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diff --git a/old/hpomg10.txt b/old/hpomg10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4b06702 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/hpomg10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3869 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A House of Pomegranates, by Oscar Wilde +(#8 in our series by Oscar Wilde) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: A House of Pomegranates + +Author: Oscar Wilde + +Release Date: April, 1997 [EBook #873] +[This file was first posted on April 8, 1997] +[Most recently updated: September 25, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, A HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES *** + + + + +Transcribed from the 1915 Methuen and Co. edition by David Price, +email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + +A HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES + + + + +Contents: + +The Young King +The Birthday of the Infanta +The Fisherman and his Soul +The Star-child + + + + +THE YOUNG KING + + + + +[TO MARGARET LADY BROOKE--THE RANEE OF SARAWAK] + + +It 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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--Joyeuse, 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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +And as he slept he dreamed a dream, and this was his dream. + +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. + +The young King went over to one of the weavers, and stood by him +and watched him. + +And the weaver looked at him angrily, and said, 'Why art thou +watching me? Art thou a spy set on us by our master?' + +'Who is thy master?' asked the young King. + +'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.' + +'The land is free,' said the young King, 'and thou art no man's +slave.' + +'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.' + +'Is it so with all?' he asked, + +'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. + +And a great terror seized upon him, and he said to the weaver, +'What robe is this that thou art weaving?' + +'It is the robe for the coronation of the young King,' he answered; +'what is that to thee?' + +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. + + +And he fell asleep again and dreamed, and this was his dream. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +And he fell asleep again, and dreamed, and this was his dream. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And Death said to her, 'What hast thou in thy hand?' + +'I have three grains of corn,' she answered; 'what is that to +thee?' + +'Give me one of them,' cried Death, 'to plant in my garden; only +one of them, and I will go away.' + +'I will not give thee anything,' said Avarice, and she hid her hand +in the fold of her raiment. + +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. + +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.' + +'Nay,' answered Death, 'but till thou hast given me a grain of corn +I will not go.' + +But Avarice shut her hand, and clenched her teeth. 'I will not +give thee anything,' she muttered. + +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. + +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.' + +'Nay,' answered Death, 'but till thou hast given me a grain of corn +I will not go.' + +'I will not give thee anything,' said Avarice. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And the young King wept, and said: 'Who were these men, and for +what were they seeking?' + +'For rubies for a king's crown,' answered one who stood behind him. + +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. + +And he grew pale, and said: 'For what king?' + +And the pilgrim answered: 'Look in this mirror, and thou shalt see +him.' + +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. + + +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. + +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.' + +And the courtiers were amazed, and some of them laughed, for they +thought that he was jesting. + +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. + +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?' + +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?' + +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?' + +'They will not know thee, my lord,' cried the Chamberlain. + +'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.' + +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. + +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?' + +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. + +'This shall he my crown,' he answered. + +And thus attired he passed out of his chamber into the Great Hall, +where the nobles were waiting for him. + +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. + +And the people laughed and said, 'It is the King's fool who is +riding by,' and they mocked him. + +And he drew rein and said, 'Nay, but I am the King.' And he told +them his three dreams. + +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?' + +'Are not the rich and the poor brothers?' asked the young King. + +'Ay,' answered the man, 'and the name of the rich brother is Cain.' + +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. + +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.' + +And his face flushed with anger, and he said to them, 'I am the +King,' and waved their halberts aside and passed in. + +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.' + +'Shall Joy wear what Grief has fashioned?' said the young King. +And he told him his three dreams. + +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.' + +'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. + +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. + +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.' + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +THE BIRTHDAY OF THE INFANTA + + + + +[TO MRS. WILLIAM H. GRENFELL OF TAPLOW COURT--LADY DESBOROUGH] + + +It 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. + +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. + +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. + +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, 'Mi reina! Mi +reina!' 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. + +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 +auto-da-fe, in which nearly three hundred heretics, amongst whom +were many Englishmen, had been delivered over to the secular arm to +be burned. + +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. + +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--vrai sourire de France 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. + +She made a little moue 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. + + +A procession of noble boys, fantastically dressed as toreadors, +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. + +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: Bravo toro! Bravo toro! 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 coup de +grace, 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. + +The arena was then cleared amidst much applause, and the dead +hobbyhorses 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 Sophonisba 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +'He is really far too ugly to be allowed to play in any place where +we are,' cried the Tulips. + +'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. + +'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.' + +'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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +'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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 Jean le Fou, 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. + +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. + +He ran across the soft Moorish carpets, and opened the door. No! +She was not here either. The room was quite empty. + +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 tabouret 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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--? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +'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. + +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. + +'That is capital,' said the Infanta, after a pause; 'but now you +must dance for me.' + +'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. + +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.' + +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, 'petit monsire. You must dance. +The Infanta of Spain and the Indies wishes to be amused.' + +But the little Dwarf never moved. + +'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 - + +'Mi bella Princesa, 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.' + +'But why will he not dance again?' asked the Infanta, laughing. + +'Because his heart is broken,' answered the Chamberlain. + +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. + + + + +THE FISHERMAN AND HIS SOUL + + + + +[TO H.S.H. ALICE, PRINCESS OF MONACO] + + +Every evening the young Fisherman went out upon the sea, and threw +his nets into the water. + +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. + +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. + +But no fish at all was in it, nor any monster or thing of horror, +but only a little Mermaid lying fast asleep. + +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. + +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. + +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.' + +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.' + +'Wilt thou in very truth let me go, if I promise thee this?' cried +the Mermaid. + +'In very truth I will let thee go,' said the young Fisherman. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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.' + +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.' + +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.' + +And the little Mermaid laughed for pleasure and hid her face in her +hands. + +'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.' + +'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. + + +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. + +The novice looked out through the wicket, and when he saw who it +was, he drew back the latch and said to him, 'Enter.' + +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.' + +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.' + +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?' + +'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.' + +'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.' + +'Away! Away!' cried the Priest: 'thy leman is lost, and thou +shalt be lost with her.' + +And he gave him no blessing, but drove him from his door. + +And the young Fisherman went down into the market-place, and he +walked slowly, and with bowed head, as one who is in sorrow. + +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?' + +'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.' + +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.' + +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. + + +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. + +'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.' + +'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.' + +'What wouldst thou?' asked the Witch, coming near to him. + +'I would send my soul away from me,' answered the young Fisherman. + +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.' + +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.' + +'What wilt thou give me if I tell thee?' asked the Witch, looking +down at him with her beautiful eyes. + +'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.' + +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.' + +'What then shall I give thee,' he cried, 'if thy price be neither +gold nor silver?' + +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. + +'Nought but that?' cried the young Fisherman in wonder and he rose +to his feet. + +'Nought but that,' she answered, and she smiled at him again. + +'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.' + +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. + +'To-night thou must come to the top of the mountain,' she +whispered. 'It is a Sabbath, and He will be there.' + +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. + +'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.' + +'But wilt thou swear to me to tell me how I may send my soul from +me?' he made question. + +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. + +'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. + +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.' + + +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. + +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. + +'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. + +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. + +'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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +'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. + +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. + +And the Witch with the red hair tried to fly away also, but the +Fisherman caught her by her wrists, and held her fast. + +'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.' + +'Nay,' he answered, 'but I will not let thee go till thou hast told +me the secret.' + +'What secret?' said the Witch, wrestling with him like a wild cat, +and biting her foam-flecked lips. + +'Thou knowest,' he made answer. + +Her grass-green eyes grew dim with tears, and she said to the +Fisherman, 'Ask me anything but that!' + +He laughed, and held her all the more tightly. + +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. + +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.' + + 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. + +'What shall this serve me?' he asked of her, wondering. + +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.' + +The young Fisherman trembled. 'Is this true?' he murmured. + +'It is true, and I would that I had not told thee of it,' she +cried, and she clung to his knees weeping. + +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. + +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?' + +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.' + +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. + +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. + +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.' + +He tossed his head and smiled. 'With what should I love my love if +I gave thee my heart?' he cried. + +'Nay, but be merciful,' said his Soul: 'give me thy heart, for the +world is very cruel, and I am afraid.' + +'My heart is my love's,' he answered, 'therefore tarry not, but get +thee gone.' + +'Should I not love also?' asked his Soul. + +'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. + +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.' + +'Nay, but we must meet again,' said the Soul. Its voice was low +and flute-like, and its lips hardly moved while it spake. + +'How shall we meet?' cried the young Fisherman. 'Thou wilt not +follow me into the depths of the sea?' + +'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.' + +'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. + +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. + + +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?' + +And the Soul answered, 'Come nearer, that I may speak with thee, +for I have seen marvellous things.' + +So he came nearer, and couched in the shallow water, and leaned his +head upon his hand and listened. + + +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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'As I came near them, the chief of the merchants rose up and drew +his sword, and asked me my business. + +'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. + +'Then he asked me who was the prophet of God, and I answered him +Mohammed. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'After a little while he spake to me, and asked me my desire. + +'I told him that my desire was to see the god. + +'"The god is hunting," said the priest, looking strangely at me +with his small slanting eyes. + +'"Tell me in what forest, and I will ride with him," I answered. + +'He combed out the soft fringes of his tunic with his long pointed +nails. "The god is asleep," he murmured. + +'"Tell me on what couch, and I will watch by him," I answered. + +'"The god is at the feast," he cried. + +'"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. + +'He bowed his head in wonder, and, taking me by the hand, he raised +me up, and led me into the temple. + +'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. + +'And I said to the priest, "Is this the god?" And he answered me, +"This is the god." + +'"Show me the god," I cried, "or I will surely slay thee." And I +touched his hand, and it became withered. + +'And the priest besought me, saying, "Let my lord heal his servant, +and I will show him the god." + +'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. + +'And I said to the priest, "Is this the god?" + +'And he answered me, "This is the god." + +'"Show me the god," I cried, "or I will surely slay thee." And I +touched his eyes, and they became blind. + +'And the priest besought me, saying, "Let my lord heal his servant, +and I will show him the god." + +'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. + +'And I said to the priest, "Where is the god?" + +'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. + +'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.' + +But the young Fisherman laughed. 'Love is better than Wisdom,' he +cried, 'and the little Mermaid loves me.' + +'Nay, but there is nothing better than Wisdom,' said the Soul. + +'Love is better,' answered the young Fisherman, and he plunged into +the deep, and the Soul went weeping away over the marshes. + + +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?' + +And the Soul answered, 'Come nearer, that I may speak with thee, +for I have seen marvellous things.' + +So he came nearer, and couched in the shallow water, and leaned his +head upon his hand and listened. + +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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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." + +'And I answered him, "I will go for half of thy treasure. Give me +half of thy treasure, and I will go away." + +'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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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." + +'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." + +'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." + +'"Nay," I answered, "but I will take nought but that leaden ring, +for I know what is written within it, and for what purpose." + +'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." + +'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.' + +But the young Fisherman laughed. 'Love is better than Riches,' he +cried, 'and the little Mermaid loves me.' + +'Nay, but there is nothing better than Riches,' said the Soul. + +'Love is better,' answered the young Fisherman, and he plunged into +the deep, and the Soul went weeping away over the marshes. + + +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?' + +And the Soul answered, 'Come nearer, that I may speak with thee, +for I have seen marvellous things.' + +So he came nearer, and couched in the shallow water, and leaned his +head upon his hand and listened. + +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.' + +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. + +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. + +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.' + + +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. + +And the young Fisherman said to his Soul, 'Is this the city in +which she dances of whom thou didst speak to me?' + +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.' + +So he took the cup and hid it in the fold of his tunic, and they +went hurriedly out of the city. + +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?' + +But his Soul answered him, 'Be at peace, be at peace.' + +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?' + +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. + +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?' + +But his Soul answered him, 'Be at peace, be at peace.' + +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?' + +And his Soul answered him, 'It may be that it is in this city, +therefore let us enter in.' + +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.' + +But his Soul answered, 'Nay, but let us tarry, for the night is +dark and there will be robbers on the way.' + +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?' + +And the young Fisherman answered him, 'I can find no inn in this +city, nor have I any kinsman who might give me shelter.' + +'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.' + +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. + +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. + +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.' + +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?' + +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. + +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.' + +But his Soul answered him, 'Be at peace, be at peace.' + +'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.' + +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.' + +'What sayest thou?' murmured the young Fisherman. + +'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.' + +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.' + +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.' + +But the young Fisherman took the nine purses of gold, and flung +them down, and trampled on them. + +'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. + +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.' + +And the young Fisherman grew pale and clenched his hands and cried, +'She was a false Witch in that she told me not that.' + +'Nay,' answered his Soul, 'but she was true to Him she worships, +and whose servant she will be ever.' + +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. + + +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.' + +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.' + +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. + +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. + +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.' + +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. + +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. + +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.' + +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?' + +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. + +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.' + +'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.' + +'Alas!' cried his Soul, 'I can find no place of entrance, so +compassed about with love is this heart of thine.' + +'Yet I would that I could help thee,' said the young Fisherman. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +'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?' + +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.' + +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. + + +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. + +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.' + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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?' + +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. + +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. + + + + +THE STAR-CHILD + + + + +[TO MISS MARGOT TENNANT--MRS. ASQUITH] + + +Once 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. + +So cold was it that even the animals and the birds did not know +what to make of it. + +'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?' + +'Weet! weet! weet!' twittered the green Linnets, 'the old Earth is +dead and they have laid her out in her white shroud.' + +'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. + +'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. + +'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.' + +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!' + +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. + +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. + +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.' + +'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.' + +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. + +'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. + +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. + +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.' + +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.' + +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. + +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.' + +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. + +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. + +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. + +'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. + +'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. + +'Nay, but it is a Star-Child,' he answered; and he told her the +strange manner of the finding of it. + +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?' + +'Nay, but God careth for the sparrows even, and feedeth them,' he +answered. + +'Do not the sparrows die of hunger in the winter?' she asked. 'And +is it not winter now?' + +And the man answered nothing, but stirred not from the threshold. + +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.' + +'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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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?' + +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.' + +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. + + +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. + +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.' + +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?' + +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.' + +'Thou speakest truly,' answered the Woodcutter, 'yet did I show +thee pity when I found thee in the forest.' + +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. + +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?' + +And the Woodcutter answered, 'Yea, it was in the forest that I +found him, and it is ten years from this day.' + +'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?' + +'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. + +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.' + +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.' + +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.' + +And the woman answered him, 'I am thy mother.' + +'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.' + +'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.' + +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. + +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.' + +'Alas! my son,' she cried, 'wilt thou not kiss me before I go? For +I have suffered much to find thee.' + +'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.' + +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. + +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. + +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.' + +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.' + +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.' + +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.' + +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. + +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. + +He said to the Mole, 'Thou canst go beneath the earth. Tell me, is +my mother there?' + +And the Mole answered, 'Thou hast blinded mine eyes. How should I +know?' + +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?' + +And the Linnet answered, 'Thou hast clipt my wings for thy +pleasure. How should I fly?' + +And to the little Squirrel who lived in the fir-tree, and was +lonely, he said, 'Where is my mother?' + +And the Squirrel answered, 'Thou hast slain mine. Dost thou seek +to slay thine also?' + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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?' + +'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.' + +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.' + +And another, who held a yellow banner in his hand, said to him, +'Who is thy mother, and wherefore art thou seeking for her?' + +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. + +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.' + +'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.' + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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.' + +And the Hare answered him, and said: 'Surely thou hast given me +freedom, and what shall I give thee in return?' + +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.' + +'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.' + +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.' + +'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. + +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.' + +'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.' + +But the leper entreated him, and prayed of him, till the Star-Child +had pity, and gave him the piece of white gold. + + +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. + +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.' + +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, + +And the Hare said to him, 'Why art thou weeping? And what dost +thou seek in the wood?' + +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.' + +'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. + +'How shall I thank thee?' said the Star-Child, 'for lo! this is the +second time that you have succoured me.' + +'Nay, but thou hadst pity on me first,' said the Hare, and it ran +away swiftly. + +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.' + +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.' + +But the leper entreated him sore, so that the Star-Child had pity +on him, and gave him the piece of yellow gold. + +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. + +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.' + +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. + +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.' + +'How shall I reward thee?' cried the Star-Child, 'for lo! this is +the third time thou hast succoured me.' + +'Nay, but thou hadst pity on me first,' said the Hare, and it ran +away swiftly. + +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. + + +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. + +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.' + +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?' + +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?' + +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. + +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.' + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And he rose up from his feet, and looked at them, and lo! they were +a King and a Queen. + +And the Queen said to him, 'This is thy father whom thou hast +succoured.' + +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. + +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. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, A HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES *** + +This file should be named hpomg10.txt or hpomg10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, hpomg11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, hpomg10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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