hands of sleep, and tall reeds of +fluted ivory bare up the velvet canopy, from which great tufts of +ostrich plumes sprang, like white foam, to the pallid silver of +the fretted ceiling. A laughing Narcissus in green bronze +held a polished mirror above its head. On the table stood a +flat bowl of amethyst.</p> +<p>Outside he could see the huge dome of the cathedral, looming +like a bubble over the shadowy houses, and the weary sentinels +pacing up and down on the misty terrace by the river. Far +away, in an orchard, a nightingale was singing. A faint +perfume of jasmine came through the open window. He brushed +his brown curls back from his forehead, and taking up a lute, let +his fingers stray across the cords. His heavy eyelids +drooped, and a strange languor came over him. Never before +had he felt so keenly, or with such exquisite joy, the magic and +the mystery of beautiful things.</p> +<p>When midnight sounded from the clock-tower he touched a bell, +and his pages entered and disrobed him with much ceremony, +pouring rose-water over his hands, and strewing flowers on his +pillow. A few moments after that they had left the room, he +fell asleep.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>And as he slept he dreamed a dream, and this was his +dream.</p> +<p>He thought that he was standing in a long, low attic, amidst +the whir and clatter of many looms. The meagre daylight +peered in through the grated windows, and showed him the gaunt +figures of the weavers bending over their cases. Pale, +sickly-looking children were crouched on the huge +crossbeams. As the shuttles dashed through the warp they +lifted up the heavy battens, and when the shuttles stopped they +let the battens fall and pressed the threads together. +Their faces were pinched with famine, and their thin hands shook +and trembled. Some haggard women were seated at a table +sewing. A horrible odour filled the place. The air +was foul and heavy, and the walls dripped and streamed with +damp.</p> +<p>The young King went over to one of the weavers, and stood by +him and watched him.</p> +<p>And the weaver looked at him angrily, and said, ‘Why art +thou watching me? Art thou a spy set on us by our +master?’</p> +<p>‘Who is thy master?’ asked the young King.</p> +<p>‘Our master!’ cried the weaver, bitterly. +‘He is a man like myself. Indeed, there is but this +difference between us—that he wears fine clothes while I go +in rags, and that while I am weak from hunger he suffers not a +little from overfeeding.’</p> +<p>‘The land is free,’ said the young King, +‘and thou art no man’s slave.’</p> +<p>‘In war,’ answered the weaver, ‘the strong +make slaves of the weak, and in peace the rich make slaves of the +poor. We must work to live, and they give us such mean +wages that we die. We toil for them all day long, and they +heap up gold in their coffers, and our children fade away before +their time, and the faces of those we love become hard and +evil. We tread out the grapes, and another drinks the +wine. We sow the corn, and our own board is empty. We +have chains, though no eye beholds them; and are slaves, though +men call us free.’</p> +<p>‘Is it so with all?’ he asked,</p> +<p>‘It is so with all,’ answered the weaver, +‘with the young as well as with the old, with the women as +well as with the men, with the little children as well as with +those who are stricken in years. The merchants grind us +down, and we must needs do their bidding. The priest rides +by and tells his beads, and no man has care of us. Through +our sunless lanes creeps Poverty with her hungry eyes, and Sin +with his sodden face follows close behind her. Misery wakes +us in the morning, and Shame sits with us at night. But +what are these things to thee? Thou art not one of +us. Thy face is too happy.’ And he turned away +scowling, and threw the shuttle across the loom, and the young +King saw that it was threaded with a thread of gold.</p> +<p>And a great terror seized upon him, and he said to the weaver, +‘What robe is this that thou art weaving?’</p> +<p>‘It is the robe for the coronation of the young +King,’ he answered; ‘what is that to thee?’</p> +<p>And the young King gave a loud cry and woke, and lo! he was in +his own chamber, and through the window he saw the great +honey-coloured moon hanging in the dusky air.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>And he fell asleep again and dreamed, and this was his +dream.</p> +<p>He thought that he was lying on the deck of a huge galley that +was being rowed by a hundred slaves. On a carpet by his +side the master of the galley was seated. He was black as +ebony, and his turban was of crimson silk. Great earrings +of silver dragged down the thick lobes of his ears, and in his +hands he had a pair of ivory scales.</p> +<p>The slaves were naked, but for a ragged loin-cloth, and each +man was chained to his neighbour. The hot sun beat brightly +upon them, and the negroes ran up and down the gangway and lashed +them with whips of hide. They stretched out their lean arms +and pulled the heavy oars through the water. The salt spray +flew from the blades.</p> +<p>At last they reached a little bay, and began to take +soundings. A light wind blew from the shore, and covered +the deck and the great lateen sail with a fine red dust. +Three Arabs mounted on wild asses rode out and threw spears at +them. The master of the galley took a painted bow in his +hand and shot one of them in the throat. He fell heavily +into the surf, and his companions galloped away. A woman +wrapped in a yellow veil followed slowly on a camel, looking back +now and then at the dead body.</p> +<p>As soon as they had cast anchor and hauled down the sail, the +negroes went into the hold and brought up a long rope-ladder, +heavily weighted with lead. The master of the galley threw +it over the side, making the ends fast to two iron +stanchions. Then the negroes seized the youngest of the +slaves and knocked his gyves off, and filled his nostrils and his +ears with wax, and tied a big stone round his waist. He +crept wearily down the ladder, and disappeared into the +sea. A few bubbles rose where he sank. Some of the +other slaves peered curiously over the side. At the prow of +the galley sat a shark-charmer, beating monotonously upon a +drum.</p> +<p>After some time the diver rose up out of the water, and clung +panting to the ladder with a pearl in his right hand. The +negroes seized it from him, and thrust him back. The slaves +fell asleep over their oars.</p> +<p>Again and again he came up, and each time that he did so he +brought with him a beautiful pearl. The master of the +galley weighed them, and put them into a little bag of green +leather.</p> +<p>The young King tried to speak, but his tongue seemed to cleave +to the roof of his mouth, and his lips refused to move. The +negroes chattered to each other, and began to quarrel over a +string of bright beads. Two cranes flew round and round the +vessel.</p> +<p>Then the diver came up for the last time, and the pearl that +he brought with him was fairer than all the pearls of Ormuz, for +it was shaped like the full moon, and whiter than the morning +star. But his face was strangely pale, and as he fell upon +the deck the blood gushed from his ears and nostrils. He +quivered for a little, and then he was still. The negroes +shrugged their shoulders, and threw the body overboard.</p> +<p>And the master of the galley laughed, and, reaching out, he +took the pearl, and when he saw it he pressed it to his forehead +and bowed. ‘It shall be,’ he said, ‘for +the sceptre of the young King,’ and he made a sign to the +negroes to draw up the anchor.</p> +<p>And when the young King heard this he gave a great cry, and +woke, and through the window he saw the long grey fingers of the +dawn clutching at the fading stars.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>And he fell asleep again, and dreamed, and this was his +dream.</p> +<p>He thought that he was wandering through a dim wood, hung with +strange fruits and with beautiful poisonous flowers. The +adders hissed at him as he went by, and the bright parrots flew +screaming from branch to branch. Huge tortoises lay asleep +upon the hot mud. The trees were full of apes and +peacocks.</p> +<p>On and on he went, till he reached the outskirts of the wood, +and there he saw an immense multitude of men toiling in the bed +of a dried-up river. They swarmed up the crag like +ants. They dug deep pits in the ground and went down into +them. Some of them cleft the rocks with great axes; others +grabbled in the sand.</p> +<p>They tore up the cactus by its roots, and trampled on the +scarlet blossoms. They hurried about, calling to each +other, and no man was idle.</p> +<p>From the darkness of a cavern Death and Avarice watched them, +and Death said, ‘I am weary; give me a third of them and +let me go.’ But Avarice shook her head. +‘They are my servants,’ she answered.</p> +<p>And Death said to her, ‘What hast thou in thy +hand?’</p> +<p>‘I have three grains of corn,’ she answered; +‘what is that to thee?’</p> +<p>‘Give me one of them,’ cried Death, ‘to +plant in my garden; only one of them, and I will go +away.’</p> +<p>‘I will not give thee anything,’ said Avarice, and +she hid her hand in the fold of her raiment.</p> +<p>And Death laughed, and took a cup, and dipped it into a pool +of water, and out of the cup rose Ague. She passed through +the great multitude, and a third of them lay dead. A cold +mist followed her, and the water-snakes ran by her side.</p> +<p>And when Avarice saw that a third of the multitude was dead +she beat her breast and wept. She beat her barren bosom, +and cried aloud. ‘Thou hast slain a third of my +servants,’ she cried, ‘get thee gone. There is +war in the mountains of Tartary, and the kings of each side are +calling to thee. The Afghans have slain the black ox, and +are marching to battle. They have beaten upon their shields +with their spears, and have put on their helmets of iron. +What is my valley to thee, that thou shouldst tarry in it? +Get thee gone, and come here no more.’</p> +<p>‘Nay,’ answered Death, ‘but till thou hast +given me a grain of corn I will not go.’</p> +<p>But Avarice shut her hand, and clenched her teeth. +‘I will not give thee anything,’ she muttered.</p> +<p>And Death laughed, and took up a black stone, and threw it +into the forest, and out of a thicket of wild hemlock came Fever +in a robe of flame. She passed through the multitude, and +touched them, and each man that she touched died. The grass +withered beneath her feet as she walked.</p> +<p>And Avarice shuddered, and put ashes on her head. +‘Thou art cruel,’ she cried; ‘thou art +cruel. There is famine in the walled cities of India, and +the cisterns of Samarcand have run dry. There is famine in +the walled cities of Egypt, and the locusts have come up from the +desert. The Nile has not overflowed its banks, and the +priests have cursed Isis and Osiris. Get thee gone to those +who need thee, and leave me my servants.’</p> +<p>‘Nay,’ answered Death, ‘but till thou hast +given me a grain of corn I will not go.’</p> +<p>‘I will not give thee anything,’ said Avarice.</p> +<p>And Death laughed again, and he whistled through his fingers, +and a woman came flying through the air. Plague was written +upon her forehead, and a crowd of lean vultures wheeled round +her. She covered the valley with her wings, and no man was +left alive.</p> +<p>And Avarice fled shrieking through the forest, and Death +leaped upon his red horse and galloped away, and his galloping +was faster than the wind.</p> +<p>And out of the slime at the bottom of the valley crept dragons +and horrible things with scales, and the jackals came trotting +along the sand, sniffing up the air with their nostrils.</p> +<p>And the young King wept, and said: ‘Who were these men, +and for what were they seeking?’</p> +<p>‘For rubies for a king’s crown,’ answered +one who stood behind him.</p> +<p>And the young King started, and, turning round, he saw a man +habited as a pilgrim and holding in his hand a mirror of +silver.</p> +<p>And he grew pale, and said: ‘For what king?’</p> +<p>And the pilgrim answered: ‘Look in this mirror, and thou +shalt see him.’</p> +<p>And he looked in the mirror, and, seeing his own face, he gave +a great cry and woke, and the bright sunlight was streaming into +the room, and from the trees of the garden and pleasaunce the +birds were singing.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>And the Chamberlain and the high officers of State came in and +made obeisance to him, and the pages brought him the robe of +tissued gold, and set the crown and the sceptre before him.</p> +<p>And the young King looked at them, and they were +beautiful. More beautiful were they than aught that he had +ever seen. But he remembered his dreams, and he said to his +lords: ‘Take these things away, for I will not wear +them.’</p> +<p>And the courtiers were amazed, and some of them laughed, for +they thought that he was jesting.</p> +<p>But he spake sternly to them again, and said: ‘Take +these things away, and hide them from me. Though it be the +day of my coronation, I will not wear them. For on the loom +of Sorrow, and by the white hands of Pain, has this my robe been +woven. There is Blood in the heart of the ruby, and Death +in the heart of the pearl.’ And he told them his +three dreams.</p> +<p>And when the courtiers heard them they looked at each other +and whispered, saying: ‘Surely he is mad; for what is a +dream but a dream, and a vision but a vision? They are not +real things that one should heed them. And what have we to +do with the lives of those who toil for us? Shall a man not +eat bread till he has seen the sower, nor drink wine till he has +talked with the vinedresser?’</p> +<p>And the Chamberlain spake to the young King, and said, +‘My lord, I pray thee set aside these black thoughts of +thine, and put on this fair robe, and set this crown upon thy +head. For how shall the people know that thou art a king, +if thou hast not a king’s raiment?’</p> +<p>And the young King looked at him. ‘Is it so, +indeed?’ he questioned. ‘Will they not know me +for a king if I have not a king’s raiment?’</p> +<p>‘They will not know thee, my lord,’ cried the +Chamberlain.</p> +<p>‘I had thought that there had been men who were +kinglike,’ he answered, ‘but it may be as thou +sayest. And yet I will not wear this robe, nor will I be +crowned with this crown, but even as I came to the palace so will +I go forth from it.’</p> +<p>And he bade them all leave him, save one page whom he kept as +his companion, a lad a year younger than himself. Him he +kept for his service, and when he had bathed himself in clear +water, he opened a great painted chest, and from it he took the +leathern tunic and rough sheepskin cloak that he had worn when he +had watched on the hillside the shaggy goats of the +goatherd. These he put on, and in his hand he took his rude +shepherd’s staff.</p> +<p>And the little page opened his big blue eyes in wonder, and +said smiling to him, ‘My lord, I see thy robe and thy +sceptre, but where is thy crown?’</p> +<p>And the young King plucked a spray of wild briar that was +climbing over the balcony, and bent it, and made a circlet of it, +and set it on his own head.</p> +<p>‘This shall he my crown,’ he answered.</p> +<p>And thus attired he passed out of his chamber into the Great +Hall, where the nobles were waiting for him.</p> +<p>And the nobles made merry, and some of them cried out to him, +‘My lord, the people wait for their king, and thou showest +them a beggar,’ and others were wroth and said, ‘He +brings shame upon our state, and is unworthy to be our +master.’ But he answered them not a word, but passed +on, and went down the bright porphyry staircase, and out through +the gates of bronze, and mounted upon his horse, and rode towards +the cathedral, the little page running beside him.</p> +<p>And the people laughed and said, ‘It is the King’s +fool who is riding by,’ and they mocked him.</p> +<p>And he drew rein and said, ‘Nay, but I am the +King.’ And he told them his three dreams.</p> +<p>And a man came out of the crowd and spake bitterly to him, and +said, ‘Sir, knowest thou not that out of the luxury of the +rich cometh the life of the poor? By your pomp we are +nurtured, and your vices give us bread. To toil for a hard +master is bitter, but to have no master to toil for is more +bitter still. Thinkest thou that the ravens will feed +us? And what cure hast thou for these things? Wilt +thou say to the buyer, “Thou shalt buy for so much,” +and to the seller, “Thou shalt sell at this +price”? I trow not. Therefore go back to thy +Palace and put on thy purple and fine linen. What hast thou +to do with us, and what we suffer?’</p> +<p>‘Are not the rich and the poor brothers?’ asked +the young King.</p> +<p>‘Ay,’ answered the man, ‘and the name of the +rich brother is Cain.’</p> +<p>And the young King’s eyes filled with tears, and he rode +on through the murmurs of the people, and the little page grew +afraid and left him.</p> +<p>And when he reached the great portal of the cathedral, the +soldiers thrust their halberts out and said, ‘What dost +thou seek here? None enters by this door but the +King.’</p> +<p>And his face flushed with anger, and he said to them, ‘I +am the King,’ and waved their halberts aside and passed +in.</p> +<p>And when the old Bishop saw him coming in his goatherd’s +dress, he rose up in wonder from his throne, and went to meet +him, and said to him, ‘My son, is this a king’s +apparel? And with what crown shall I crown thee, and what +sceptre shall I place in thy hand? Surely this should be to +thee a day of joy, and not a day of abasement.’</p> +<p>‘Shall Joy wear what Grief has fashioned?’ said +the young King. And he told him his three dreams.</p> +<p>And when the Bishop had heard them he knit his brows, and +said, ‘My son, I am an old man, and in the winter of my +days, and I know that many evil things are done in the wide +world. The fierce robbers come down from the mountains, and +carry off the little children, and sell them to the Moors. +The lions lie in wait for the caravans, and leap upon the +camels. The wild boar roots up the corn in the valley, and +the foxes gnaw the vines upon the hill. The pirates lay +waste the sea-coast and burn the ships of the fishermen, and take +their nets from them. In the salt-marshes live the lepers; +they have houses of wattled reeds, and none may come nigh +them. The beggars wander through the cities, and eat their +food with the dogs. Canst thou make these things not to +be? Wilt thou take the leper for thy bedfellow, and set the +beggar at thy board? Shall the lion do thy bidding, and the +wild boar obey thee? Is not He who made misery wiser than +thou art? Wherefore I praise thee not for this that thou +hast done, but I bid thee ride back to the Palace and make thy +face glad, and put on the raiment that beseemeth a king, and with +the crown of gold I will crown thee, and the sceptre of pearl +will I place in thy hand. And as for thy dreams, think no +more of them. The burden of this world is too great for one +man to bear, and the world’s sorrow too heavy for one heart +to suffer.’</p> +<p>‘Sayest thou that in this house?’ said the young +King, and he strode past the Bishop, and climbed up the steps of +the altar, and stood before the image of Christ.</p> +<p>He stood before the image of Christ, and on his right hand and +on his left were the marvellous vessels of gold, the chalice with +the yellow wine, and the vial with the holy oil. He knelt +before the image of Christ, and the great candles burned brightly +by the jewelled shrine, and the smoke of the incense curled in +thin blue wreaths through the dome. He bowed his head in +prayer, and the priests in their stiff copes crept away from the +altar.</p> +<p>And suddenly a wild tumult came from the street outside, and +in entered the nobles with drawn swords and nodding plumes, and +shields of polished steel. ‘Where is this dreamer of +dreams?’ they cried. ‘Where is this King who is +apparelled like a beggar—this boy who brings shame upon our +state? Surely we will slay him, for he is unworthy to rule +over us.’</p> +<p>And the young King bowed his head again, and prayed, and when +he had finished his prayer he rose up, and turning round he +looked at them sadly.</p> +<p>And lo! through the painted windows came the sunlight +streaming upon him, and the sun-beams wove round him a tissued +robe that was fairer than the robe that had been fashioned for +his pleasure. The dead staff blossomed, and bare lilies +that were whiter than pearls. The dry thorn blossomed, and +bare roses that were redder than rubies. Whiter than fine +pearls were the lilies, and their stems were of bright +silver. Redder than male rubies were the roses, and their +leaves were of beaten gold.</p> +<p>He stood there in the raiment of a king, and the gates of the +jewelled shrine flew open, and from the crystal of the many-rayed +monstrance shone a marvellous and mystical light. He stood +there in a king’s raiment, and the Glory of God filled the +place, and the saints in their carven niches seemed to +move. In the fair raiment of a king he stood before them, +and the organ pealed out its music, and the trumpeters blew upon +their trumpets, and the singing boys sang.</p> +<p>And the people fell upon their knees in awe, and the nobles +sheathed their swords and did homage, and the Bishop’s face +grew pale, and his hands trembled. ‘A greater than I +hath crowned thee,’ he cried, and he knelt before him.</p> +<p>And the young King came down from the high altar, and passed +home through the midst of the people. But no man dared look +upon his face, for it was like the face of an angel.</p> +<h2><a name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span>THE +BIRTHDAY OF THE INFANTA</h2> +<p style="text-align: center">TO<br /> +MRS. WILLIAM H. GRENFELL<br /> +OF TAPLOW COURT<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">[LADY DESBOROUGH]</span></p> +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was the birthday of the +Infanta. She was just twelve years of age, and the sun was +shining brightly in the gardens of the palace.</p> +<p>Although she was a real Princess and the Infanta of Spain, she +had only one birthday every year, just like the children of quite +poor people, so it was naturally a matter of great importance to +the whole country that she should have a really fine day for the +occasion. And a really fine day it certainly was. The +tall striped tulips stood straight up upon their stalks, like +long rows of soldiers, and looked defiantly across the grass at +the roses, and said: ‘We are quite as splendid as you are +now.’ The purple butterflies fluttered about with +gold dust on their wings, visiting each flower in turn; the +little lizards crept out of the crevices of the wall, and lay +basking in the white glare; and the pomegranates split and +cracked with the heat, and showed their bleeding red +hearts. Even the pale yellow lemons, that hung in such +profusion from the mouldering trellis and along the dim arcades, +seemed to have caught a richer colour from the wonderful +sunlight, and the magnolia trees opened their great globe-like +blossoms of folded ivory, and filled the air with a sweet heavy +perfume.</p> +<p>The little Princess herself walked up and down the terrace +with her companions, and played at hide and seek round the stone +vases and the old moss-grown statues. On ordinary days she +was only allowed to play with children of her own rank, so she +had always to play alone, but her birthday was an exception, and +the King had given orders that she was to invite any of her young +friends whom she liked to come and amuse themselves with +her. There was a stately grace about these slim Spanish +children as they glided about, the boys with their large-plumed +hats and short fluttering cloaks, the girls holding up the trains +of their long brocaded gowns, and shielding the sun from their +eyes with huge fans of black and silver. But the Infanta +was the most graceful of all, and the most tastefully attired, +after the somewhat cumbrous fashion of the day. Her robe +was of grey satin, the skirt and the wide puffed sleeves heavily +embroidered with silver, and the stiff corset studded with rows +of fine pearls. Two tiny slippers with big pink rosettes +peeped out beneath her dress as she walked. Pink and pearl +was her great gauze fan, and in her hair, which like an aureole +of faded gold stood out stiffly round her pale little face, she +had a beautiful white rose.</p> +<p>From a window in the palace the sad melancholy King watched +them. Behind him stood his brother, Don Pedro of Aragon, +whom he hated, and his confessor, the Grand Inquisitor of +Granada, sat by his side. Sadder even than usual was the +King, for as he looked at the Infanta bowing with childish +gravity to the assembling counters, or laughing behind her fan at +the grim Duchess of Albuquerque who always accompanied her, he +thought of the young Queen, her mother, who but a short time +before—so it seemed to him—had come from the gay +country of France, and had withered away in the sombre splendour +of the Spanish court, dying just six months after the birth of +her child, and before she had seen the almonds blossom twice in +the orchard, or plucked the second year’s fruit from the +old gnarled fig-tree that stood in the centre of the now +grass-grown courtyard. So great had been his love for her +that he had not suffered even the grave to hide her from +him. She had been embalmed by a Moorish physician, who in +return for this service had been granted his life, which for +heresy and suspicion of magical practices had been already +forfeited, men said, to the Holy Office, and her body was still +lying on its tapestried bier in the black marble chapel of the +Palace, just as the monks had borne her in on that windy March +day nearly twelve years before. Once every month the King, +wrapped in a dark cloak and with a muffled lantern in his hand, +went in and knelt by her side calling out, ‘<i>Mi +reina</i>! <i>Mi reina</i>!’ and sometimes breaking +through the formal etiquette that in Spain governs every separate +action of life, and sets limits even to the sorrow of a King, he +would clutch at the pale jewelled hands in a wild agony of grief, +and try to wake by his mad kisses the cold painted face.</p> +<p>To-day he seemed to see her again, as he had seen her first at +the Castle of Fontainebleau, when he was but fifteen years of +age, and she still younger. They had been formally +betrothed on that occasion by the Papal Nuncio in the presence of +the French King and all the Court, and he had returned to the +Escurial bearing with him a little ringlet of yellow hair, and +the memory of two childish lips bending down to kiss his hand as +he stepped into his carriage. Later on had followed the +marriage, hastily performed at Burgos, a small town on the +frontier between the two countries, and the grand public entry +into Madrid with the customary celebration of high mass at the +Church of La Atocha, and a more than usually solemn +<i>auto-da-fé</i>, in which nearly three hundred heretics, +amongst whom were many Englishmen, had been delivered over to the +secular arm to be burned.</p> +<p>Certainly he had loved her madly, and to the ruin, many +thought, of his country, then at war with England for the +possession of the empire of the New World. He had hardly +ever permitted her to be out of his sight; for her, he had +forgotten, or seemed to have forgotten, all grave affairs of +State; and, with that terrible blindness that passion brings upon +its servants, he had failed to notice that the elaborate +ceremonies by which he sought to please her did but aggravate the +strange malady from which she suffered. When she died he +was, for a time, like one bereft of reason. Indeed, there +is no doubt but that he would have formally abdicated and retired +to the great Trappist monastery at Granada, of which he was +already titular Prior, had he not been afraid to leave the little +Infanta at the mercy of his brother, whose cruelty, even in +Spain, was notorious, and who was suspected by many of having +caused the Queen’s death by means of a pair of poisoned +gloves that he had presented to her on the occasion of her +visiting his castle in Aragon. Even after the expiration of +the three years of public mourning that he had ordained +throughout his whole dominions by royal edict, he would never +suffer his ministers to speak about any new alliance, and when +the Emperor himself sent to him, and offered him the hand of the +lovely Archduchess of Bohemia, his niece, in marriage, he bade +the ambassadors tell their master that the King of Spain was +already wedded to Sorrow, and that though she was but a barren +bride he loved her better than Beauty; an answer that cost his +crown the rich provinces of the Netherlands, which soon after, at +the Emperor’s instigation, revolted against him under the +leadership of some fanatics of the Reformed Church.</p> +<p>His whole married life, with its fierce, fiery-coloured joys +and the terrible agony of its sudden ending, seemed to come back +to him to-day as he watched the Infanta playing on the +terrace. She had all the Queen’s pretty petulance of +manner, the same wilful way of tossing her head, the same proud +curved beautiful mouth, the same wonderful smile—<i>vrai +sourire de France</i> indeed—as she glanced up now and then +at the window, or stretched out her little hand for the stately +Spanish gentlemen to kiss. But the shrill laughter of the +children grated on his ears, and the bright pitiless sunlight +mocked his sorrow, and a dull odour of strange spices, spices +such as embalmers use, seemed to taint—or was it +fancy?—the clear morning air. He buried his face in +his hands, and when the Infanta looked up again the curtains had +been drawn, and the King had retired.</p> +<p>She made a little <i>moue</i> of disappointment, and shrugged +her shoulders. Surely he might have stayed with her on her +birthday. What did the stupid State-affairs matter? +Or had he gone to that gloomy chapel, where the candles were +always burning, and where she was never allowed to enter? +How silly of him, when the sun was shining so brightly, and +everybody was so happy! Besides, he would miss the sham +bull-fight for which the trumpet was already sounding, to say +nothing of the puppet-show and the other wonderful things. +Her uncle and the Grand Inquisitor were much more sensible. +They had come out on the terrace, and paid her nice +compliments. So she tossed her pretty head, and taking Don +Pedro by the hand, she walked slowly down the steps towards a +long pavilion of purple silk that had been erected at the end of +the garden, the other children following in strict order of +precedence, those who had the longest names going first.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>A procession of noble boys, fantastically dressed as +<i>toreadors</i>, came out to meet her, and the young Count of +Tierra-Nueva, a wonderfully handsome lad of about fourteen years +of age, uncovering his head with all the grace of a born hidalgo +and grandee of Spain, led her solemnly in to a little gilt and +ivory chair that was placed on a raised dais above the +arena. The children grouped themselves all round, +fluttering their big fans and whispering to each other, and Don +Pedro and the Grand Inquisitor stood laughing at the +entrance. Even the Duchess—the Camerera-Mayor as she +was called—a thin, hard-featured woman with a yellow ruff, +did not look quite so bad-tempered as usual, and something like a +chill smile flitted across her wrinkled face and twitched her +thin bloodless lips.</p> +<p>It certainly was a marvellous bull-fight, and much nicer, the +Infanta thought, than the real bull-fight that she had been +brought to see at Seville, on the occasion of the visit of the +Duke of Parma to her father. Some of the boys pranced about +on richly-caparisoned hobby-horses brandishing long javelins with +gay streamers of bright ribands attached to them; others went on +foot waving their scarlet cloaks before the bull, and vaulting +lightly over the barrier when he charged them; and as for the +bull himself, he was just like a live bull, though he was only +made of wicker-work and stretched hide, and sometimes insisted on +running round the arena on his hind legs, which no live bull ever +dreams of doing. He made a splendid fight of it too, and +the children got so excited that they stood up upon the benches, +and waved their lace handkerchiefs and cried out: <i>Bravo +toro</i>! <i>Bravo toro</i>! just as sensibly as if they +had been grown-up people. At last, however, after a +prolonged combat, during which several of the hobby-horses were +gored through and through, and, their riders dismounted, the +young Count of Tierra-Nueva brought the bull to his knees, and +having obtained permission from the Infanta to give the <i>coup +de grâce</i>, he plunged his wooden sword into the neck of +the animal with such violence that the head came right off, and +disclosed the laughing face of little Monsieur de Lorraine, the +son of the French Ambassador at Madrid.</p> +<p>The arena was then cleared amidst much applause, and the dead +hobby-horses dragged solemnly away by two Moorish pages in yellow +and black liveries, and after a short interlude, during which a +French posture-master performed upon the tightrope, some Italian +puppets appeared in the semi-classical tragedy of +<i>Sophonisba</i> on the stage of a small theatre that had been +built up for the purpose. They acted so well, and their +gestures were so extremely natural, that at the close of the play +the eyes of the Infanta were quite dim with tears. Indeed +some of the children really cried, and had to be comforted with +sweetmeats, and the Grand Inquisitor himself was so affected that +he could not help saying to Don Pedro that it seemed to him +intolerable that things made simply out of wood and coloured wax, +and worked mechanically by wires, should be so unhappy and meet +with such terrible misfortunes.</p> +<p>An African juggler followed, who brought in a large flat +basket covered with a red cloth, and having placed it in the +centre of the arena, he took from his turban a curious reed pipe, +and blew through it. In a few moments the cloth began to +move, and as the pipe grew shriller and shriller two green and +gold snakes put out their strange wedge-shaped heads and rose +slowly up, swaying to and fro with the music as a plant sways in +the water. The children, however, were rather frightened at +their spotted hoods and quick darting tongues, and were much more +pleased when the juggler made a tiny orange-tree grow out of the +sand and bear pretty white blossoms and clusters of real fruit; +and when he took the fan of the little daughter of the Marquess +de Las-Torres, and changed it into a blue bird that flew all +round the pavilion and sang, their delight and amazement knew no +bounds. The solemn minuet, too, performed by the dancing +boys from the church of Nuestra Senora Del Pilar, was +charming. The Infanta had never before seen this wonderful +ceremony which takes place every year at Maytime in front of the +high altar of the Virgin, and in her honour; and indeed none of +the royal family of Spain had entered the great cathedral of +Saragossa since a mad priest, supposed by many to have been in +the pay of Elizabeth of England, had tried to administer a +poisoned wafer to the Prince of the Asturias. So she had +known only by hearsay of ‘Our Lady’s Dance,’ as +it was called, and it certainly was a beautiful sight. The +boys wore old-fashioned court dresses of white velvet, and their +curious three-cornered hats were fringed with silver and +surmounted with huge plumes of ostrich feathers, the dazzling +whiteness of their costumes, as they moved about in the sunlight, +being still more accentuated by their swarthy faces and long +black hair. Everybody was fascinated by the grave dignity +with which they moved through the intricate figures of the dance, +and by the elaborate grace of their slow gestures, and stately +bows, and when they had finished their performance and doffed +their great plumed hats to the Infanta, she acknowledged their +reverence with much courtesy, and made a vow that she would send +a large wax candle to the shrine of Our Lady of Pilar in return +for the pleasure that she had given her.</p> +<p>A troop of handsome Egyptians—as the gipsies were termed +in those days—then advanced into the arena, and sitting +down cross-legs, in a circle, began to play softly upon their +zithers, moving their bodies to the tune, and humming, almost +below their breath, a low dreamy air. When they caught +sight of Don Pedro they scowled at him, and some of them looked +terrified, for only a few weeks before he had had two of their +tribe hanged for sorcery in the market-place at Seville, but the +pretty Infanta charmed them as she leaned back peeping over her +fan with her great blue eyes, and they felt sure that one so +lovely as she was could never be cruel to anybody. So they +played on very gently and just touching the cords of the zithers +with their long pointed nails, and their heads began to nod as +though they were falling asleep. Suddenly, with a cry so +shrill that all the children were startled and Don Pedro’s +hand clutched at the agate pommel of his dagger, they leapt to +their feet and whirled madly round the enclosure beating their +tambourines, and chaunting some wild love-song in their strange +guttural language. Then at another signal they all flung +themselves again to the ground and lay there quite still, the +dull strumming of the zithers being the only sound that broke the +silence. After that they had done this several times, they +disappeared for a moment and came back leading a brown shaggy +bear by a chain, and carrying on their shoulders some little +Barbary apes. The bear stood upon his head with the utmost +gravity, and the wizened apes played all kinds of amusing tricks +with two gipsy boys who seemed to be their masters, and fought +with tiny swords, and fired off guns, and went through a regular +soldier’s drill just like the King’s own +bodyguard. In fact the gipsies were a great success.</p> +<p>But the funniest part of the whole morning’s +entertainment, was undoubtedly the dancing of the little +Dwarf. When he stumbled into the arena, waddling on his +crooked legs and wagging his huge misshapen head from side to +side, the children went off into a loud shout of delight, and the +Infanta herself laughed so much that the Camerera was obliged to +remind her that although there were many precedents in Spain for +a King’s daughter weeping before her equals, there were +none for a Princess of the blood royal making so merry before +those who were her inferiors in birth. The Dwarf, however, +was really quite irresistible, and even at the Spanish Court, +always noted for its cultivated passion for the horrible, so +fantastic a little monster had never been seen. It was his +first appearance, too. He had been discovered only the day +before, running wild through the forest, by two of the nobles who +happened to have been hunting in a remote part of the great +cork-wood that surrounded the town, and had been carried off by +them to the Palace as a surprise for the Infanta; his father, who +was a poor charcoal-burner, being but too well pleased to get rid +of so ugly and useless a child. Perhaps the most amusing +thing about him was his complete unconsciousness of his own +grotesque appearance. Indeed he seemed quite happy and full +of the highest spirits. When the children laughed, he +laughed as freely and as joyously as any of them, and at the +close of each dance he made them each the funniest of bows, +smiling and nodding at them just as if he was really one of +themselves, and not a little misshapen thing that Nature, in some +humourous mood, had fashioned for others to mock at. As for +the Infanta, she absolutely fascinated him. He could not +keep his eyes off her, and seemed to dance for her alone, and +when at the close of the performance, remembering how she had +seen the great ladies of the Court throw bouquets to Caffarelli, +the famous Italian treble, whom the Pope had sent from his own +chapel to Madrid that he might cure the King’s melancholy +by the sweetness of his voice, she took out of her hair the +beautiful white rose, and partly for a jest and partly to tease +the Camerera, threw it to him across the arena with her sweetest +smile, he took the whole matter quite seriously, and pressing the +flower to his rough coarse lips he put his hand upon his heart, +and sank on one knee before her, grinning from ear to ear, and +with his little bright eyes sparkling with pleasure.</p> +<p>This so upset the gravity of the Infanta that she kept on +laughing long after the little Dwarf had ran out of the arena, +and expressed a desire to her uncle that the dance should be +immediately repeated. The Camerera, however, on the plea +that the sun was too hot, decided that it would be better that +her Highness should return without delay to the Palace, where a +wonderful feast had been already prepared for her, including a +real birthday cake with her own initials worked all over it in +painted sugar and a lovely silver flag waving from the top. +The Infanta accordingly rose up with much dignity, and having +given orders that the little dwarf was to dance again for her +after the hour of siesta, and conveyed her thanks to the young +Count of Tierra-Nueva for his charming reception, she went back +to her apartments, the children following in the same order in +which they had entered.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>Now when the little Dwarf heard that he was to dance a second +time before the Infanta, and by her own express command, he was +so proud that he ran out into the garden, kissing the white rose +in an absurd ecstasy of pleasure, and making the most uncouth and +clumsy gestures of delight.</p> +<p>The Flowers were quite indignant at his daring to intrude into +their beautiful home, and when they saw him capering up and down +the walks, and waving his arms above his head in such a +ridiculous manner, they could not restrain their feelings any +longer.</p> +<p>‘He is really far too ugly to be allowed to play in any +place where we are,’ cried the Tulips.</p> +<p>‘He should drink poppy-juice, and go to sleep for a +thousand years,’ said the great scarlet Lilies, and they +grew quite hot and angry.</p> +<p>‘He is a perfect horror!’ screamed the +Cactus. ‘Why, he is twisted and stumpy, and his head +is completely out of proportion with his legs. Really he +makes me feel prickly all over, and if he comes near me I will +sting him with my thorns.’</p> +<p>‘And he has actually got one of my best blooms,’ +exclaimed the White Rose-Tree. ‘I gave it to the +Infanta this morning myself, as a birthday present, and he has +stolen it from her.’ And she called out: +‘Thief, thief, thief!’ at the top of her voice.</p> +<p>Even the red Geraniums, who did not usually give themselves +airs, and were known to have a great many poor relations +themselves, curled up in disgust when they saw him, and when the +Violets meekly remarked that though he was certainly extremely +plain, still he could not help it, they retorted with a good deal +of justice that that was his chief defect, and that there was no +reason why one should admire a person because he was incurable; +and, indeed, some of the Violets themselves felt that the +ugliness of the little Dwarf was almost ostentatious, and that he +would have shown much better taste if he had looked sad, or at +least pensive, instead of jumping about merrily, and throwing +himself into such grotesque and silly attitudes.</p> +<p>As for the old Sundial, who was an extremely remarkable +individual, and had once told the time of day to no less a person +than the Emperor Charles V. himself, he was so taken aback by the +little Dwarf’s appearance, that he almost forgot to mark +two whole minutes with his long shadowy finger, and could not +help saying to the great milk-white Peacock, who was sunning +herself on the balustrade, that every one knew that the children +of Kings were Kings, and that the children of charcoal-burners +were charcoal-burners, and that it was absurd to pretend that it +wasn’t so; a statement with which the Peacock entirely +agreed, and indeed screamed out, ‘Certainly, +certainly,’ in such a loud, harsh voice, that the gold-fish +who lived in the basin of the cool splashing fountain put their +heads out of the water, and asked the huge stone Tritons what on +earth was the matter.</p> +<p>But somehow the Birds liked him. They had seen him often +in the forest, dancing about like an elf after the eddying +leaves, or crouched up in the hollow of some old oak-tree, +sharing his nuts with the squirrels. They did not mind his +being ugly, a bit. Why, even the nightingale herself, who +sang so sweetly in the orange groves at night that sometimes the +Moon leaned down to listen, was not much to look at after all; +and, besides, he had been kind to them, and during that terribly +bitter winter, when there were no berries on the trees, and the +ground was as hard as iron, and the wolves had come down to the +very gates of the city to look for food, he had never once +forgotten them, but had always given them crumbs out of his +little hunch of black bread, and divided with them whatever poor +breakfast he had.</p> +<p>So they flew round and round him, just touching his cheek with +their wings as they passed, and chattered to each other, and the +little Dwarf was so pleased that he could not help showing them +the beautiful white rose, and telling them that the Infanta +herself had given it to him because she loved him.</p> +<p>They did not understand a single word of what he was saying, +but that made no matter, for they put their heads on one side, +and looked wise, which is quite as good as understanding a thing, +and very much easier.</p> +<p>The Lizards also took an immense fancy to him, and when he +grew tired of running about and flung himself down on the grass +to rest, they played and romped all over him, and tried to amuse +him in the best way they could. ‘Every one cannot be +as beautiful as a lizard,’ they cried; ‘that would be +too much to expect. And, though it sounds absurd to say so, +he is really not so ugly after all, provided, of course, that one +shuts one’s eyes, and does not look at him.’ +The Lizards were extremely philosophical by nature, and often sat +thinking for hours and hours together, when there was nothing +else to do, or when the weather was too rainy for them to go +out.</p> +<p>The Flowers, however, were excessively annoyed at their +behaviour, and at the behaviour of the birds. ‘It +only shows,’ they said, ‘what a vulgarising effect +this incessant rushing and flying about has. Well-bred +people always stay exactly in the same place, as we do. No +one ever saw us hopping up and down the walks, or galloping madly +through the grass after dragon-flies. When we do want +change of air, we send for the gardener, and he carries us to +another bed. This is dignified, and as it should be. +But birds and lizards have no sense of repose, and indeed birds +have not even a permanent address. They are mere vagrants +like the gipsies, and should be treated in exactly the same +manner.’ So they put their noses in the air, and +looked very haughty, and were quite delighted when after some +time they saw the little Dwarf scramble up from the grass, and +make his way across the terrace to the palace.</p> +<p>‘He should certainly be kept indoors for the rest of his +natural life,’ they said. ‘Look at his hunched +back, and his crooked legs,’ and they began to titter.</p> +<p>But the little Dwarf knew nothing of all this. He liked +the birds and the lizards immensely, and thought that the flowers +were the most marvellous things in the whole world, except of +course the Infanta, but then she had given him the beautiful +white rose, and she loved him, and that made a great +difference. How he wished that he had gone back with +her! She would have put him on her right hand, and smiled +at him, and he would have never left her side, but would have +made her his playmate, and taught her all kinds of delightful +tricks. For though he had never been in a palace before, he +knew a great many wonderful things. He could make little +cages out of rushes for the grasshoppers to sing in, and fashion +the long jointed bamboo into the pipe that Pan loves to +hear. He knew the cry of every bird, and could call the +starlings from the tree-top, or the heron from the mere. He +knew the trail of every animal, and could track the hare by its +delicate footprints, and the boar by the trampled leaves. +All the wild-dances he knew, the mad dance in red raiment with +the autumn, the light dance in blue sandals over the corn, the +dance with white snow-wreaths in winter, and the blossom-dance +through the orchards in spring. He knew where the +wood-pigeons built their nests, and once when a fowler had snared +the parent birds, he had brought up the young ones himself, and +had built a little dovecot for them in the cleft of a pollard +elm. They were quite tame, and used to feed out of his +hands every morning. She would like them, and the rabbits +that scurried about in the long fern, and the jays with their +steely feathers and black bills, and the hedgehogs that could +curl themselves up into prickly balls, and the great wise +tortoises that crawled slowly about, shaking their heads and +nibbling at the young leaves. Yes, she must certainly come +to the forest and play with him. He would give her his own +little bed, and would watch outside the window till dawn, to see +that the wild horned cattle did not harm her, nor the gaunt +wolves creep too near the hut. And at dawn he would tap at +the shutters and wake her, and they would go out and dance +together all the day long. It was really not a bit lonely +in the forest. Sometimes a Bishop rode through on his white +mule, reading out of a painted book. Sometimes in their +green velvet caps, and their jerkins of tanned deerskin, the +falconers passed by, with hooded hawks on their wrists. At +vintage-time came the grape-treaders, with purple hands and feet, +wreathed with glossy ivy and carrying dripping skins of wine; and +the charcoal-burners sat round their huge braziers at night, +watching the dry logs charring slowly in the fire, and roasting +chestnuts in the ashes, and the robbers came out of their caves +and made merry with them. Once, too, he had seen a +beautiful procession winding up the long dusty road to +Toledo. The monks went in front singing sweetly, and +carrying bright banners and crosses of gold, and then, in silver +armour, with matchlocks and pikes, came the soldiers, and in +their midst walked three barefooted men, in strange yellow +dresses painted all over with wonderful figures, and carrying +lighted candles in their hands. Certainly there was a great +deal to look at in the forest, and when she was tired he would +find a soft bank of moss for her, or carry her in his arms, for +he was very strong, though he knew that he was not tall. He +would make her a necklace of red bryony berries, that would be +quite as pretty as the white berries that she wore on her dress, +and when she was tired of them, she could throw them away, and he +would find her others. He would bring her acorn-cups and +dew-drenched anemones, and tiny glow-worms to be stars in the +pale gold of her hair.</p> +<p>But where was she? He asked the white rose, and it made +him no answer. The whole palace seemed asleep, and even +where the shutters had not been closed, heavy curtains had been +drawn across the windows to keep out the glare. He wandered +all round looking for some place through which he might gain an +entrance, and at last he caught sight of a little private door +that was lying open. He slipped through, and found himself +in a splendid hall, far more splendid, he feared, than the +forest, there was so much more gilding everywhere, and even the +floor was made of great coloured stones, fitted together into a +sort of geometrical pattern. But the little Infanta was not +there, only some wonderful white statues that looked down on him +from their jasper pedestals, with sad blank eyes and strangely +smiling lips.</p> +<p>At the end of the hall hung a richly embroidered curtain of +black velvet, powdered with suns and stars, the King’s +favourite devices, and broidered on the colour he loved +best. Perhaps she was hiding behind that? He would +try at any rate.</p> +<p>So he stole quietly across, and drew it aside. No; there +was only another room, though a prettier room, he thought, than +the one he had just left. The walls were hung with a +many-figured green arras of needle-wrought tapestry representing +a hunt, the work of some Flemish artists who had spent more than +seven years in its composition. It had once been the +chamber of <i>Jean le Fou</i>, as he was called, that mad King +who was so enamoured of the chase, that he had often tried in his +delirium to mount the huge rearing horses, and to drag down the +stag on which the great hounds were leaping, sounding his hunting +horn, and stabbing with his dagger at the pale flying deer. +It was now used as the council-room, and on the centre table were +lying the red portfolios of the ministers, stamped with the gold +tulips of Spain, and with the arms and emblems of the house of +Hapsburg.</p> +<p>The little Dwarf looked in wonder all round him, and was +half-afraid to go on. The strange silent horsemen that +galloped so swiftly through the long glades without making any +noise, seemed to him like those terrible phantoms of whom he had +heard the charcoal-burners speaking—the Comprachos, who +hunt only at night, and if they meet a man, turn him into a hind, +and chase him. But he thought of the pretty Infanta, and +took courage. He wanted to find her alone, and to tell her +that he too loved her. Perhaps she was in the room +beyond.</p> +<p>He ran across the soft Moorish carpets, and opened the +door. No! She was not here either. The room was +quite empty.</p> +<p>It was a throne-room, used for the reception of foreign +ambassadors, when the King, which of late had not been often, +consented to give them a personal audience; the same room in +which, many years before, envoys had appeared from England to +make arrangements for the marriage of their Queen, then one of +the Catholic sovereigns of Europe, with the Emperor’s +eldest son. The hangings were of gilt Cordovan leather, and +a heavy gilt chandelier with branches for three hundred wax +lights hung down from the black and white ceiling. +Underneath a great canopy of gold cloth, on which the lions and +towers of Castile were broidered in seed pearls, stood the throne +itself, covered with a rich pall of black velvet studded with +silver tulips and elaborately fringed with silver and +pearls. On the second step of the throne was placed the +kneeling-stool of the Infanta, with its cushion of cloth of +silver tissue, and below that again, and beyond the limit of the +canopy, stood the chair for the Papal Nuncio, who alone had the +right to be seated in the King’s presence on the occasion +of any public ceremonial, and whose Cardinal’s hat, with +its tangled scarlet tassels, lay on a purple <i>tabouret</i> in +front. On the wall, facing the throne, hung a life-sized +portrait of Charles V. in hunting dress, with a great mastiff by +his side, and a picture of Philip II. receiving the homage of the +Netherlands occupied the centre of the other wall. Between +the windows stood a black ebony cabinet, inlaid with plates of +ivory, on which the figures from Holbein’s Dance of Death +had been graved—by the hand, some said, of that famous +master himself.</p> +<p>But the little Dwarf cared nothing for all this +magnificence. He would not have given his rose for all the +pearls on the canopy, nor one white petal of his rose for the +throne itself. What he wanted was to see the Infanta before +she went down to the pavilion, and to ask her to come away with +him when he had finished his dance. Here, in the Palace, +the air was close and heavy, but in the forest the wind blew +free, and the sunlight with wandering hands of gold moved the +tremulous leaves aside. There were flowers, too, in the +forest, not so splendid, perhaps, as the flowers in the garden, +but more sweetly scented for all that; hyacinths in early spring +that flooded with waving purple the cool glens, and grassy +knolls; yellow primroses that nestled in little clumps round the +gnarled roots of the oak-trees; bright celandine, and blue +speedwell, and irises lilac and gold. There were grey +catkins on the hazels, and the foxgloves drooped with the weight +of their dappled bee-haunted cells. The chestnut had its +spires of white stars, and the hawthorn its pallid moons of +beauty. Yes: surely she would come if he could only find +her! She would come with him to the fair forest, and all +day long he would dance for her delight. A smile lit up his +eyes at the thought, and he passed into the next room.</p> +<p>Of all the rooms this was the brightest and the most +beautiful. The walls were covered with a pink-flowered +Lucca damask, patterned with birds and dotted with dainty +blossoms of silver; the furniture was of massive silver, +festooned with florid wreaths, and swinging Cupids; in front of +the two large fire-places stood great screens broidered with +parrots and peacocks, and the floor, which was of sea-green onyx, +seemed to stretch far away into the distance. Nor was he +alone. Standing under the shadow of the doorway, at the +extreme end of the room, he saw a little figure watching +him. His heart trembled, a cry of joy broke from his lips, +and he moved out into the sunlight. As he did so, the +figure moved out also, and he saw it plainly.</p> +<p>The Infanta! It was a monster, the most grotesque +monster he had ever beheld. Not properly shaped, as all +other people were, but hunchbacked, and crooked-limbed, with huge +lolling head and mane of black hair. The little Dwarf +frowned, and the monster frowned also. He laughed, and it +laughed with him, and held its hands to its sides, just as he +himself was doing. He made it a mocking bow, and it +returned him a low reverence. He went towards it, and it +came to meet him, copying each step that he made, and stopping +when he stopped himself. He shouted with amusement, and ran +forward, and reached out his hand, and the hand of the monster +touched his, and it was as cold as ice. He grew afraid, and +moved his hand across, and the monster’s hand followed it +quickly. He tried to press on, but something smooth and +hard stopped him. The face of the monster was now close to +his own, and seemed full of terror. He brushed his hair off +his eyes. It imitated him. He struck at it, and it +returned blow for blow. He loathed it, and it made hideous +faces at him. He drew back, and it retreated.</p> +<p>What is it? He thought for a moment, and looked round at +the rest of the room. It was strange, but everything seemed +to have its double in this invisible wall of clear water. +Yes, picture for picture was repeated, and couch for couch. +The sleeping Faun that lay in the alcove by the doorway had its +twin brother that slumbered, and the silver Venus that stood in +the sunlight held out her arms to a Venus as lovely as +herself.</p> +<p>Was it Echo? He had called to her once in the valley, +and she had answered him word for word. Could she mock the +eye, as she mocked the voice? Could she make a mimic world +just like the real world? Could the shadows of things have +colour and life and movement? Could it be that—?</p> +<p>He started, and taking from his breast the beautiful white +rose, he turned round, and kissed it. The monster had a +rose of its own, petal for petal the same! It kissed it +with like kisses, and pressed it to its heart with horrible +gestures.</p> +<p>When the truth dawned upon him, he gave a wild cry of despair, +and fell sobbing to the ground. So it was he who was +misshapen and hunchbacked, foul to look at and grotesque. +He himself was the monster, and it was at him that all the +children had been laughing, and the little Princess who he had +thought loved him—she too had been merely mocking at his +ugliness, and making merry over his twisted limbs. Why had +they not left him in the forest, where there was no mirror to +tell him how loathsome he was? Why had his father not +killed him, rather than sell him to his shame? The hot +tears poured down his cheeks, and he tore the white rose to +pieces. The sprawling monster did the same, and scattered +the faint petals in the air. It grovelled on the ground, +and, when he looked at it, it watched him with a face drawn with +pain. He crept away, lest he should see it, and covered his +eyes with his hands. He crawled, like some wounded thing, +into the shadow, and lay there moaning.</p> +<p>And at that moment the Infanta herself came in with her +companions through the open window, and when they saw the ugly +little dwarf lying on the ground and beating the floor with his +clenched hands, in the most fantastic and exaggerated manner, +they went off into shouts of happy laughter, and stood all round +him and watched him.</p> +<p>‘His dancing was funny,’ said the Infanta; +‘but his acting is funnier still. Indeed he is almost +as good as the puppets, only of course not quite so +natural.’ And she fluttered her big fan, and +applauded.</p> +<p>But the little Dwarf never looked up, and his sobs grew +fainter and fainter, and suddenly he gave a curious gasp, and +clutched his side. And then he fell back again, and lay +quite still.</p> +<p>‘That is capital,’ said the Infanta, after a +pause; ‘but now you must dance for me.’</p> +<p>‘Yes,’ cried all the children, ‘you must get +up and dance, for you are as clever as the Barbary apes, and much +more ridiculous.’ But the little Dwarf made no +answer.</p> +<p>And the Infanta stamped her foot, and called out to her uncle, +who was walking on the terrace with the Chamberlain, reading some +despatches that had just arrived from Mexico, where the Holy +Office had recently been established. ‘My funny +little dwarf is sulking,’ she cried, ‘you must wake +him up, and tell him to dance for me.’</p> +<p>They smiled at each other, and sauntered in, and Don Pedro +stooped down, and slapped the Dwarf on the cheek with his +embroidered glove. ‘You must dance,’ he said, +‘<i>petit monsire</i>. You must dance. The +Infanta of Spain and the Indies wishes to be amused.’</p> +<p>But the little Dwarf never moved.</p> +<p>‘A whipping master should be sent for,’ said Don +Pedro wearily, and he went back to the terrace. But the +Chamberlain looked grave, and he knelt beside the little dwarf, +and put his hand upon his heart. And after a few moments he +shrugged his shoulders, and rose up, and having made a low bow to +the Infanta, he said—</p> +<p>‘<i>Mi bella Princesa</i>, your funny little dwarf will +never dance again. It is a pity, for he is so ugly that he +might have made the King smile.’</p> +<p>‘But why will he not dance again?’ asked the +Infanta, laughing.</p> +<p>‘Because his heart is broken,’ answered the +Chamberlain.</p> +<p>And the Infanta frowned, and her dainty rose-leaf lips curled +in pretty disdain. ‘For the future let those who come +to play with me have no hearts,’ she cried, and she ran out +into the garden.</p> +<h2><a name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 73</span>THE +FISHERMAN AND HIS SOUL</h2> +<p style="text-align: center">TO H.S.H.<br /> +ALICE, PRINCESS<br /> +OF MONACO</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Every</span> evening the young Fisherman +went out upon the sea, and threw his nets into the water.</p> +<p>When the wind blew from the land he caught nothing, or but +little at best, for it was a bitter and black-winged wind, and +rough waves rose up to meet it. But when the wind blew to +the shore, the fish came in from the deep, and swam into the +meshes of his nets, and he took them to the market-place and sold +them.</p> +<p>Every evening he went out upon the sea, and one evening the +net was so heavy that hardly could he draw it into the +boat. And he laughed, and said to himself, ‘Surely I +have caught all the fish that swim, or snared some dull monster +that will be a marvel to men, or some thing of horror that the +great Queen will desire,’ and putting forth all his +strength, he tugged at the coarse ropes till, like lines of blue +enamel round a vase of bronze, the long veins rose up on his +arms. He tugged at the thin ropes, and nearer and nearer +came the circle of flat corks, and the net rose at last to the +top of the water.</p> +<p>But no fish at all was in it, nor any monster or thing of +horror, but only a little Mermaid lying fast asleep.</p> +<p>Her hair was as a wet fleece of gold, and each separate hair +as a thread of fine gold in a cup of glass. Her body was as +white ivory, and her tail was of silver and pearl. Silver +and pearl was her tail, and the green weeds of the sea coiled +round it; and like sea-shells were her ears, and her lips were +like sea-coral. The cold waves dashed over her cold +breasts, and the salt glistened upon her eyelids.</p> +<p>So beautiful was she that when the young Fisherman saw her he +was filled with wonder, and he put out his hand and drew the net +close to him, and leaning over the side he clasped her in his +arms. And when he touched her, she gave a cry like a +startled sea-gull, and woke, and looked at him in terror with her +mauve-amethyst eyes, and struggled that she might escape. +But he held her tightly to him, and would not suffer her to +depart.</p> +<p>And when she saw that she could in no way escape from him, she +began to weep, and said, ‘I pray thee let me go, for I am +the only daughter of a King, and my father is aged and +alone.’</p> +<p>But the young Fisherman answered, ‘I will not let thee +go save thou makest me a promise that whenever I call thee, thou +wilt come and sing to me, for the fish delight to listen to the +song of the Sea-folk, and so shall my nets be full.’</p> +<p>‘Wilt thou in very truth let me go, if I promise thee +this?’ cried the Mermaid.</p> +<p>‘In very truth I will let thee go,’ said the young +Fisherman.</p> +<p>So she made him the promise he desired, and sware it by the +oath of the Sea-folk. And he loosened his arms from about +her, and she sank down into the water, trembling with a strange +fear.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>Every evening the young Fisherman went out upon the sea, and +called to the Mermaid, and she rose out of the water and sang to +him. Round and round her swam the dolphins, and the wild +gulls wheeled above her head.</p> +<p>And she sang a marvellous song. For she sang of the +Sea-folk who drive their flocks from cave to cave, and carry the +little calves on their shoulders; of the Tritons who have long +green beards, and hairy breasts, and blow through twisted conchs +when the King passes by; of the palace of the King which is all +of amber, with a roof of clear emerald, and a pavement of bright +pearl; and of the gardens of the sea where the great filigrane +fans of coral wave all day long, and the fish dart about like +silver birds, and the anemones cling to the rocks, and the pinks +bourgeon in the ribbed yellow sand. She sang of the big +whales that come down from the north seas and have sharp icicles +hanging to their fins; of the Sirens who tell of such wonderful +things that the merchants have to stop their ears with wax lest +they should hear them, and leap into the water and be drowned; of +the sunken galleys with their tall masts, and the frozen sailors +clinging to the rigging, and the mackerel swimming in and out of +the open portholes; of the little barnacles who are great +travellers, and cling to the keels of the ships and go round and +round the world; and of the cuttlefish who live in the sides of +the cliffs and stretch out their long black arms, and can make +night come when they will it. She sang of the nautilus who +has a boat of her own that is carved out of an opal and steered +with a silken sail; of the happy Mermen who play upon harps and +can charm the great Kraken to sleep; of the little children who +catch hold of the slippery porpoises and ride laughing upon their +backs; of the Mermaids who lie in the white foam and hold out +their arms to the mariners; and of the sea-lions with their +curved tusks, and the sea-horses with their floating manes.</p> +<p>And as she sang, all the tunny-fish came in from the deep to +listen to her, and the young Fisherman threw his nets round them +and caught them, and others he took with a spear. And when +his boat was well-laden, the Mermaid would sink down into the +sea, smiling at him.</p> +<p>Yet would she never come near him that he might touch +her. Oftentimes he called to her and prayed of her, but she +would not; and when he sought to seize her she dived into the +water as a seal might dive, nor did he see her again that +day. And each day the sound of her voice became sweeter to +his ears. So sweet was her voice that he forgot his nets +and his cunning, and had no care of his craft. +Vermilion-finned and with eyes of bossy gold, the tunnies went by +in shoals, but he heeded them not. His spear lay by his +side unused, and his baskets of plaited osier were empty. +With lips parted, and eyes dim with wonder, he sat idle in his +boat and listened, listening till the sea-mists crept round him, +and the wandering moon stained his brown limbs with silver.</p> +<p>And one evening he called to her, and said: ‘Little +Mermaid, little Mermaid, I love thee. Take me for thy +bridegroom, for I love thee.’</p> +<p>But the Mermaid shook her head. ‘Thou hast a human +soul,’ she answered. ‘If only thou wouldst send +away thy soul, then could I love thee.’</p> +<p>And the young Fisherman said to himself, ‘Of what use is +my soul to me? I cannot see it. I may not touch +it. I do not know it. Surely I will send it away from +me, and much gladness shall be mine.’ And a cry of +joy broke from his lips, and standing up in the painted boat, he +held out his arms to the Mermaid. ‘I will send my +soul away,’ he cried, ‘and you shall be my bride, and +I will be thy bridegroom, and in the depth of the sea we will +dwell together, and all that thou hast sung of thou shalt show +me, and all that thou desirest I will do, nor shall our lives be +divided.’</p> +<p>And the little Mermaid laughed for pleasure and hid her face +in her hands.</p> +<p>‘But how shall I send my soul from me?’ cried the +young Fisherman. ‘Tell me how I may do it, and lo! it +shall be done.’</p> +<p>‘Alas! I know not,’ said the little Mermaid: +‘the Sea-folk have no souls.’ And she sank down +into the deep, looking wistfully at him.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>Now early on the next morning, before the sun was the span of +a man’s hand above the hill, the young Fisherman went to +the house of the Priest and knocked three times at the door.</p> +<p>The novice looked out through the wicket, and when he saw who +it was, he drew back the latch and said to him, +‘Enter.’</p> +<p>And the young Fisherman passed in, and knelt down on the +sweet-smelling rushes of the floor, and cried to the Priest who +was reading out of the Holy Book and said to him, ‘Father, +I am in love with one of the Sea-folk, and my soul hindereth me +from having my desire. Tell me how I can send my soul away +from me, for in truth I have no need of it. Of what value +is my soul to me? I cannot see it. I may not touch +it. I do not know it.’</p> +<p>And the Priest beat his breast, and answered, ‘Alack, +alack, thou art mad, or hast eaten of some poisonous herb, for +the soul is the noblest part of man, and was given to us by God +that we should nobly use it. There is no thing more +precious than a human soul, nor any earthly thing that can be +weighed with it. It is worth all the gold that is in the +world, and is more precious than the rubies of the kings. +Therefore, my son, think not any more of this matter, for it is a +sin that may not be forgiven. And as for the Sea-folk, they +are lost, and they who would traffic with them are lost +also. They are as the beasts of the field that know not +good from evil, and for them the Lord has not died.’</p> +<p>The young Fisherman’s eyes filled with tears when he +heard the bitter words of the Priest, and he rose up from his +knees and said to him, ‘Father, the Fauns live in the +forest and are glad, and on the rocks sit the Mermen with their +harps of red gold. Let me be as they are, I beseech thee, +for their days are as the days of flowers. And as for my +soul, what doth my soul profit me, if it stand between me and the +thing that I love?’</p> +<p>‘The love of the body is vile,’ cried the Priest, +knitting his brows, ‘and vile and evil are the pagan things +God suffers to wander through His world. Accursed be the +Fauns of the woodland, and accursed be the singers of the +sea! I have heard them at night-time, and they have sought +to lure me from my beads. They tap at the window, and +laugh. They whisper into my ears the tale of their perilous +joys. They tempt me with temptations, and when I would pray +they make mouths at me. They are lost, I tell thee, they +are lost. For them there is no heaven nor hell, and in +neither shall they praise God’s name.’</p> +<p>‘Father,’ cried the young Fisherman, ‘thou +knowest not what thou sayest. Once in my net I snared the +daughter of a King. She is fairer than the morning star, +and whiter than the moon. For her body I would give my +soul, and for her love I would surrender heaven. Tell me +what I ask of thee, and let me go in peace.’</p> +<p>‘Away! Away!’ cried the Priest: ‘thy +leman is lost, and thou shalt be lost with her.’</p> +<p>And he gave him no blessing, but drove him from his door.</p> +<p>And the young Fisherman went down into the market-place, and +he walked slowly, and with bowed head, as one who is in +sorrow.</p> +<p>And when the merchants saw him coming, they began to whisper +to each other, and one of them came forth to meet him, and called +him by name, and said to him, ‘What hast thou to +sell?’</p> +<p>‘I will sell thee my soul,’ he answered. +‘I pray thee buy it of me, for I am weary of it. Of +what use is my soul to me? I cannot see it. I may not +touch it. I do not know it.’</p> +<p>But the merchants mocked at him, and said, ‘Of what use +is a man’s soul to us? It is not worth a clipped +piece of silver. Sell us thy body for a slave, and we will +clothe thee in sea-purple, and put a ring upon thy finger, and +make thee the minion of the great Queen. But talk not of +the soul, for to us it is nought, nor has it any value for our +service.’</p> +<p>And the young Fisherman said to himself: ‘How strange a +thing this is! The Priest telleth me that the soul is worth +all the gold in the world, and the merchants say that it is not +worth a clipped piece of silver.’ And he passed out +of the market-place, and went down to the shore of the sea, and +began to ponder on what he should do.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>And at noon he remembered how one of his companions, who was a +gatherer of samphire, had told him of a certain young Witch who +dwelt in a cave at the head of the bay and was very cunning in +her witcheries. And he set to and ran, so eager was he to +get rid of his soul, and a cloud of dust followed him as he sped +round the sand of the shore. By the itching of her palm the +young Witch knew his coming, and she laughed and let down her red +hair. With her red hair falling around her, she stood at +the opening of the cave, and in her hand she had a spray of wild +hemlock that was blossoming.</p> +<p>‘What d’ye lack? What d’ye +lack?’ she cried, as he came panting up the steep, and bent +down before her. ‘Fish for thy net, when the wind is +foul? I have a little reed-pipe, and when I blow on it the +mullet come sailing into the bay. But it has a price, +pretty boy, it has a price. What d’ye lack? +What d’ye lack? A storm to wreck the ships, and wash +the chests of rich treasure ashore? I have more storms than +the wind has, for I serve one who is stronger than the wind, and +with a sieve and a pail of water I can send the great galleys to +the bottom of the sea. But I have a price, pretty boy, I +have a price. What d’ye lack? What d’ye +lack? I know a flower that grows in the valley, none knows +it but I. It has purple leaves, and a star in its heart, +and its juice is as white as milk. Shouldst thou touch with +this flower the hard lips of the Queen, she would follow thee all +over the world. Out of the bed of the King she would rise, +and over the whole world she would follow thee. And it has +a price, pretty boy, it has a price. What d’ye +lack? What d’ye lack? I can pound a toad in a +mortar, and make broth of it, and stir the broth with a dead +man’s hand. Sprinkle it on thine enemy while he +sleeps, and he will turn into a black viper, and his own mother +will slay him. With a wheel I can draw the Moon from +heaven, and in a crystal I can show thee Death. What +d’ye lack? What d’ye lack? Tell me thy +desire, and I will give it thee, and thou shalt pay me a price, +pretty boy, thou shalt pay me a price.’</p> +<p>‘My desire is but for a little thing,’ said the +young Fisherman, ‘yet hath the Priest been wroth with me, +and driven me forth. It is but for a little thing, and the +merchants have mocked at me, and denied me. Therefore am I +come to thee, though men call thee evil, and whatever be thy +price I shall pay it.’</p> +<p>‘What wouldst thou?’ asked the Witch, coming near +to him.</p> +<p>‘I would send my soul away from me,’ answered the +young Fisherman.</p> +<p>The Witch grew pale, and shuddered, and hid her face in her +blue mantle. ‘Pretty boy, pretty boy,’ she +muttered, ‘that is a terrible thing to do.’</p> +<p>He tossed his brown curls and laughed. ‘My soul is +nought to me,’ he answered. ‘I cannot see +it. I may not touch it. I do not know it.’</p> +<p>‘What wilt thou give me if I tell thee?’ asked the +Witch, looking down at him with her beautiful eyes.</p> +<p>‘Five pieces of gold,’ he said, ‘and my +nets, and the wattled house where I live, and the painted boat in +which I sail. Only tell me how to get rid of my soul, and I +will give thee all that I possess.’</p> +<p>She laughed mockingly at him, and struck him with the spray of +hemlock. ‘I can turn the autumn leaves into +gold,’ she answered, ‘and I can weave the pale +moonbeams into silver if I will it. He whom I serve is +richer than all the kings of this world, and has their +dominions.’</p> +<p>‘What then shall I give thee,’ he cried, ‘if +thy price be neither gold nor silver?’</p> +<p>The Witch stroked his hair with her thin white hand. +‘Thou must dance with me, pretty boy,’ she murmured, +and she smiled at him as she spoke.</p> +<p>‘Nought but that?’ cried the young Fisherman in +wonder and he rose to his feet.</p> +<p>‘Nought but that,’ she answered, and she smiled at +him again.</p> +<p>‘Then at sunset in some secret place we shall dance +together,’ he said, ‘and after that we have danced +thou shalt tell me the thing which I desire to know.’</p> +<p>She shook her head. ‘When the moon is full, when +the moon is full,’ she muttered. Then she peered all +round, and listened. A blue bird rose screaming from its +nest and circled over the dunes, and three spotted birds rustled +through the coarse grey grass and whistled to each other. +There was no other sound save the sound of a wave fretting the +smooth pebbles below. So she reached out her hand, and drew +him near to her and put her dry lips close to his ear.</p> +<p>‘To-night thou must come to the top of the +mountain,’ she whispered. ‘It is a Sabbath, and +He will be there.’</p> +<p>The young Fisherman started and looked at her, and she showed +her white teeth and laughed. ‘Who is He of whom thou +speakest?’ he asked.</p> +<p>‘It matters not,’ she answered. ‘Go +thou to-night, and stand under the branches of the hornbeam, and +wait for my coming. If a black dog run towards thee, strike +it with a rod of willow, and it will go away. If an owl +speak to thee, make it no answer. When the moon is full I +shall be with thee, and we will dance together on the +grass.’</p> +<p>‘But wilt thou swear to me to tell me how I may send my +soul from me?’ he made question.</p> +<p>She moved out into the sunlight, and through her red hair +rippled the wind. ‘By the hoofs of the goat I swear +it,’ she made answer.</p> +<p>‘Thou art the best of the witches,’ cried the +young Fisherman, ‘and I will surely dance with thee +to-night on the top of the mountain. I would indeed that +thou hadst asked of me either gold or silver. But such as +thy price is thou shalt have it, for it is but a little +thing.’ And he doffed his cap to her, and bent his +head low, and ran back to the town filled with a great joy.</p> +<p>And the Witch watched him as he went, and when he had passed +from her sight she entered her cave, and having taken a mirror +from a box of carved cedarwood, she set it up on a frame, and +burned vervain on lighted charcoal before it, and peered through +the coils of the smoke. And after a time she clenched her +hands in anger. ‘He should have been mine,’ she +muttered, ‘I am as fair as she is.’</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>And that evening, when the moon had risen, the young Fisherman +climbed up to the top of the mountain, and stood under the +branches of the hornbeam. Like a targe of polished metal +the round sea lay at his feet, and the shadows of the +fishing-boats moved in the little bay. A great owl, with +yellow sulphurous eyes, called to him by his name, but he made it +no answer. A black dog ran towards him and snarled. +He struck it with a rod of willow, and it went away whining.</p> +<p>At midnight the witches came flying through the air like +bats. ‘Phew!’ they cried, as they lit upon the +ground, ‘there is some one here we know not!’ and +they sniffed about, and chattered to each other, and made +signs. Last of all came the young Witch, with her red hair +streaming in the wind. She wore a dress of gold tissue +embroidered with peacocks’ eyes, and a little cap of green +velvet was on her head.</p> +<p>‘Where is he, where is he?’ shrieked the witches +when they saw her, but she only laughed, and ran to the hornbeam, +and taking the Fisherman by the hand she led him out into the +moonlight and began to dance.</p> +<p>Round and round they whirled, and the young Witch jumped so +high that he could see the scarlet heels of her shoes. Then +right across the dancers came the sound of the galloping of a +horse, but no horse was to be seen, and he felt afraid.</p> +<p>‘Faster,’ cried the Witch, and she threw her arms +about his neck, and her breath was hot upon his face. +‘Faster, faster!’ she cried, and the earth seemed to +spin beneath his feet, and his brain grew troubled, and a great +terror fell on him, as of some evil thing that was watching him, +and at last he became aware that under the shadow of a rock there +was a figure that had not been there before.</p> +<p>It was a man dressed in a suit of black velvet, cut in the +Spanish fashion. His face was strangely pale, but his lips +were like a proud red flower. He seemed weary, and was +leaning back toying in a listless manner with the pommel of his +dagger. On the grass beside him lay a plumed hat, and a +pair of riding-gloves gauntleted with gilt lace, and sewn with +seed-pearls wrought into a curious device. A short cloak +lined with sables hang from his shoulder, and his delicate white +hands were gemmed with rings. Heavy eyelids drooped over +his eyes.</p> +<p>The young Fisherman watched him, as one snared in a +spell. At last their eyes met, and wherever he danced it +seemed to him that the eyes of the man were upon him. He +heard the Witch laugh, and caught her by the waist, and whirled +her madly round and round.</p> +<p>Suddenly a dog bayed in the wood, and the dancers stopped, and +going up two by two, knelt down, and kissed the man’s +hands. As they did so, a little smile touched his proud +lips, as a bird’s wing touches the water and makes it +laugh. But there was disdain in it. He kept looking +at the young Fisherman.</p> +<p>‘Come! let us worship,’ whispered the Witch, and +she led him up, and a great desire to do as she besought him +seized on him, and he followed her. But when he came close, +and without knowing why he did it, he made on his breast the sign +of the Cross, and called upon the holy name.</p> +<p>No sooner had he done so than the witches screamed like hawks +and flew away, and the pallid face that had been watching him +twitched with a spasm of pain. The man went over to a +little wood, and whistled. A jennet with silver trappings +came running to meet him. As he leapt upon the saddle he +turned round, and looked at the young Fisherman sadly.</p> +<p>And the Witch with the red hair tried to fly away also, but +the Fisherman caught her by her wrists, and held her fast.</p> +<p>‘Loose me,’ she cried, ‘and let me go. +For thou hast named what should not be named, and shown the sign +that may not be looked at.’</p> +<p>‘Nay,’ he answered, ‘but I will not let thee +go till thou hast told me the secret.’</p> +<p>‘What secret?’ said the Witch, wrestling with him +like a wild cat, and biting her foam-flecked lips.</p> +<p>‘Thou knowest,’ he made answer.</p> +<p>Her grass-green eyes grew dim with tears, and she said to the +Fisherman, ‘Ask me anything but that!’</p> +<p>He laughed, and held her all the more tightly.</p> +<p>And when she saw that she could not free herself, she +whispered to him, ‘Surely I am as fair as the daughters of +the sea, and as comely as those that dwell in the blue +waters,’ and she fawned on him and put her face close to +his.</p> +<p>But he thrust her back frowning, and said to her, ‘If +thou keepest not the promise that thou madest to me I will slay +thee for a false witch.’</p> +<p>She grew grey as a blossom of the Judas tree, and +shuddered. ‘Be it so,’ she muttered. +‘It is thy soul and not mine. Do with it as thou +wilt.’ And she took from her girdle a little knife +that had a handle of green viper’s skin, and gave it to +him.</p> +<p>‘What shall this serve me?’ he asked of her, +wondering.</p> +<p>She was silent for a few moments, and a look of terror came +over her face. Then she brushed her hair back from her +forehead, and smiling strangely she said to him, ‘What men +call the shadow of the body is not the shadow of the body, but is +the body of the soul. Stand on the sea-shore with thy back +to the moon, and cut away from around thy feet thy shadow, which +is thy soul’s body, and bid thy soul leave thee, and it +will do so.’</p> +<p>The young Fisherman trembled. ‘Is this +true?’ he murmured.</p> +<p>‘It is true, and I would that I had not told thee of +it,’ she cried, and she clung to his knees weeping.</p> +<p>He put her from him and left her in the rank grass, and going +to the edge of the mountain he placed the knife in his belt and +began to climb down.</p> +<p>And his Soul that was within him called out to him and said, +‘Lo! I have dwelt with thee for all these years, and +have been thy servant. Send me not away from thee now, for +what evil have I done thee?’</p> +<p>And the young Fisherman laughed. ‘Thou hast done +me no evil, but I have no need of thee,’ he answered. +‘The world is wide, and there is Heaven also, and Hell, and +that dim twilight house that lies between. Go wherever thou +wilt, but trouble me not, for my love is calling to +me.’</p> +<p>And his Soul besought him piteously, but he heeded it not, but +leapt from crag to crag, being sure-footed as a wild goat, and at +last he reached the level ground and the yellow shore of the +sea.</p> +<p>Bronze-limbed and well-knit, like a statue wrought by a +Grecian, he stood on the sand with his back to the moon, and out +of the foam came white arms that beckoned to him, and out of the +waves rose dim forms that did him homage. Before him lay +his shadow, which was the body of his soul, and behind him hung +the moon in the honey-coloured air.</p> +<p>And his Soul said to him, ‘If indeed thou must drive me +from thee, send me not forth without a heart. The world is +cruel, give me thy heart to take with me.’</p> +<p>He tossed his head and smiled. ‘With what should I +love my love if I gave thee my heart?’ he cried.</p> +<p>‘Nay, but be merciful,’ said his Soul: ‘give +me thy heart, for the world is very cruel, and I am +afraid.’</p> +<p>‘My heart is my love’s,’ he answered, +‘therefore tarry not, but get thee gone.’</p> +<p>‘Should I not love also?’ asked his Soul.</p> +<p>‘Get thee gone, for I have no need of thee,’ cried +the young Fisherman, and he took the little knife with its handle +of green viper’s skin, and cut away his shadow from around +his feet, and it rose up and stood before him, and looked at him, +and it was even as himself.</p> +<p>He crept back, and thrust the knife into his belt, and a +feeling of awe came over him. ‘Get thee gone,’ +he murmured, ‘and let me see thy face no more.’</p> +<p>‘Nay, but we must meet again,’ said the +Soul. Its voice was low and flute-like, and its lips hardly +moved while it spake.</p> +<p>‘How shall we meet?’ cried the young +Fisherman. ‘Thou wilt not follow me into the depths +of the sea?’</p> +<p>‘Once every year I will come to this place, and call to +thee,’ said the Soul. ‘It may be that thou wilt +have need of me.’</p> +<p>‘What need should I have of thee?’ cried the young +Fisherman, ‘but be it as thou wilt,’ and he plunged +into the waters and the Tritons blew their horns and the little +Mermaid rose up to meet him, and put her arms around his neck and +kissed him on the mouth.</p> +<p>And the Soul stood on the lonely beach and watched them. +And when they had sunk down into the sea, it went weeping away +over the marshes.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>And after a year was over the Soul came down to the shore of +the sea and called to the young Fisherman, and he rose out of the +deep, and said, ‘Why dost thou call to me?’</p> +<p>And the Soul answered, ‘Come nearer, that I may speak +with thee, for I have seen marvellous things.’</p> +<p>So he came nearer, and couched in the shallow water, and +leaned his head upon his hand and listened.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>And the Soul said to him, ‘When I left thee I turned my +face to the East and journeyed. From the East cometh +everything that is wise. Six days I journeyed, and on the +morning of the seventh day I came to a hill that is in the +country of the Tartars. I sat down under the shade of a +tamarisk tree to shelter myself from the sun. The land was +dry and burnt up with the heat. The people went to and fro +over the plain like flies crawling upon a disk of polished +copper.</p> +<p>‘When it was noon a cloud of red dust rose up from the +flat rim of the land. When the Tartars saw it, they strung +their painted bows, and having leapt upon their little horses +they galloped to meet it. The women fled screaming to the +waggons, and hid themselves behind the felt curtains.</p> +<p>‘At twilight the Tartars returned, but five of them were +missing, and of those that came back not a few had been +wounded. They harnessed their horses to the waggons and +drove hastily away. Three jackals came out of a cave and +peered after them. Then they sniffed up the air with their +nostrils, and trotted off in the opposite direction.</p> +<p>‘When the moon rose I saw a camp-fire burning on the +plain, and went towards it. A company of merchants were +seated round it on carpets. Their camels were picketed +behind them, and the negroes who were their servants were +pitching tents of tanned skin upon the sand, and making a high +wall of the prickly pear.</p> +<p>‘As I came near them, the chief of the merchants rose up +and drew his sword, and asked me my business.</p> +<p>‘I answered that I was a Prince in my own land, and that +I had escaped from the Tartars, who had sought to make me their +slave. The chief smiled, and showed me five heads fixed +upon long reeds of bamboo.</p> +<p>‘Then he asked me who was the prophet of God, and I +answered him Mohammed.</p> +<p>‘When he heard the name of the false prophet, he bowed +and took me by the hand, and placed me by his side. A negro +brought me some mare’s milk in a wooden dish, and a piece +of lamb’s flesh roasted.</p> +<p>‘At daybreak we started on our journey. I rode on +a red-haired camel by the side of the chief, and a runner ran +before us carrying a spear. The men of war were on either +hand, and the mules followed with the merchandise. There +were forty camels in the caravan, and the mules were twice forty +in number.</p> +<p>‘We went from the country of the Tartars into the +country of those who curse the Moon. We saw the Gryphons +guarding their gold on the white rocks, and the scaled Dragons +sleeping in their caves. As we passed over the mountains we +held our breath lest the snows might fall on us, and each man +tied a veil of gauze before his eyes. As we passed through +the valleys the Pygmies shot arrows at us from the hollows of the +trees, and at night-time we heard the wild men beating on their +drums. When we came to the Tower of Apes we set fruits +before them, and they did not harm us. When we came to the +Tower of Serpents we gave them warm milk in howls of brass, and +they let us go by. Three times in our journey we came to +the banks of the Oxus. We crossed it on rafts of wood with +great bladders of blown hide. The river-horses raged +against us and sought to slay us. When the camels saw them +they trembled.</p> +<p>‘The kings of each city levied tolls on us, but would +not suffer us to enter their gates. They threw us bread +over the walls, little maize-cakes baked in honey and cakes of +fine flour filled with dates. For every hundred baskets we +gave them a bead of amber.</p> +<p>‘When the dwellers in the villages saw us coming, they +poisoned the wells and fled to the hill-summits. We fought +with the Magadae who are born old, and grow younger and younger +every year, and die when they are little children; and with the +Laktroi who say that they are the sons of tigers, and paint +themselves yellow and black; and with the Aurantes who bury their +dead on the tops of trees, and themselves live in dark caverns +lest the Sun, who is their god, should slay them; and with the +Krimnians who worship a crocodile, and give it earrings of green +glass, and feed it with butter and fresh fowls; and with the +Agazonbae, who are dog-faced; and with the Sibans, who have +horses’ feet, and run more swiftly than horses. A +third of our company died in battle, and a third died of +want. The rest murmured against me, and said that I had +brought them an evil fortune. I took a horned adder from +beneath a stone and let it sting me. When they saw that I +did not sicken they grew afraid.</p> +<p>‘In the fourth month we reached the city of Illel. +It was night-time when we came to the grove that is outside the +walls, and the air was sultry, for the Moon was travelling in +Scorpion. We took the ripe pomegranates from the trees, and +brake them, and drank their sweet juices. Then we lay down +on our carpets, and waited for the dawn.</p> +<p>‘And at dawn we rose and knocked at the gate of the +city. It was wrought out of red bronze, and carved with +sea-dragons and dragons that have wings. The guards looked +down from the battlements and asked us our business. The +interpreter of the caravan answered that we had come from the +island of Syria with much merchandise. They took hostages, +and told us that they would open the gate to us at noon, and bade +us tarry till then.</p> +<p>‘When it was noon they opened the gate, and as we +entered in the people came crowding out of the houses to look at +us, and a crier went round the city crying through a shell. +We stood in the market-place, and the negroes uncorded the bales +of figured cloths and opened the carved chests of sycamore. +And when they had ended their task, the merchants set forth their +strange wares, the waxed linen from Egypt and the painted linen +from the country of the Ethiops, the purple sponges from Tyre and +the blue hangings from Sidon, the cups of cold amber and the fine +vessels of glass and the curious vessels of burnt clay. +From the roof of a house a company of women watched us. One +of them wore a mask of gilded leather.</p> +<p>‘And on the first day the priests came and bartered with +us, and on the second day came the nobles, and on the third day +came the craftsmen and the slaves. And this is their custom +with all merchants as long as they tarry in the city.</p> +<p>‘And we tarried for a moon, and when the moon was +waning, I wearied and wandered away through the streets of the +city and came to the garden of its god. The priests in +their yellow robes moved silently through the green trees, and on +a pavement of black marble stood the rose-red house in which the +god had his dwelling. Its doors were of powdered lacquer, +and bulls and peacocks were wrought on them in raised and +polished gold. The tilted roof was of sea-green porcelain, +and the jutting eaves were festooned with little bells. +When the white doves flew past, they struck the bells with their +wings and made them tinkle.</p> +<p>‘In front of the temple was a pool of clear water paved +with veined onyx. I lay down beside it, and with my pale +fingers I touched the broad leaves. One of the priests came +towards me and stood behind me. He had sandals on his feet, +one of soft serpent-skin and the other of birds’ +plumage. On his head was a mitre of black felt decorated +with silver crescents. Seven yellows were woven into his +robe, and his frizzed hair was stained with antimony.</p> +<p>‘After a little while he spake to me, and asked me my +desire.</p> +<p>‘I told him that my desire was to see the god.</p> +<p>‘“The god is hunting,” said the priest, +looking strangely at me with his small slanting eyes.</p> +<p>‘“Tell me in what forest, and I will ride with +him,” I answered.</p> +<p>‘He combed out the soft fringes of his tunic with his +long pointed nails. “The god is asleep,” he +murmured.</p> +<p>‘“Tell me on what couch, and I will watch by +him,” I answered.</p> +<p>‘“The god is at the feast,” he cried.</p> +<p>‘“If the wine be sweet I will drink it with him, +and if it be bitter I will drink it with him also,” was my +answer.</p> +<p>‘He bowed his head in wonder, and, taking me by the +hand, he raised me up, and led me into the temple.</p> +<p>‘And in the first chamber I saw an idol seated on a +throne of jasper bordered with great orient pearls. It was +carved out of ebony, and in stature was of the stature of a +man. On its forehead was a ruby, and thick oil dripped from +its hair on to its thighs. Its feet were red with the blood +of a newly-slain kid, and its loins girt with a copper belt that +was studded with seven beryls.</p> +<p>‘And I said to the priest, “Is this the +god?” And he answered me, “This is the +god.”</p> +<p>‘“Show me the god,” I cried, “or I +will surely slay thee.” And I touched his hand, and +it became withered.</p> +<p>‘And the priest besought me, saying, “Let my lord +heal his servant, and I will show him the god.”</p> +<p>‘So I breathed with my breath upon his hand, and it +became whole again, and he trembled and led me into the second +chamber, and I saw an idol standing on a lotus of jade hung with +great emeralds. It was carved out of ivory, and in stature +was twice the stature of a man. On its forehead was a +chrysolite, and its breasts were smeared with myrrh and +cinnamon. In one hand it held a crooked sceptre of jade, +and in the other a round crystal. It ware buskins of brass, +and its thick neck was circled with a circle of selenites.</p> +<p>‘And I said to the priest, “Is this the +god?”</p> +<p>‘And he answered me, “This is the god.”</p> +<p>‘“Show me the god,” I cried, “or I +will surely slay thee.” And I touched his eyes, and +they became blind.</p> +<p>‘And the priest besought me, saying, “Let my lord +heal his servant, and I will show him the god.”</p> +<p>‘So I breathed with my breath upon his eyes, and the +sight came back to them, and he trembled again, and led me into +the third chamber, and lo! there was no idol in it, nor image of +any kind, but only a mirror of round metal set on an altar of +stone.</p> +<p>‘And I said to the priest, “Where is the +god?”</p> +<p>‘And he answered me: “There is no god but this +mirror that thou seest, for this is the Mirror of Wisdom. +And it reflecteth all things that are in heaven and on earth, +save only the face of him who looketh into it. This it +reflecteth not, so that he who looketh into it may be wise. +Many other mirrors are there, but they are mirrors of +Opinion. This only is the Mirror of Wisdom. And they +who possess this mirror know everything, nor is there anything +hidden from them. And they who possess it not have not +Wisdom. Therefore is it the god, and we worship +it.” And I looked into the mirror, and it was even as +he had said to me.</p> +<p>‘And I did a strange thing, but what I did matters not, +for in a valley that is but a day’s journey from this place +have I hidden the Mirror of Wisdom. Do but suffer me to +enter into thee again and be thy servant, and thou shalt be wiser +than all the wise men, and Wisdom shall be thine. Suffer me +to enter into thee, and none will be as wise as thou.’</p> +<p>But the young Fisherman laughed. ‘Love is better +than Wisdom,’ he cried, ‘and the little Mermaid loves +me.’</p> +<p>‘Nay, but there is nothing better than Wisdom,’ +said the Soul.</p> +<p>‘Love is better,’ answered the young Fisherman, +and he plunged into the deep, and the Soul went weeping away over +the marshes.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>And after the second year was over, the Soul came down to the +shore of the sea, and called to the young Fisherman, and he rose +out of the deep and said, ‘Why dost thou call to +me?’</p> +<p>And the Soul answered, ‘Come nearer, that I may speak +with thee, for I have seen marvellous things.’</p> +<p>So he came nearer, and couched in the shallow water, and +leaned his head upon his hand and listened.</p> +<p>And the Soul said to him, ‘When I left thee, I turned my +face to the South and journeyed. From the South cometh +everything that is precious. Six days I journeyed along the +highways that lead to the city of Ashter, along the dusty +red-dyed highways by which the pilgrims are wont to go did I +journey, and on the morning of the seventh day I lifted up my +eyes, and lo! the city lay at my feet, for it is in a valley.</p> +<p>‘There are nine gates to this city, and in front of each +gate stands a bronze horse that neighs when the Bedouins come +down from the mountains. The walls are cased with copper, +and the watch-towers on the walls are roofed with brass. In +every tower stands an archer with a bow in his hand. At +sunrise he strikes with an arrow on a gong, and at sunset he +blows through a horn of horn.</p> +<p>‘When I sought to enter, the guards stopped me and asked +of me who I was. I made answer that I was a Dervish and on +my way to the city of Mecca, where there was a green veil on +which the Koran was embroidered in silver letters by the hands of +the angels. They were filled with wonder, and entreated me +to pass in.</p> +<p>‘Inside it is even as a bazaar. Surely thou +shouldst have been with me. Across the narrow streets the +gay lanterns of paper flutter like large butterflies. When +the wind blows over the roofs they rise and fall as painted +bubbles do. In front of their booths sit the merchants on +silken carpets. They have straight black beards, and their +turbans are covered with golden sequins, and long strings of +amber and carved peach-stones glide through their cool +fingers. Some of them sell galbanum and nard, and curious +perfumes from the islands of the Indian Sea, and the thick oil of +red roses, and myrrh and little nail-shaped cloves. When +one stops to speak to them, they throw pinches of frankincense +upon a charcoal brazier and make the air sweet. I saw a +Syrian who held in his hands a thin rod like a reed. Grey +threads of smoke came from it, and its odour as it burned was as +the odour of the pink almond in spring. Others sell silver +bracelets embossed all over with creamy blue turquoise stones, +and anklets of brass wire fringed with little pearls, and +tigers’ claws set in gold, and the claws of that gilt cat, +the leopard, set in gold also, and earrings of pierced emerald, +and finger-rings of hollowed jade. From the tea-houses +comes the sound of the guitar, and the opium-smokers with their +white smiling faces look out at the passers-by.</p> +<p>‘Of a truth thou shouldst have been with me. The +wine-sellers elbow their way through the crowd with great black +skins on their shoulders. Most of them sell the wine of +Schiraz, which is as sweet as honey. They serve it in +little metal cups and strew rose leaves upon it. In the +market-place stand the fruitsellers, who sell all kinds of fruit: +ripe figs, with their bruised purple flesh, melons, smelling of +musk and yellow as topazes, citrons and rose-apples and clusters +of white grapes, round red-gold oranges, and oval lemons of green +gold. Once I saw an elephant go by. Its trunk was +painted with vermilion and turmeric, and over its ears it had a +net of crimson silk cord. It stopped opposite one of the +booths and began eating the oranges, and the man only +laughed. Thou canst not think how strange a people they +are. When they are glad they go to the bird-sellers and buy +of them a caged bird, and set it free that their joy may be +greater, and when they are sad they scourge themselves with +thorns that their sorrow may not grow less.</p> +<p>‘One evening I met some negroes carrying a heavy +palanquin through the bazaar. It was made of gilded bamboo, +and the poles were of vermilion lacquer studded with brass +peacocks. Across the windows hung thin curtains of muslin +embroidered with beetles’ wings and with tiny seed-pearls, +and as it passed by a pale-faced Circassian looked out and smiled +at me. I followed behind, and the negroes hurried their +steps and scowled. But I did not care. I felt a great +curiosity come over me.</p> +<p>‘At last they stopped at a square white house. +There were no windows to it, only a little door like the door of +a tomb. They set down the palanquin and knocked three times +with a copper hammer. An Armenian in a caftan of green +leather peered through the wicket, and when he saw them he +opened, and spread a carpet on the ground, and the woman stepped +out. As she went in, she turned round and smiled at me +again. I had never seen any one so pale.</p> +<p>‘When the moon rose I returned to the same place and +sought for the house, but it was no longer there. When I +saw that, I knew who the woman was, and wherefore she had smiled +at me.</p> +<p>‘Certainly thou shouldst have been with me. On the +feast of the New Moon the young Emperor came forth from his +palace and went into the mosque to pray. His hair and beard +were dyed with rose-leaves, and his cheeks were powdered with a +fine gold dust. The palms of his feet and hands were yellow +with saffron.</p> +<p>‘At sunrise he went forth from his palace in a robe of +silver, and at sunset he returned to it again in a robe of +gold. The people flung themselves on the ground and hid +their faces, but I would not do so. I stood by the stall of +a seller of dates and waited. When the Emperor saw me, he +raised his painted eyebrows and stopped. I stood quite +still, and made him no obeisance. The people marvelled at +my boldness, and counselled me to flee from the city. I +paid no heed to them, but went and sat with the sellers of +strange gods, who by reason of their craft are abominated. +When I told them what I had done, each of them gave me a god and +prayed me to leave them.</p> +<p>‘That night, as I lay on a cushion in the tea-house that +is in the Street of Pomegranates, the guards of the Emperor +entered and led me to the palace. As I went in they closed +each door behind me, and put a chain across it. Inside was +a great court with an arcade running all round. The walls +were of white alabaster, set here and there with blue and green +tiles. The pillars were of green marble, and the pavement +of a kind of peach-blossom marble. I had never seen +anything like it before.</p> +<p>‘As I passed across the court two veiled women looked +down from a balcony and cursed me. The guards hastened on, +and the butts of the lances rang upon the polished floor. +They opened a gate of wrought ivory, and I found myself in a +watered garden of seven terraces. It was planted with +tulip-cups and moonflowers, and silver-studded aloes. Like +a slim reed of crystal a fountain hung in the dusky air. +The cypress-trees were like burnt-out torches. From one of +them a nightingale was singing.</p> +<p>‘At the end of the garden stood a little pavilion. +As we approached it two eunuchs came out to meet us. Their +fat bodies swayed as they walked, and they glanced curiously at +me with their yellow-lidded eyes. One of them drew aside +the captain of the guard, and in a low voice whispered to +him. The other kept munching scented pastilles, which he +took with an affected gesture out of an oval box of lilac +enamel.</p> +<p>‘After a few moments the captain of the guard dismissed +the soldiers. They went back to the palace, the eunuchs +following slowly behind and plucking the sweet mulberries from +the trees as they passed. Once the elder of the two turned +round, and smiled at me with an evil smile.</p> +<p>‘Then the captain of the guard motioned me towards the +entrance of the pavilion. I walked on without trembling, +and drawing the heavy curtain aside I entered in.</p> +<p>‘The young Emperor was stretched on a couch of dyed lion +skins, and a gerfalcon perched upon his wrist. Behind him +stood a brass-turbaned Nubian, naked down to the waist, and with +heavy earrings in his split ears. On a table by the side of +the couch lay a mighty scimitar of steel.</p> +<p>‘When the Emperor saw me he frowned, and said to me, +“What is thy name? Knowest thou not that I am Emperor +of this city?” But I made him no answer.</p> +<p>‘He pointed with his finger at the scimitar, and the +Nubian seized it, and rushing forward struck at me with great +violence. The blade whizzed through me, and did me no +hurt. The man fell sprawling on the floor, and when he rose +up his teeth chattered with terror and he hid himself behind the +couch.</p> +<p>‘The Emperor leapt to his feet, and taking a lance from +a stand of arms, he threw it at me. I caught it in its +flight, and brake the shaft into two pieces. He shot at me +with an arrow, but I held up my hands and it stopped in +mid-air. Then he drew a dagger from a belt of white +leather, and stabbed the Nubian in the throat lest the slave +should tell of his dishonour. The man writhed like a +trampled snake, and a red foam bubbled from his lips.</p> +<p>‘As soon as he was dead the Emperor turned to me, and +when he had wiped away the bright sweat from his brow with a +little napkin of purfled and purple silk, he said to me, +“Art thou a prophet, that I may not harm thee, or the son +of a prophet, that I can do thee no hurt? I pray thee leave +my city to-night, for while thou art in it I am no longer its +lord.”</p> +<p>‘And I answered him, “I will go for half of thy +treasure. Give me half of thy treasure, and I will go +away.”</p> +<p>‘He took me by the hand, and led me out into the +garden. When the captain of the guard saw me, he +wondered. When the eunuchs saw me, their knees shook and +they fell upon the ground in fear.</p> +<p>‘There is a chamber in the palace that has eight walls +of red porphyry, and a brass-sealed ceiling hung with +lamps. The Emperor touched one of the walls and it opened, +and we passed down a corridor that was lit with many +torches. In niches upon each side stood great wine-jars +filled to the brim with silver pieces. When we reached the +centre of the corridor the Emperor spake the word that may not be +spoken, and a granite door swung back on a secret spring, and he +put his hands before his face lest his eyes should be +dazzled.</p> +<p>‘Thou couldst not believe how marvellous a place it +was. There were huge tortoise-shells full of pearls, and +hollowed moonstones of great size piled up with red rubies. +The gold was stored in coffers of elephant-hide, and the +gold-dust in leather bottles. There were opals and +sapphires, the former in cups of crystal, and the latter in cups +of jade. Round green emeralds were ranged in order upon +thin plates of ivory, and in one corner were silk bags filled, +some with turquoise-stones, and others with beryls. The +ivory horns were heaped with purple amethysts, and the horns of +brass with chalcedonies and sards. The pillars, which were +of cedar, were hung with strings of yellow lynx-stones. In +the flat oval shields there were carbuncles, both wine-coloured +and coloured like grass. And yet I have told thee but a +tithe of what was there.</p> +<p>‘And when the Emperor had taken away his hands from +before his face he said to me: “This is my house of +treasure, and half that is in it is thine, even as I promised to +thee. And I will give thee camels and camel drivers, and +they shall do thy bidding and take thy share of the treasure to +whatever part of the world thou desirest to go. And the +thing shall be done to-night, for I would not that the Sun, who +is my father, should see that there is in my city a man whom I +cannot slay.”</p> +<p>‘But I answered him, “The gold that is here is +thine, and the silver also is thine, and thine are the precious +jewels and the things of price. As for me, I have no need +of these. Nor shall I take aught from thee but that little +ring that thou wearest on the finger of thy hand.”</p> +<p>‘And the Emperor frowned. “It is but a ring +of lead,” he cried, “nor has it any value. +Therefore take thy half of the treasure and go from my +city.”</p> +<p>‘“Nay,” I answered, “but I will take +nought but that leaden ring, for I know what is written within +it, and for what purpose.”</p> +<p>‘And the Emperor trembled, and besought me and said, +“Take all the treasure and go from my city. The half +that is mine shall be thine also.”</p> +<p>‘And I did a strange thing, but what I did matters not, +for in a cave that is but a day’s journey from this place +have, I hidden the Ring of Riches. It is but a day’s +journey from this place, and it waits for thy coming. He +who has this Ring is richer than all the kings of the +world. Come therefore and take it, and the world’s +riches shall be thine.’</p> +<p>But the young Fisherman laughed. ‘Love is better +than Riches,’ he cried, ‘and the little Mermaid loves +me.’</p> +<p>‘Nay, but there is nothing better than Riches,’ +said the Soul.</p> +<p>‘Love is better,’ answered the young Fisherman, +and he plunged into the deep, and the Soul went weeping away over +the marshes.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>And after the third year was over, the Soul came down to the +shore of the sea, and called to the young Fisherman, and he rose +out of the deep and said, ‘Why dost thou call to +me?’</p> +<p>And the Soul answered, ‘Come nearer, that I may speak +with thee, for I have seen marvellous things.’</p> +<p>So he came nearer, and couched in the shallow water, and +leaned his head upon his hand and listened.</p> +<p>And the Soul said to him, ‘In a city that I know of +there is an inn that standeth by a river. I sat there with +sailors who drank of two different-coloured wines, and ate bread +made of barley, and little salt fish served in bay leaves with +vinegar. And as we sat and made merry, there entered to us +an old man bearing a leathern carpet and a lute that had two +horns of amber. And when he had laid out the carpet on the +floor, he struck with a quill on the wire strings of his lute, +and a girl whose face was veiled ran in and began to dance before +us. Her face was veiled with a veil of gauze, but her feet +were naked. Naked were her feet, and they moved over the +carpet like little white pigeons. Never have I seen +anything so marvellous; and the city in which she dances is but a +day’s journey from this place.’</p> +<p>Now when the young Fisherman heard the words of his Soul, he +remembered that the little Mermaid had no feet and could not +dance. And a great desire came over him, and he said to +himself, ‘It is but a day’s journey, and I can return +to my love,’ and he laughed, and stood up in the shallow +water, and strode towards the shore.</p> +<p>And when he had reached the dry shore he laughed again, and +held out his arms to his Soul. And his Soul gave a great +cry of joy and ran to meet him, and entered into him, and the +young Fisherman saw stretched before him upon the sand that +shadow of the body that is the body of the Soul.</p> +<p>And his Soul said to him, ‘Let us not tarry, but get +hence at once, for the Sea-gods are jealous, and have monsters +that do their bidding.’</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>So they made haste, and all that night they journeyed beneath +the moon, and all the next day they journeyed beneath the sun, +and on the evening of the day they came to a city.</p> +<p>And the young Fisherman said to his Soul, ‘Is this the +city in which she dances of whom thou didst speak to +me?’</p> +<p>And his Soul answered him, ‘It is not this city, but +another. Nevertheless let us enter in.’ So they +entered in and passed through the streets, and as they passed +through the Street of the Jewellers the young Fisherman saw a +fair silver cup set forth in a booth. And his Soul said to +him, ‘Take that silver cup and hide it.’</p> +<p>So he took the cup and hid it in the fold of his tunic, and +they went hurriedly out of the city.</p> +<p>And after that they had gone a league from the city, the young +Fisherman frowned, and flung the cup away, and said to his Soul, +‘Why didst thou tell me to take this cup and hide it, for +it was an evil thing to do?’</p> +<p>But his Soul answered him, ‘Be at peace, be at +peace.’</p> +<p>And on the evening of the second day they came to a city, and +the young Fisherman said to his Soul, ‘Is this the city in +which she dances of whom thou didst speak to me?’</p> +<p>And his Soul answered him, ‘It is not this city, but +another. Nevertheless let us enter in.’ So they +entered in and passed through the streets, and as they passed +through the Street of the Sellers of Sandals, the young Fisherman +saw a child standing by a jar of water. And his Soul said +to him, ‘Smite that child.’ So he smote the +child till it wept, and when he had done this they went hurriedly +out of the city.</p> +<p>And after that they had gone a league from the city the young +Fisherman grew wroth, and said to his Soul, ‘Why didst thou +tell me to smite the child, for it was an evil thing to +do?’</p> +<p>But his Soul answered him, ‘Be at peace, be at +peace.’</p> +<p>And on the evening of the third day they came to a city, and +the young Fisherman said to his Soul, ‘Is this the city in +which she dances of whom thou didst speak to me?’</p> +<p>And his Soul answered him, ‘It may be that it is in this +city, therefore let us enter in.’</p> +<p>So they entered in and passed through the streets, but nowhere +could the young Fisherman find the river or the inn that stood by +its side. And the people of the city looked curiously at +him, and he grew afraid and said to his Soul, ‘Let us go +hence, for she who dances with white feet is not here.’</p> +<p>But his Soul answered, ‘Nay, but let us tarry, for the +night is dark and there will be robbers on the way.’</p> +<p>So he sat him down in the market-place and rested, and after a +time there went by a hooded merchant who had a cloak of cloth of +Tartary, and bare a lantern of pierced horn at the end of a +jointed reed. And the merchant said to him, ‘Why dost +thou sit in the market-place, seeing that the booths are closed +and the bales corded?’</p> +<p>And the young Fisherman answered him, ‘I can find no inn +in this city, nor have I any kinsman who might give me +shelter.’</p> +<p>‘Are we not all kinsmen?’ said the merchant. +‘And did not one God make us? Therefore come with me, +for I have a guest-chamber.’</p> +<p>So the young Fisherman rose up and followed the merchant to +his house. And when he had passed through a garden of +pomegranates and entered into the house, the merchant brought him +rose-water in a copper dish that he might wash his hands, and +ripe melons that he might quench his thirst, and set a bowl of +rice and a piece of roasted kid before him.</p> +<p>And after that he had finished, the merchant led him to the +guest-chamber, and bade him sleep and be at rest. And the +young Fisherman gave him thanks, and kissed the ring that was on +his hand, and flung himself down on the carpets of dyed +goat’s-hair. And when he had covered himself with a +covering of black lamb’s-wool he fell asleep.</p> +<p>And three hours before dawn, and while it was still night, his +Soul waked him and said to him, ‘Rise up and go to the room +of the merchant, even to the room in which he sleepeth, and slay +him, and take from him his gold, for we have need of +it.’</p> +<p>And the young Fisherman rose up and crept towards the room of +the merchant, and over the feet of the merchant there was lying a +curved sword, and the tray by the side of the merchant held nine +purses of gold. And he reached out his hand and touched the +sword, and when he touched it the merchant started and awoke, and +leaping up seized himself the sword and cried to the young +Fisherman, ‘Dost thou return evil for good, and pay with +the shedding of blood for the kindness that I have shown +thee?’</p> +<p>And his Soul said to the young Fisherman, ‘Strike +him,’ and he struck him so that he swooned and he seized +then the nine purses of gold, and fled hastily through the garden +of pomegranates, and set his face to the star that is the star of +morning.</p> +<p>And when they had gone a league from the city, the young +Fisherman beat his breast, and said to his Soul, ‘Why didst +thou bid me slay the merchant and take his gold? Surely +thou art evil.’</p> +<p>But his Soul answered him, ‘Be at peace, be at +peace.’</p> +<p>‘Nay,’ cried the young Fisherman, ‘I may not +be at peace, for all that thou hast made me to do I hate. +Thee also I hate, and I bid thee tell me wherefore thou hast +wrought with me in this wise.’</p> +<p>And his Soul answered him, ‘When thou didst send me +forth into the world thou gavest me no heart, so I learned to do +all these things and love them.’</p> +<p>‘What sayest thou?’ murmured the young +Fisherman.</p> +<p>‘Thou knowest,’ answered his Soul, ‘thou +knowest it well. Hast thou forgotten that thou gavest me no +heart? I trow not. And so trouble not thyself nor me, +but be at peace, for there is no pain that thou shalt not give +away, nor any pleasure that thou shalt not receive.’</p> +<p>And when the young Fisherman heard these words he trembled and +said to his Soul, ‘Nay, but thou art evil, and hast made me +forget my love, and hast tempted me with temptations, and hast +set my feet in the ways of sin.’</p> +<p>And his Soul answered him, ‘Thou hast not forgotten that +when thou didst send me forth into the world thou gavest me no +heart. Come, let us go to another city, and make merry, for +we have nine purses of gold.’</p> +<p>But the young Fisherman took the nine purses of gold, and +flung them down, and trampled on them.</p> +<p>‘Nay,’ he cried, ‘but I will have nought to +do with thee, nor will I journey with thee anywhere, but even as +I sent thee away before, so will I send thee away now, for thou +hast wrought me no good.’ And he turned his back to +the moon, and with the little knife that had the handle of green +viper’s skin he strove to cut from his feet that shadow of +the body which is the body of the Soul.</p> +<p>Yet his Soul stirred not from him, nor paid heed to his +command, but said to him, ‘The spell that the Witch told +thee avails thee no more, for I may not leave thee, nor mayest +thou drive me forth. Once in his life may a man send his +Soul away, but he who receiveth back his Soul must keep it with +him for ever, and this is his punishment and his +reward.’</p> +<p>And the young Fisherman grew pale and clenched his hands and +cried, ‘She was a false Witch in that she told me not +that.’</p> +<p>‘Nay,’ answered his Soul, ‘but she was true +to Him she worships, and whose servant she will be +ever.’</p> +<p>And when the young Fisherman knew that he could no longer get +rid of his Soul, and that it was an evil Soul and would abide +with him always, he fell upon the ground weeping bitterly.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>And when it was day the young Fisherman rose up and said to +his Soul, ‘I will bind my hands that I may not do thy +bidding, and close my lips that I may not speak thy words, and I +will return to the place where she whom I love has her +dwelling. Even to the sea will I return, and to the little +bay where she is wont to sing, and I will call to her and tell +her the evil I have done and the evil thou hast wrought on +me.’</p> +<p>And his Soul tempted him and said, ‘Who is thy love, +that thou shouldst return to her? The world has many fairer +than she is. There are the dancing-girls of Samaris who +dance in the manner of all kinds of birds and beasts. Their +feet are painted with henna, and in their hands they have little +copper bells. They laugh while they dance, and their +laughter is as clear as the laughter of water. Come with me +and I will show them to thee. For what is this trouble of +thine about the things of sin? Is that which is pleasant to +eat not made for the eater? Is there poison in that which +is sweet to drink? Trouble not thyself, but come with me to +another city. There is a little city hard by in which there +is a garden of tulip-trees. And there dwell in this comely +garden white peacocks and peacocks that have blue breasts. +Their tails when they spread them to the sun are like disks of +ivory and like gilt disks. And she who feeds them dances +for their pleasure, and sometimes she dances on her hands and at +other times she dances with her feet. Her eyes are coloured +with stibium, and her nostrils are shaped like the wings of a +swallow. From a hook in one of her nostrils hangs a flower +that is carved out of a pearl. She laughs while she dances, +and the silver rings that are about her ankles tinkle like bells +of silver. And so trouble not thyself any more, but come +with me to this city.’</p> +<p>But the young Fisherman answered not his Soul, but closed his +lips with the seal of silence and with a tight cord bound his +hands, and journeyed back to the place from which he had come, +even to the little bay where his love had been wont to +sing. And ever did his Soul tempt him by the way, but he +made it no answer, nor would he do any of the wickedness that it +sought to make him to do, so great was the power of the love that +was within him.</p> +<p>And when he had reached the shore of the sea, he loosed the +cord from his hands, and took the seal of silence from his lips, +and called to the little Mermaid. But she came not to his +call, though he called to her all day long and besought her.</p> +<p>And his Soul mocked him and said, ‘Surely thou hast but +little joy out of thy love. Thou art as one who in time of +death pours water into a broken vessel. Thou givest away +what thou hast, and nought is given to thee in return. It +were better for thee to come with me, for I know where the Valley +of Pleasure lies, and what things are wrought there.’</p> +<p>But the young Fisherman answered not his Soul, but in a cleft +of the rock he built himself a house of wattles, and abode there +for the space of a year. And every morning he called to the +Mermaid, and every noon he called to her again, and at night-time +he spake her name. Yet never did she rise out of the sea to +meet him, nor in any place of the sea could he find her though he +sought for her in the caves and in the green water, in the pools +of the tide and in the wells that are at the bottom of the +deep.</p> +<p>And ever did his Soul tempt him with evil, and whisper of +terrible things. Yet did it not prevail against him, so +great was the power of his love.</p> +<p>And after the year was over, the Soul thought within himself, +‘I have tempted my master with evil, and his love is +stronger than I am. I will tempt him now with good, and it +may be that he will come with me.’</p> +<p>So he spake to the young Fisherman and said, ‘I have +told thee of the joy of the world, and thou hast turned a deaf +ear to me. Suffer me now to tell thee of the world’s +pain, and it may be that thou wilt hearken. For of a truth +pain is the Lord of this world, nor is there any one who escapes +from its net. There be some who lack raiment, and others +who lack bread. There be widows who sit in purple, and +widows who sit in rags. To and fro over the fens go the +lepers, and they are cruel to each other. The beggars go up +and down on the highways, and their wallets are empty. +Through the streets of the cities walks Famine, and the Plague +sits at their gates. Come, let us go forth and mend these +things, and make them not to be. Wherefore shouldst thou +tarry here calling to thy love, seeing she comes not to thy +call? And what is love, that thou shouldst set this high +store upon it?’</p> +<p>But the young Fisherman answered it nought, so great was the +power of his love. And every morning he called to the +Mermaid, and every noon he called to her again, and at night-time +he spake her name. Yet never did she rise out of the sea to +meet him, nor in any place of the sea could he find her, though +he sought for her in the rivers of the sea, and in the valleys +that are under the waves, in the sea that the night makes purple, +and in the sea that the dawn leaves grey.</p> +<p>And after the second year was over, the Soul said to the young +Fisherman at night-time, and as he sat in the wattled house +alone, ‘Lo! now I have tempted thee with evil, and I have +tempted thee with good, and thy love is stronger than I am. +Wherefore will I tempt thee no longer, but I pray thee to suffer +me to enter thy heart, that I may be one with thee even as +before.’</p> +<p>‘Surely thou mayest enter,’ said the young +Fisherman, ‘for in the days when with no heart thou didst +go through the world thou must have much suffered.’</p> +<p>‘Alas!’ cried his Soul, ‘I can find no place +of entrance, so compassed about with love is this heart of +thine.’</p> +<p>‘Yet I would that I could help thee,’ said the +young Fisherman.</p> +<p>And as he spake there came a great cry of mourning from the +sea, even the cry that men hear when one of the Sea-folk is +dead. And the young Fisherman leapt up, and left his +wattled house, and ran down to the shore. And the black +waves came hurrying to the shore, bearing with them a burden that +was whiter than silver. White as the surf it was, and like +a flower it tossed on the waves. And the surf took it from +the waves, and the foam took it from the surf, and the shore +received it, and lying at his feet the young Fisherman saw the +body of the little Mermaid. Dead at his feet it was +lying.</p> +<p>Weeping as one smitten with pain he flung himself down beside +it, and he kissed the cold red of the mouth, and toyed with the +wet amber of the hair. He flung himself down beside it on +the sand, weeping as one trembling with joy, and in his brown +arms he held it to his breast. Cold were the lips, yet he +kissed them. Salt was the honey of the hair, yet he tasted +it with a bitter joy. He kissed the closed eyelids, and the +wild spray that lay upon their cups was less salt than his +tears.</p> +<p>And to the dead thing he made confession. Into the +shells of its ears he poured the harsh wine of his tale. He +put the little hands round his neck, and with his fingers he +touched the thin reed of the throat. Bitter, bitter was his +joy, and full of strange gladness was his pain.</p> +<p>The black sea came nearer, and the white foam moaned like a +leper. With white claws of foam the sea grabbled at the +shore. From the palace of the Sea-King came the cry of +mourning again, and far out upon the sea the great Tritons blew +hoarsely upon their horns.</p> +<p>‘Flee away,’ said his Soul, ‘for ever doth +the sea come nigher, and if thou tarriest it will slay +thee. Flee away, for I am afraid, seeing that thy heart is +closed against me by reason of the greatness of thy love. +Flee away to a place of safety. Surely thou wilt not send +me without a heart into another world?’</p> +<p>But the young Fisherman listened not to his Soul, but called +on the little Mermaid and said, ‘Love is better than +wisdom, and more precious than riches, and fairer than the feet +of the daughters of men. The fires cannot destroy it, nor +can the waters quench it. I called on thee at dawn, and +thou didst not come to my call. The moon heard thy name, +yet hadst thou no heed of me. For evilly had I left thee, +and to my own hurt had I wandered away. Yet ever did thy +love abide with me, and ever was it strong, nor did aught prevail +against it, though I have looked upon evil and looked upon +good. And now that thou art dead, surely I will die with +thee also.’</p> +<p>And his Soul besought him to depart, but he would not, so +great was his love. And the sea came nearer, and sought to +cover him with its waves, and when he knew that the end was at +hand he kissed with mad lips the cold lips of the Mermaid, and +the heart that was within him brake. And as through the +fulness of his love his heart did break, the Soul found an +entrance and entered in, and was one with him even as +before. And the sea covered the young Fisherman with its +waves.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>And in the morning the Priest went forth to bless the sea, for +it had been troubled. And with him went the monks and the +musicians, and the candle-bearers, and the swingers of censers, +and a great company.</p> +<p>And when the Priest reached the shore he saw the young +Fisherman lying drowned in the surf, and clasped in his arms was +the body of the little Mermaid. And he drew back frowning, +and having made the sign of the cross, he cried aloud and said, +‘I will not bless the sea nor anything that is in it. +Accursed be the Sea-folk, and accursed be all they who traffic +with them. And as for him who for love’s sake forsook +God, and so lieth here with his leman slain by God’s +judgment, take up his body and the body of his leman, and bury +them in the corner of the Field of the Fullers, and set no mark +above them, nor sign of any kind, that none may know the place of +their resting. For accursed were they in their lives, and +accursed shall they be in their deaths also.’</p> +<p>And the people did as he commanded them, and in the corner of +the Field of the Fullers, where no sweet herbs grew, they dug a +deep pit, and laid the dead things within it.</p> +<p>And when the third year was over, and on a day that was a holy +day, the Priest went up to the chapel, that he might show to the +people the wounds of the Lord, and speak to them about the wrath +of God.</p> +<p>And when he had robed himself with his robes, and entered in +and bowed himself before the altar, he saw that the altar was +covered with strange flowers that never had been seen +before. Strange were they to look at, and of curious +beauty, and their beauty troubled him, and their odour was sweet +in his nostrils. And he felt glad, and understood not why +he was glad.</p> +<p>And after that he had opened the tabernacle, and incensed the +monstrance that was in it, and shown the fair wafer to the +people, and hid it again behind the veil of veils, he began to +speak to the people, desiring to speak to them of the wrath of +God. But the beauty of the white flowers troubled him, and +their odour was sweet in his nostrils, and there came another +word into his lips, and he spake not of the wrath of God, but of +the God whose name is Love. And why he so spake, he knew +not.</p> +<p>And when he had finished his word the people wept, and the +Priest went back to the sacristy, and his eyes were full of +tears. And the deacons came in and began to unrobe him, and +took from him the alb and the girdle, the maniple and the +stole. And he stood as one in a dream.</p> +<p>And after that they had unrobed him, he looked at them and +said, ‘What are the flowers that stand on the altar, and +whence do they come?’</p> +<p>And they answered him, ‘What flowers they are we cannot +tell, but they come from the corner of the Fullers’ +Field.’ And the Priest trembled, and returned to his +own house and prayed.</p> +<p>And in the morning, while it was still dawn, he went forth +with the monks and the musicians, and the candle-bearers and the +swingers of censers, and a great company, and came to the shore +of the sea, and blessed the sea, and all the wild things that are +in it. The Fauns also he blessed, and the little things +that dance in the woodland, and the bright-eyed things that peer +through the leaves. All the things in God’s world he +blessed, and the people were filled with joy and wonder. +Yet never again in the corner of the Fullers’ Field grew +flowers of any kind, but the field remained barren even as +before. Nor came the Sea-folk into the bay as they had been +wont to do, for they went to another part of the sea.</p> +<h2><a name="page147"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 147</span>THE +STAR-CHILD</h2> +<p style="text-align: center">TO<br /> +MISS MARGOT TENNANT<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">[MRS. ASQUITH]</span></p> +<p><span class="smcap">Once</span> upon a time two poor +Woodcutters were making their way home through a great +pine-forest. It was winter, and a night of bitter +cold. The snow lay thick upon the ground, and upon the +branches of the trees: the frost kept snapping the little twigs +on either side of them, as they passed: and when they came to the +Mountain-Torrent she was hanging motionless in air, for the +Ice-King had kissed her.</p> +<p>So cold was it that even the animals and the birds did not +know what to make of it.</p> +<p>‘Ugh!’ snarled the Wolf, as he limped through the +brushwood with his tail between his legs, ‘this is +perfectly monstrous weather. Why doesn’t the +Government look to it?’</p> +<p>‘Weet! weet! weet!’ twittered the green Linnets, +‘the old Earth is dead and they have laid her out in her +white shroud.’</p> +<p>‘The Earth is going to be married, and this is her +bridal dress,’ whispered the Turtle-doves to each +other. Their little pink feet were quite frost-bitten, but +they felt that it was their duty to take a romantic view of the +situation.</p> +<p>‘Nonsense!’ growled the Wolf. ‘I tell +you that it is all the fault of the Government, and if you +don’t believe me I shall eat you.’ The Wolf had +a thoroughly practical mind, and was never at a loss for a good +argument.</p> +<p>‘Well, for my own part,’ said the Woodpecker, who +was a born philosopher, ‘I don’t care an atomic +theory for explanations. If a thing is so, it is so, and at +present it is terribly cold.’</p> +<p>Terribly cold it certainly was. The little Squirrels, +who lived inside the tall fir-tree, kept rubbing each +other’s noses to keep themselves warm, and the Rabbits +curled themselves up in their holes, and did not venture even to +look out of doors. The only people who seemed to enjoy it +were the great horned Owls. Their feathers were quite stiff +with rime, but they did not mind, and they rolled their large +yellow eyes, and called out to each other across the forest, +‘Tu-whit! Tu-whoo! Tu-whit! Tu-whoo! what +delightful weather we are having!’</p> +<p>On and on went the two Woodcutters, blowing lustily upon their +fingers, and stamping with their huge iron-shod boots upon the +caked snow. Once they sank into a deep drift, and came out +as white as millers are, when the stones are grinding; and once +they slipped on the hard smooth ice where the marsh-water was +frozen, and their faggots fell out of their bundles, and they had +to pick them up and bind them together again; and once they +thought that they had lost their way, and a great terror seized +on them, for they knew that the Snow is cruel to those who sleep +in her arms. But they put their trust in the good Saint +Martin, who watches over all travellers, and retraced their +steps, and went warily, and at last they reached the outskirts of +the forest, and saw, far down in the valley beneath them, the +lights of the village in which they dwelt.</p> +<p>So overjoyed were they at their deliverance that they laughed +aloud, and the Earth seemed to them like a flower of silver, and +the Moon like a flower of gold.</p> +<p>Yet, after that they had laughed they became sad, for they +remembered their poverty, and one of them said to the other, +‘Why did we make merry, seeing that life is for the rich, +and not for such as we are? Better that we had died of cold +in the forest, or that some wild beast had fallen upon us and +slain us.’</p> +<p>‘Truly,’ answered his companion, ‘much is +given to some, and little is given to others. Injustice has +parcelled out the world, nor is there equal division of aught +save of sorrow.’</p> +<p>But as they were bewailing their misery to each other this +strange thing happened. There fell from heaven a very +bright and beautiful star. It slipped down the side of the +sky, passing by the other stars in its course, and, as they +watched it wondering, it seemed to them to sink behind a clump of +willow-trees that stood hard by a little sheepfold no more than a +stone’s-throw away.</p> +<p>‘Why! there is a crook of gold for whoever finds +it,’ they cried, and they set to and ran, so eager were +they for the gold.</p> +<p>And one of them ran faster than his mate, and outstripped him, +and forced his way through the willows, and came out on the other +side, and lo! there was indeed a thing of gold lying on the white +snow. So he hastened towards it, and stooping down placed +his hands upon it, and it was a cloak of golden tissue, curiously +wrought with stars, and wrapped in many folds. And he cried +out to his comrade that he had found the treasure that had fallen +from the sky, and when his comrade had come up, they sat them +down in the snow, and loosened the folds of the cloak that they +might divide the pieces of gold. But, alas! no gold was in +it, nor silver, nor, indeed, treasure of any kind, but only a +little child who was asleep.</p> +<p>And one of them said to the other: ‘This is a bitter +ending to our hope, nor have we any good fortune, for what doth a +child profit to a man? Let us leave it here, and go our +way, seeing that we are poor men, and have children of our own +whose bread we may not give to another.’</p> +<p>But his companion answered him: ‘Nay, but it were an +evil thing to leave the child to perish here in the snow, and +though I am as poor as thou art, and have many mouths to feed, +and but little in the pot, yet will I bring it home with me, and +my wife shall have care of it.’</p> +<p>So very tenderly he took up the child, and wrapped the cloak +around it to shield it from the harsh cold, and made his way down +the hill to the village, his comrade marvelling much at his +foolishness and softness of heart.</p> +<p>And when they came to the village, his comrade said to him, +‘Thou hast the child, therefore give me the cloak, for it +is meet that we should share.’</p> +<p>But he answered him: ‘Nay, for the cloak is neither mine +nor thine, but the child’s only,’ and he bade him +Godspeed, and went to his own house and knocked.</p> +<p>And when his wife opened the door and saw that her husband had +returned safe to her, she put her arms round his neck and kissed +him, and took from his back the bundle of faggots, and brushed +the snow off his boots, and bade him come in.</p> +<p>But he said to her, ‘I have found something in the +forest, and I have brought it to thee to have care of it,’ +and he stirred not from the threshold.</p> +<p>‘What is it?’ she cried. ‘Show it to +me, for the house is bare, and we have need of many +things.’ And he drew the cloak back, and showed her +the sleeping child.</p> +<p>‘Alack, goodman!’ she murmured, ‘have we not +children of our own, that thou must needs bring a changeling to +sit by the hearth? And who knows if it will not bring us +bad fortune? And how shall we tend it?’ And she +was wroth against him.</p> +<p>‘Nay, but it is a Star-Child,’ he answered; and he +told her the strange manner of the finding of it.</p> +<p>But she would not be appeased, but mocked at him, and spoke +angrily, and cried: ‘Our children lack bread, and shall we +feed the child of another? Who is there who careth for +us? And who giveth us food?’</p> +<p>‘Nay, but God careth for the sparrows even, and feedeth +them,’ he answered.</p> +<p>‘Do not the sparrows die of hunger in the winter?’ +she asked. ‘And is it not winter now?’</p> +<p>And the man answered nothing, but stirred not from the +threshold.</p> +<p>And a bitter wind from the forest came in through the open +door, and made her tremble, and she shivered, and said to him: +‘Wilt thou not close the door? There cometh a bitter +wind into the house, and I am cold.’</p> +<p>‘Into a house where a heart is hard cometh there not +always a bitter wind?’ he asked. And the woman +answered him nothing, but crept closer to the fire.</p> +<p>And after a time she turned round and looked at him, and her +eyes were full of tears. And he came in swiftly, and placed +the child in her arms, and she kissed it, and laid it in a little +bed where the youngest of their own children was lying. And +on the morrow the Woodcutter took the curious cloak of gold and +placed it in a great chest, and a chain of amber that was round +the child’s neck his wife took and set it in the chest +also.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>So the Star-Child was brought up with the children of the +Woodcutter, and sat at the same board with them, and was their +playmate. And every year he became more beautiful to look +at, so that all those who dwelt in the village were filled with +wonder, for, while they were swarthy and black-haired, he was +white and delicate as sawn ivory, and his curls were like the +rings of the daffodil. His lips, also, were like the petals +of a red flower, and his eyes were like violets by a river of +pure water, and his body like the narcissus of a field where the +mower comes not.</p> +<p>Yet did his beauty work him evil. For he grew proud, and +cruel, and selfish. The children of the Woodcutter, and the +other children of the village, he despised, saying that they were +of mean parentage, while he was noble, being sprang from a Star, +and he made himself master over them, and called them his +servants. No pity had he for the poor, or for those who +were blind or maimed or in any way afflicted, but would cast +stones at them and drive them forth on to the highway, and bid +them beg their bread elsewhere, so that none save the outlaws +came twice to that village to ask for alms. Indeed, he was +as one enamoured of beauty, and would mock at the weakly and +ill-favoured, and make jest of them; and himself he loved, and in +summer, when the winds were still, he would lie by the well in +the priest’s orchard and look down at the marvel of his own +face, and laugh for the pleasure he had in his fairness.</p> +<p>Often did the Woodcutter and his wife chide him, and say: +‘We did not deal with thee as thou dealest with those who +are left desolate, and have none to succour them. Wherefore +art thou so cruel to all who need pity?’</p> +<p>Often did the old priest send for him, and seek to teach him +the love of living things, saying to him: ‘The fly is thy +brother. Do it no harm. The wild birds that roam +through the forest have their freedom. Snare them not for +thy pleasure. God made the blind-worm and the mole, and +each has its place. Who art thou to bring pain into +God’s world? Even the cattle of the field praise +Him.’</p> +<p>But the Star-Child heeded not their words, but would frown and +flout, and go back to his companions, and lead them. And +his companions followed him, for he was fair, and fleet of foot, +and could dance, and pipe, and make music. And wherever the +Star-Child led them they followed, and whatever the Star-Child +bade them do, that did they. And when he pierced with a +sharp reed the dim eyes of the mole, they laughed, and when he +cast stones at the leper they laughed also. And in all +things he ruled them, and they became hard of heart even as he +was.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>Now there passed one day through the village a poor +beggar-woman. Her garments were torn and ragged, and her +feet were bleeding from the rough road on which she had +travelled, and she was in very evil plight. And being weary +she sat her down under a chestnut-tree to rest.</p> +<p>But when the Star-Child saw her, he said to his companions, +‘See! There sitteth a foul beggar-woman under that +fair and green-leaved tree. Come, let us drive her hence, +for she is ugly and ill-favoured.’</p> +<p>So he came near and threw stones at her, and mocked her, and +she looked at him with terror in her eyes, nor did she move her +gaze from him. And when the Woodcutter, who was cleaving +logs in a haggard hard by, saw what the Star-Child was doing, he +ran up and rebuked him, and said to him: ‘Surely thou art +hard of heart and knowest not mercy, for what evil has this poor +woman done to thee that thou shouldst treat her in this +wise?’</p> +<p>And the Star-Child grew red with anger, and stamped his foot +upon the ground, and said, ‘Who art thou to question me +what I do? I am no son of thine to do thy +bidding.’</p> +<p>‘Thou speakest truly,’ answered the Woodcutter, +‘yet did I show thee pity when I found thee in the +forest.’</p> +<p>And when the woman heard these words she gave a loud cry, and +fell into a swoon. And the Woodcutter carried her to his +own house, and his wife had care of her, and when she rose up +from the swoon into which she had fallen, they set meat and drink +before her, and bade her have comfort.</p> +<p>But she would neither eat nor drink, but said to the +Woodcutter, ‘Didst thou not say that the child was found in +the forest? And was it not ten years from this +day?’</p> +<p>And the Woodcutter answered, ‘Yea, it was in the forest +that I found him, and it is ten years from this day.’</p> +<p>‘And what signs didst thou find with him?’ she +cried. ‘Bare he not upon his neck a chain of +amber? Was not round him a cloak of gold tissue broidered +with stars?’</p> +<p>‘Truly,’ answered the Woodcutter, ‘it was +even as thou sayest.’ And he took the cloak and the +amber chain from the chest where they lay, and showed them to +her.</p> +<p>And when she saw them she wept for joy, and said, ‘He is +my little son whom I lost in the forest. I pray thee send +for him quickly, for in search of him have I wandered over the +whole world.’</p> +<p>So the Woodcutter and his wife went out and called to the +Star-Child, and said to him, ‘Go into the house, and there +shalt thou find thy mother, who is waiting for thee.’</p> +<p>So he ran in, filled with wonder and great gladness. But +when he saw her who was waiting there, he laughed scornfully and +said, ‘Why, where is my mother? For I see none here +but this vile beggar-woman.’</p> +<p>And the woman answered him, ‘I am thy mother.’</p> +<p>‘Thou art mad to say so,’ cried the Star-Child +angrily. ‘I am no son of thine, for thou art a +beggar, and ugly, and in rags. Therefore get thee hence, +and let me see thy foul face no more.’</p> +<p>‘Nay, but thou art indeed my little son, whom I bare in +the forest,’ she cried, and she fell on her knees, and held +out her arms to him. ‘The robbers stole thee from me, +and left thee to die,’ she murmured, ‘but I +recognised thee when I saw thee, and the signs also have I +recognised, the cloak of golden tissue and the amber chain. +Therefore I pray thee come with me, for over the whole world have +I wandered in search of thee. Come with me, my son, for I +have need of thy love.’</p> +<p>But the Star-Child stirred not from his place, but shut the +doors of his heart against her, nor was there any sound heard +save the sound of the woman weeping for pain.</p> +<p>And at last he spoke to her, and his voice was hard and +bitter. ‘If in very truth thou art my mother,’ +he said, ‘it had been better hadst thou stayed away, and +not come here to bring me to shame, seeing that I thought I was +the child of some Star, and not a beggar’s child, as thou +tellest me that I am. Therefore get thee hence, and let me +see thee no more.’</p> +<p>‘Alas! my son,’ she cried, ‘wilt thou not +kiss me before I go? For I have suffered much to find +thee.’</p> +<p>‘Nay,’ said the Star-Child, ‘but thou art +too foul to look at, and rather would I kiss the adder or the +toad than thee.’</p> +<p>So the woman rose up, and went away into the forest weeping +bitterly, and when the Star-Child saw that she had gone, he was +glad, and ran back to his playmates that he might play with +them.</p> +<p>But when they beheld him coming, they mocked him and said, +‘Why, thou art as foul as the toad, and as loathsome as the +adder. Get thee hence, for we will not suffer thee to play +with us,’ and they drave him out of the garden.</p> +<p>And the Star-Child frowned and said to himself, ‘What is +this that they say to me? I will go to the well of water +and look into it, and it shall tell me of my beauty.’</p> +<p>So he went to the well of water and looked into it, and lo! +his face was as the face of a toad, and his body was sealed like +an adder. And he flung himself down on the grass and wept, +and said to himself, ‘Surely this has come upon me by +reason of my sin. For I have denied my mother, and driven +her away, and been proud, and cruel to her. Wherefore I +will go and seek her through the whole world, nor will I rest +till I have found her.’</p> +<p>And there came to him the little daughter of the Woodcutter, +and she put her hand upon his shoulder and said, ‘What doth +it matter if thou hast lost thy comeliness? Stay with us, +and I will not mock at thee.’</p> +<p>And he said to her, ‘Nay, but I have been cruel to my +mother, and as a punishment has this evil been sent to me. +Wherefore I must go hence, and wander through the world till I +find her, and she give me her forgiveness.’</p> +<p>So he ran away into the forest and called out to his mother to +come to him, but there was no answer. All day long he +called to her, and, when the sun set he lay down to sleep on a +bed of leaves, and the birds and the animals fled from him, for +they remembered his cruelty, and he was alone save for the toad +that watched him, and the slow adder that crawled past.</p> +<p>And in the morning he rose up, and plucked some bitter berries +from the trees and ate them, and took his way through the great +wood, weeping sorely. And of everything that he met he made +inquiry if perchance they had seen his mother.</p> +<p>He said to the Mole, ‘Thou canst go beneath the +earth. Tell me, is my mother there?’</p> +<p>And the Mole answered, ‘Thou hast blinded mine +eyes. How should I know?’</p> +<p>He said to the Linnet, ‘Thou canst fly over the tops of +the tall trees, and canst see the whole world. Tell me, +canst thou see my mother?’</p> +<p>And the Linnet answered, ‘Thou hast clipt my wings for +thy pleasure. How should I fly?’</p> +<p>And to the little Squirrel who lived in the fir-tree, and was +lonely, he said, ‘Where is my mother?’</p> +<p>And the Squirrel answered, ‘Thou hast slain mine. +Dost thou seek to slay thine also?’</p> +<p>And the Star-Child wept and bowed his head, and prayed +forgiveness of God’s things, and went on through the +forest, seeking for the beggar-woman. And on the third day +he came to the other side of the forest and went down into the +plain.</p> +<p>And when he passed through the villages the children mocked +him, and threw stones at him, and the carlots would not suffer +him even to sleep in the byres lest he might bring mildew on the +stored corn, so foul was he to look at, and their hired men drave +him away, and there was none who had pity on him. Nor could +he hear anywhere of the beggar-woman who was his mother, though +for the space of three years he wandered over the world, and +often seemed to see her on the road in front of him, and would +call to her, and run after her till the sharp flints made his +feet to bleed. But overtake her he could not, and those who +dwelt by the way did ever deny that they had seen her, or any +like to her, and they made sport of his sorrow.</p> +<p>For the space of three years he wandered over the world, and +in the world there was neither love nor loving-kindness nor +charity for him, but it was even such a world as he had made for +himself in the days of his great pride.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>And one evening he came to the gate of a strong-walled city +that stood by a river, and, weary and footsore though he was, he +made to enter in. But the soldiers who stood on guard +dropped their halberts across the entrance, and said roughly to +him, ‘What is thy business in the city?’</p> +<p>‘I am seeking for my mother,’ he answered, +‘and I pray ye to suffer me to pass, for it may be that she +is in this city.’</p> +<p>But they mocked at him, and one of them wagged a black beard, +and set down his shield and cried, ‘Of a truth, thy mother +will not be merry when she sees thee, for thou art more +ill-favoured than the toad of the marsh, or the adder that crawls +in the fen. Get thee gone. Get thee gone. Thy +mother dwells not in this city.’</p> +<p>And another, who held a yellow banner in his hand, said to +him, ‘Who is thy mother, and wherefore art thou seeking for +her?’</p> +<p>And he answered, ‘My mother is a beggar even as I am, +and I have treated her evilly, and I pray ye to suffer me to pass +that she may give me her forgiveness, if it be that she tarrieth +in this city.’ But they would not, and pricked him +with their spears.</p> +<p>And, as he turned away weeping, one whose armour was inlaid +with gilt flowers, and on whose helmet couched a lion that had +wings, came up and made inquiry of the soldiers who it was who +had sought entrance. And they said to him, ‘It is a +beggar and the child of a beggar, and we have driven him +away.’</p> +<p>‘Nay,’ he cried, laughing, ‘but we will sell +the foul thing for a slave, and his price shall be the price of a +bowl of sweet wine.’</p> +<p>And an old and evil-visaged man who was passing by called out, +and said, ‘I will buy him for that price,’ and, when +he had paid the price, he took the Star-Child by the hand and led +him into the city.</p> +<p>And after that they had gone through many streets they came to +a little door that was set in a wall that was covered with a +pomegranate tree. And the old man touched the door with a +ring of graved jasper and it opened, and they went down five +steps of brass into a garden filled with black poppies and green +jars of burnt clay. And the old man took then from his +turban a scarf of figured silk, and bound with it the eyes of the +Star-Child, and drave him in front of him. And when the +scarf was taken off his eyes, the Star-Child found himself in a +dungeon, that was lit by a lantern of horn.</p> +<p>And the old man set before him some mouldy bread on a trencher +and said, ‘Eat,’ and some brackish water in a cup and +said, ‘Drink,’ and when he had eaten and drunk, the +old man went out, locking the door behind him and fastening it +with an iron chain.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>And on the morrow the old man, who was indeed the subtlest of +the magicians of Libya and had learned his art from one who dwelt +in the tombs of the Nile, came in to him and frowned at him, and +said, ‘In a wood that is nigh to the gate of this city of +Giaours there are three pieces of gold. One is of white +gold, and another is of yellow gold, and the gold of the third +one is red. To-day thou shalt bring me the piece of white +gold, and if thou bringest it not back, I will beat thee with a +hundred stripes. Get thee away quickly, and at sunset I +will be waiting for thee at the door of the garden. See +that thou bringest the white gold, or it shall go ill with thee, +for thou art my slave, and I have bought thee for the price of a +bowl of sweet wine.’ And he bound the eyes of the +Star-Child with the scarf of figured silk, and led him through +the house, and through the garden of poppies, and up the five +steps of brass. And having opened the little door with his +ring he set him in the street.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>And the Star-Child went out of the gate of the city, and came +to the wood of which the Magician had spoken to him.</p> +<p>Now this wood was very fair to look at from without, and +seemed full of singing birds and of sweet-scented flowers, and +the Star-Child entered it gladly. Yet did its beauty profit +him little, for wherever he went harsh briars and thorns shot up +from the ground and encompassed him, and evil nettles stung him, +and the thistle pierced him with her daggers, so that he was in +sore distress. Nor could he anywhere find the piece of +white gold of which the Magician had spoken, though he sought for +it from morn to noon, and from noon to sunset. And at +sunset he set his face towards home, weeping bitterly, for he +knew what fate was in store for him.</p> +<p>But when he had reached the outskirts of the wood, he heard +from a thicket a cry as of some one in pain. And forgetting +his own sorrow he ran back to the place, and saw there a little +Hare caught in a trap that some hunter had set for it.</p> +<p>And the Star-Child had pity on it, and released it, and said +to it, ‘I am myself but a slave, yet may I give thee thy +freedom.’</p> +<p>And the Hare answered him, and said: ‘Surely thou hast +given me freedom, and what shall I give thee in +return?’</p> +<p>And the Star-Child said to it, ‘I am seeking for a piece +of white gold, nor can I anywhere find it, and if I bring it not +to my master he will beat me.’</p> +<p>‘Come thou with me,’ said the Hare, ‘and I +will lead thee to it, for I know where it is hidden, and for what +purpose.’</p> +<p>So the Star-Child went with the Hare, and lo! in the cleft of +a great oak-tree he saw the piece of white gold that he was +seeking. And he was filled with joy, and seized it, and +said to the Hare, ‘The service that I did to thee thou hast +rendered back again many times over, and the kindness that I +showed thee thou hast repaid a hundred-fold.’</p> +<p>‘Nay,’ answered the Hare, ‘but as thou dealt +with me, so I did deal with thee,’ and it ran away swiftly, +and the Star-Child went towards the city.</p> +<p>Now at the gate of the city there was seated one who was a +leper. Over his face hung a cowl of grey linen, and through +the eyelets his eyes gleamed like red coals. And when he +saw the Star-Child coming, he struck upon a wooden bowl, and +clattered his bell, and called out to him, and said, ‘Give +me a piece of money, or I must die of hunger. For they have +thrust me out of the city, and there is no one who has pity on +me.’</p> +<p>‘Alas!’ cried the Star-Child, ‘I have but +one piece of money in my wallet, and if I bring it not to my +master he will beat me, for I am his slave.’</p> +<p>But the leper entreated him, and prayed of him, till the +Star-Child had pity, and gave him the piece of white gold.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>And when he came to the Magician’s house, the Magician +opened to him, and brought him in, and said to him, ‘Hast +thou the piece of white gold?’ And the Star-Child +answered, ‘I have it not.’ So the Magician fell +upon him, and beat him, and set before him an empty trencher, and +said, ‘Eat,’ and an empty cup, and said, +‘Drink,’ and flung him again into the dungeon.</p> +<p>And on the morrow the Magician came to him, and said, +‘If to-day thou bringest me not the piece of yellow gold, I +will surely keep thee as my slave, and give thee three hundred +stripes.’</p> +<p>So the Star-Child went to the wood, and all day long he +searched for the piece of yellow gold, but nowhere could he find +it. And at sunset he sat him down and began to weep, and as +he was weeping there came to him the little Hare that he had +rescued from the trap.</p> +<p>And the Hare said to him, ‘Why art thou weeping? +And what dost thou seek in the wood?’</p> +<p>And the Star-Child answered, ‘I am seeking for a piece +of yellow gold that is hidden here, and if I find it not my +master will beat me, and keep me as a slave.’</p> +<p>‘Follow me,’ cried the Hare, and it ran through +the wood till it came to a pool of water. And at the bottom +of the pool the piece of yellow gold was lying.</p> +<p>‘How shall I thank thee?’ said the Star-Child, +‘for lo! this is the second time that you have succoured +me.’</p> +<p>‘Nay, but thou hadst pity on me first,’ said the +Hare, and it ran away swiftly.</p> +<p>And the Star-Child took the piece of yellow gold, and put it +in his wallet, and hurried to the city. But the leper saw +him coming, and ran to meet him, and knelt down and cried, +‘Give me a piece of money or I shall die of +hunger.’</p> +<p>And the Star-Child said to him, ‘I have in my wallet but +one piece of yellow gold, and if I bring it not to my master he +will beat me and keep me as his slave.’</p> +<p>But the leper entreated him sore, so that the Star-Child had +pity on him, and gave him the piece of yellow gold.</p> +<p>And when he came to the Magician’s house, the Magician +opened to him, and brought him in, and said to him, ‘Hast +thou the piece of yellow gold?’ And the Star-Child +said to him, ‘I have it not.’ So the Magician +fell upon him, and beat him, and loaded him with chains, and cast +him again into the dungeon.</p> +<p>And on the morrow the Magician came to him, and said, +‘If to-day thou bringest me the piece of red gold I will +set thee free, but if thou bringest it not I will surely slay +thee.’</p> +<p>So the Star-Child went to the wood, and all day long he +searched for the piece of red gold, but nowhere could he find +it. And at evening he sat him down and wept, and as he was +weeping there came to him the little Hare.</p> +<p>And the Hare said to him, ‘The piece of red gold that +thou seekest is in the cavern that is behind thee. +Therefore weep no more but be glad.’</p> +<p>‘How shall I reward thee?’ cried the Star-Child, +‘for lo! this is the third time thou hast succoured +me.’</p> +<p>‘Nay, but thou hadst pity on me first,’ said the +Hare, and it ran away swiftly.</p> +<p>And the Star-Child entered the cavern, and in its farthest +corner he found the piece of red gold. So he put it in his +wallet, and hurried to the city. And the leper seeing him +coming, stood in the centre of the road, and cried out, and said +to him, ‘Give me the piece of red money, or I must +die,’ and the Star-Child had pity on him again, and gave +him the piece of red gold, saying, ‘Thy need is greater +than mine.’ Yet was his heart heavy, for he knew what +evil fate awaited him.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>But lo! as he passed through the gate of the city, the guards +bowed down and made obeisance to him, saying, ‘How +beautiful is our lord!’ and a crowd of citizens followed +him, and cried out, ‘Surely there is none so beautiful in +the whole world!’ so that the Star-Child wept, and said to +himself, ‘They are mocking me, and making light of my +misery.’ And so large was the concourse of the +people, that he lost the threads of his way, and found himself at +last in a great square, in which there was a palace of a +King.</p> +<p>And the gate of the palace opened, and the priests and the +high officers of the city ran forth to meet him, and they abased +themselves before him, and said, ‘Thou art our lord for +whom we have been waiting, and the son of our King.’</p> +<p>And the Star-Child answered them and said, ‘I am no +king’s son, but the child of a poor beggar-woman. And +how say ye that I am beautiful, for I know that I am evil to look +at?’</p> +<p>Then he, whose armour was inlaid with gilt flowers, and on +whose helmet crouched a lion that had wings, held up a shield, +and cried, ‘How saith my lord that he is not +beautiful?’</p> +<p>And the Star-Child looked, and lo! his face was even as it had +been, and his comeliness had come back to him, and he saw that in +his eyes which he had not seen there before.</p> +<p>And the priests and the high officers knelt down and said to +him, ‘It was prophesied of old that on this day should come +he who was to rule over us. Therefore, let our lord take +this crown and this sceptre, and be in his justice and mercy our +King over us.’</p> +<p>But he said to them, ‘I am not worthy, for I have denied +the mother who bare me, nor may I rest till I have found her, and +known her forgiveness. Therefore, let me go, for I must +wander again over the world, and may not tarry here, though ye +bring me the crown and the sceptre.’ And as he spake +he turned his face from them towards the street that led to the +gate of the city, and lo! amongst the crowd that pressed round +the soldiers, he saw the beggar-woman who was his mother, and at +her side stood the leper, who had sat by the road.</p> +<p>And a cry of joy broke from his lips, and he ran over, and +kneeling down he kissed the wounds on his mother’s feet, +and wet them with his tears. He bowed his head in the dust, +and sobbing, as one whose heart might break, he said to her: +‘Mother, I denied thee in the hour of my pride. +Accept me in the hour of my humility. Mother, I gave thee +hatred. Do thou give me love. Mother, I rejected +thee. Receive thy child now.’ But the +beggar-woman answered him not a word.</p> +<p>And he reached out his hands, and clasped the white feet of +the leper, and said to him: ‘Thrice did I give thee of my +mercy. Bid my mother speak to me once.’ But the +leper answered him not a word.</p> +<p>And he sobbed again and said: ‘Mother, my suffering is +greater than I can bear. Give me thy forgiveness, and let +me go back to the forest.’ And the beggar-woman put +her hand on his head, and said to him, ‘Rise,’ and +the leper put his hand on his head, and said to him, +‘Rise,’ also.</p> +<p>And he rose up from his feet, and looked at them, and lo! they +were a King and a Queen.</p> +<p>And the Queen said to him, ‘This is thy father whom thou +hast succoured.’</p> +<p>And the King said, ‘This is thy mother whose feet thou +hast washed with thy tears.’ And they fell on his +neck and kissed him, and brought him into the palace and clothed +him in fair raiment, and set the crown upon his head, and the +sceptre in his hand, and over the city that stood by the river he +ruled, and was its lord. Much justice and mercy did he show +to all, and the evil Magician he banished, and to the Woodcutter +and his wife he sent many rich gifts, and to their children he +gave high honour. Nor would he suffer any to be cruel to +bird or beast, but taught love and loving-kindness and charity, +and to the poor he gave bread, and to the naked he gave raiment, +and there was peace and plenty in the land.</p> +<p>Yet ruled he not long, so great had been his suffering, and so +bitter the fire of his testing, for after the space of three +years he died. And he who came after him ruled evilly.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 873-h.htm or 873-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/8/7/873 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. 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