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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:14:48 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:14:48 -0700 |
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diff --git a/343-h/343-h.htm b/343-h/343-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5a9455 --- /dev/null +++ b/343-h/343-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2032 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Fables</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + TD { vertical-align: top; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: gray;} + + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">Fables, by Robert Louis Stevenson</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Fables, by Robert Louis Stevenson + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Fables + + +Author: Robert Louis Stevenson + + + +Release Date: February 28, 2007 [eBook #343] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FABLES*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed from the 1901 Longmans, Green & Co. edition by +David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>FABLES</h1> +<p style="text-align: center">BY<br /> +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON</p> +<h2>I.—THE PERSONS OF THE TALE.</h2> +<p>After the 32nd chapter of <i>Treasure Island</i>, two of the +puppets strolled out to have a pipe before business should begin +again, and met in an open place not far from the story.</p> +<p>“Good-morning, Cap’n,” said the first, with +a man-o’-war salute, and a beaming countenance.</p> +<p>“Ah, Silver!” grunted the other. +“You’re in a bad way, Silver.”</p> +<p>“Now, Cap’n Smollett,” remonstrated Silver, +“dooty is dooty, as I knows, and none better; but +we’re off dooty now; and I can’t see no call to keep +up the morality business.”</p> +<p>“You’re a damned rogue, my man,” said the +Captain.</p> +<p>“Come, come, Cap’n, be just,” returned the +other. “There’s no call to be angry with me in +earnest. I’m on’y a chara’ter in a sea +story. I don’t really exist.”</p> +<p>“Well, I don’t really exist either,” says +the Captain, “which seems to meet that.”</p> +<p>“I wouldn’t set no limits to what a virtuous +chara’ter might consider argument,” responded +Silver. “But I’m the villain of this tale, I +am; and speaking as one sea-faring man to another, what I want to +know is, what’s the odds?”</p> +<p>“Were you never taught your catechism?” said the +Captain. “Don’t you know there’s such a +thing as an Author?”</p> +<p>“Such a thing as a Author?” returned John, +derisively. “And who better’n me? And the +p’int is, if the Author made you, he made Long John, and he +made Hands, and Pew, and George Merry—not that George is up +to much, for he’s little more’n a name; and he made +Flint, what there is of him; and he made this here mutiny, you +keep such a work about; and he had Tom Redruth shot; +and—well, if that’s a Author, give me Pew!”</p> +<p>“Don’t you believe in a future state?” said +Smollett. “Do you think there’s nothing but the +present story-paper?”</p> +<p>“I don’t rightly know for that,” said +Silver; “and I don’t see what it’s got to do +with it, anyway. What I know is this: if there is sich a +thing as a Author, I’m his favourite chara’ter. +He does me fathoms better’n he does you—fathoms, he +does. And he likes doing me. He keeps me on deck +mostly all the time, crutch and all; and he leaves you measling +in the hold, where nobody can’t see you, nor wants to, and +you may lay to that! If there is a Author, by thunder, but +he’s on my side, and you may lay to it!”</p> +<p>“I see he’s giving you a long rope,” said +the Captain. “But that can’t change a +man’s convictions. I know the Author respects me; I +feel it in my bones; when you and I had that talk at the +blockhouse door, who do you think he was for, my man?”</p> +<p>“And don’t he respect me?” cried +Silver. “Ah, you should ‘a’ heard me +putting down my mutiny, George Merry and Morgan and that lot, no +longer ago’n last chapter; you’d heard something +then! You’d ‘a’ seen what the Author +thinks o’ me! But come now, do you consider yourself +a virtuous chara’ter clean through?”</p> +<p>“God forbid!” said Captain Smollett, +solemnly. “I am a man that tries to do his duty, and +makes a mess of it as often as not. I’m not a very +popular man at home, Silver, I’m afraid!” and the +Captain sighed.</p> +<p>“Ah,” says Silver. “Then how about +this sequel of yours? Are you to be Cap’n Smollett +just the same as ever, and not very popular at home, says +you? And if so, why, it’s <i>Treasure Island</i> over +again, by thunder; and I’ll be Long John, and Pew’ll +be Pew, and we’ll have another mutiny, as like as +not. Or are you to be somebody else? And if so, why, +what the better are you? and what the worse am I?”</p> +<p>“Why, look here, my man,” returned the Captain, +“I can’t understand how this story comes about at +all, can I? I can’t see how you and I, who +don’t exist, should get to speaking here, and smoke our +pipes for all the world like reality? Very well, then, who +am I to pipe up with my opinions? I know the Author’s +on the side of good; he tells me so, it runs out of his pen as he +writes. Well, that’s all I need to know; I’ll +take my chance upon the rest.”</p> +<p>“It’s a fact he seemed to be against George +Merry,” Silver admitted, musingly. “But George +is little more’n a name at the best of it,” he added, +brightening. “And to get into soundings for +once. What is this good? I made a mutiny, and I been +a gentleman o’ fortune; well, but by all stories, you +ain’t no such saint. I’m a man that keeps +company very easy; even by your own account, you ain’t, and +to my certain knowledge you’re a devil to haze. Which +is which? Which is good, and which bad? Ah, you tell +me that! Here we are in stays, and you may lay to +it!”</p> +<p>“We’re none of us perfect,” replied the +Captain. “That’s a fact of religion, my +man. All I can say is, I try to do my duty; and if you try +to do yours, I can’t compliment you on your +success.”</p> +<p>“And so you was the judge, was you?” said Silver, +derisively.</p> +<p>“I would be both judge and hangman for you, my man, and +never turn a hair,” returned the Captain. “But +I get beyond that: it mayn’t be sound theology, but +it’s common sense, that what is good is useful too—or +there and thereabout, for I don’t set up to be a +thinker. Now, where would a story go to if there were no +virtuous characters?”</p> +<p>“If you go to that,” replied Silver, “where +would a story begin, if there wasn’t no +villains?”</p> +<p>“Well, that’s pretty much my thought,” said +Captain Smollett. “The Author has to get a story; +that’s what he wants; and to get a story, and to have a man +like the doctor (say) given a proper chance, he has to put in men +like you and Hands. But he’s on the right side; and +you mind your eye! You’re not through this story yet; +there’s trouble coming for you.”</p> +<p>“What’ll you bet?” asked John.</p> +<p>“Much I care if there ain’t,” returned the +Captain. “I’m glad enough to be Alexander +Smollett, bad as he is; and I thank my stars upon my knees that +I’m not Silver. But there’s the ink-bottle +opening. To quarters!”</p> +<p>And indeed the Author was just then beginning to write the +words:</p> +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> XXXIII.</p> +</blockquote> +<h2>II.—THE SINKING SHIP.</h2> +<p>“Sir,” said the first lieutenant, bursting into +the Captain’s cabin, “the ship is going +down.”</p> +<p>“Very well, Mr. Spoker,” said the Captain; +“but that is no reason for going about half-shaved. +Exercise your mind a moment, Mr. Spoker, and you will see that to +the philosophic eye there is nothing new in our position: the +ship (if she is to go down at all) may be said to have been going +down since she was launched.”</p> +<p>“She is settling fast,” said the first lieutenant, +as he returned from shaving.</p> +<p>“Fast, Mr. Spoker?” asked the Captain. +“The expression is a strange one, for time (if you will +think of it) is only relative.”</p> +<p>“Sir,” said the lieutenant, “I think it is +scarcely worth while to embark in such a discussion when we shall +all be in Davy Jones’s Locker in ten minutes.”</p> +<p>“By parity of reasoning,” returned the Captain +gently, “it would never be worth while to begin any inquiry +of importance; the odds are always overwhelming that we must die +before we shall have brought it to an end. You have not +considered, Mr. Spoker, the situation of man,” said the +Captain, smiling, and shaking his head.</p> +<p>“I am much more engaged in considering the position of +the ship,” said Mr. Spoker.</p> +<p>“Spoken like a good officer,” replied the Captain, +laying his hand on the lieutenant’s shoulder.</p> +<p>On deck they found the men had broken into the spirit-room, +and were fast getting drunk.</p> +<p>“My men,” said the Captain, “there is no +sense in this. The ship is going down, you will tell me, in +ten minutes: well, and what then? To the philosophic eye, +there is nothing new in our position. All our lives long, +we may have been about to break a blood-vessel or to be struck by +lightning, not merely in ten minutes, but in ten seconds; and +that has not prevented us from eating dinner, no, nor from +putting money in the Savings Bank. I assure you, with my +hand on my heart, I fail to comprehend your attitude.”</p> +<p>The men were already too far gone to pay much heed.</p> +<p>“This is a very painful sight, Mr. Spoker,” said +the Captain.</p> +<p>“And yet to the philosophic eye, or whatever it +is,” replied the first lieutenant, “they may be said +to have been getting drunk since they came aboard.”</p> +<p>“I do not know if you always follow my thought, Mr. +Spoker,” returned the Captain gently. “But let +us proceed.”</p> +<p>In the powder magazine they found an old salt smoking his +pipe.</p> +<p>“Good God,” cried the Captain, “what are you +about?”</p> +<p>“Well, sir,” said the old salt, apologetically, +“they told me as she were going down.”</p> +<p>“And suppose she were?” said the Captain. +“To the philosophic eye, there would be nothing new in our +position. Life, my old shipmate, life, at any moment and in +any view, is as dangerous as a sinking ship; and yet it is +man’s handsome fashion to carry umbrellas, to wear +indiarubber over-shoes, to begin vast works, and to conduct +himself in every way as if he might hope to be eternal. And +for my own poor part I should despise the man who, even on board +a sinking ship, should omit to take a pill or to wind up his +watch. That, my friend, would not be the human +attitude.”</p> +<p>“I beg pardon, sir,” said Mr. Spoker. +“But what is precisely the difference between shaving in a +sinking ship and smoking in a powder magazine?”</p> +<p>“Or doing anything at all in any conceivable +circumstances?” cried the Captain. “Perfectly +conclusive; give me a cigar!”</p> +<p>Two minutes afterwards the ship blew up with a glorious +detonation.</p> +<h2>III—THE TWO MATCHES.</h2> +<p>One day there was a traveller in the woods in California, in +the dry season, when the Trades were blowing strong. He had +ridden a long way, and he was tired and hungry, and dismounted +from his horse to smoke a pipe. But when he felt in his +pocket he found but two matches. He struck the first, and +it would not light.</p> +<p>“Here is a pretty state of things!” said the +traveller. “Dying for a smoke; only one match left; +and that certain to miss fire! Was there ever a creature so +unfortunate? And yet,” thought the traveller, +“suppose I light this match, and smoke my pipe, and shake +out the dottle here in the grass—the grass might catch on +fire, for it is dry like tinder; and while I snatch out the +flames in front, they might evade and run behind me, and seize +upon yon bush of poison oak; before I could reach it, that would +have blazed up; over the bush I see a pine tree hung with moss; +that too would fly in fire upon the instant to its topmost bough; +and the flame of that long torch—how would the trade wind +take and brandish that through the inflammable forest! I +hear this dell roar in a moment with the joint voice of wind and +fire, I see myself gallop for my soul, and the flying +conflagration chase and outflank me through the hills; I see this +pleasant forest burn for days, and the cattle roasted, and the +springs dried up, and the farmer ruined, and his children cast +upon the world. What a world hangs upon this +moment!”</p> +<p>With that he struck the match, and it missed fire.</p> +<p>“Thank God!” said the traveller, and put his pipe +in his pocket.</p> +<h2>IV.—THE SICK MAN AND THE FIREMAN.</h2> +<p>There was once a sick man in a burning house, to whom there +entered a fireman.</p> +<p>“Do not save me,” said the sick man. +“Save those who are strong.”</p> +<p>“Will you kindly tell me why?” inquired the +fireman, for he was a civil fellow.</p> +<p>“Nothing could possibly be fairer,” said the sick +man. “The strong should be preferred in all cases, +because they are of more service in the world.”</p> +<p>The fireman pondered a while, for he was a man of some +philosophy. “Granted,” said he at last, as +apart of the roof fell in; “but for the sake of +conversation, what would you lay down as the proper service of +the strong?”</p> +<p>“Nothing can possibly be easier,” returned the +sick man; “the proper service of the strong is to help the +weak.”</p> +<p>Again the fireman reflected, for there was nothing hasty about +this excellent creature. “I could forgive you being +sick,” he said at last, as a portion of the wall fell out, +“but I cannot bear your being such a fool.” And +with that he heaved up his fireman’s axe, for he was +eminently just, and clove the sick man to the bed.</p> +<h2>V.—THE DEVIL AND THE INNKEEPER.</h2> +<p>Once upon a time the devil stayed at an inn, where no one knew +him, for they were people whose education had been +neglected. He was bent on mischief, and for a time kept +everybody by the ears. But at last the innkeeper set a +watch upon the devil and took him in the fact.</p> +<p>The innkeeper got a rope’s end.</p> +<p>“Now I am going to thrash you,” said the +innkeeper.</p> +<p>“You have no right to be angry with me,” said the +devil. “I am only the devil, and it is my nature to +do wrong.”</p> +<p>“Is that so?” asked the innkeeper.</p> +<p>“Fact, I assure you,” said the devil.</p> +<p>“You really cannot help doing ill?” asked the +innkeeper.</p> +<p>“Not in the smallest,” said the devil; “it +would be useless cruelty to thrash a thing like me.”</p> +<p>“It would indeed,” said the innkeeper.</p> +<p>And he made a noose and hanged the devil.</p> +<p>“There!” said the innkeeper.</p> +<h2>VI.—THE PENITENT</h2> +<p>A man met a lad weeping. “What do you weep +for?” he asked.</p> +<p>“I am weeping for my sins,” said the lad.</p> +<p>“You must have little to do,” said the man.</p> +<p>The next day they met again. Once more the lad was +weeping. “Why do you weep now?” asked the +man.</p> +<p>“I am weeping because I have nothing to eat,” said +the lad.</p> +<p>“I thought it would come to that,” said the +man.</p> +<h2>VII.—THE YELLOW PAINT.</h2> +<p>In a certain city there lived a physician who sold yellow +paint. This was of so singular a virtue that whoso was +bedaubed with it from head to heel was set free from the dangers +of life, and the bondage of sin, and the fear of death for +ever. So the physician said in his prospectus; and so said +all the citizens in the city; and there was nothing more urgent +in men’s hearts than to be properly painted themselves, and +nothing they took more delight in than to see others +painted. There was in the same city a young man of a very +good family but of a somewhat reckless life, who had reached the +age of manhood, and would have nothing to say to the paint: +“To-morrow was soon enough,” said he; and when the +morrow came he would still put it off. She might have +continued to do until his death; only, he had a friend of about +his own age and much of his own manners; and this youth, taking a +walk in the public street, with not one fleck of paint upon his +body, was suddenly run down by a water-cart and cut off in the +heyday of his nakedness. This shook the other to the soul; +so that I never beheld a man more earnest to be painted; and on +the very same evening, in the presence of all his family, to +appropriate music, and himself weeping aloud, he received three +complete coats and a touch of varnish on the top. The +physician (who was himself affected even to tears) protested he +had never done a job so thorough.</p> +<p>Some two months afterwards, the young man was carried on a +stretcher to the physician’s house.</p> +<p>“What is the meaning of this?” he cried, as soon +as the door was opened. “I was to be set free from +all the dangers of life; and here have I been run down by that +self-same water-cart, and my leg is broken.”</p> +<p>“Dear me!” said the physician. “This +is very sad. But I perceive I must explain to you the +action of my paint. A broken bone is a mighty small affair +at the worst of it; and it belongs to a class of accident to +which my paint is quite inapplicable. Sin, my dear young +friend, sin is the sole calamity that a wise man should +apprehend; it is against sin that I have fitted you out; and when +you come to be tempted, you will give me news of my +paint.”</p> +<p>“Oh!” said the young man, “I did not +understand that, and it seems rather disappointing. But I +have no doubt all is for the best; and in the meanwhile, I shall +be obliged to you if you will set my leg.”</p> +<p>“That is none of my business,” said the physician; +“but if your bearers will carry you round the corner to the +surgeon’s, I feel sure he will afford relief.”</p> +<p>Some three years later, the young man came running to the +physician’s house in a great perturbation. +“What is the meaning of this?” he cried. +“Here was I to be set free from the bondage of sin; and I +have just committed forgery, arson and murder.”</p> +<p>“Dear me,” said the physician. “This +is very serious. Off with your clothes at +once.” And as soon as the young man had stripped, he +examined him from head to foot. “No,” he cried +with great relief, “there is not a flake broken. +Cheer up, my young friend, your paint is as good as +new.”</p> +<p>“Good God!” cried the young man, “and what +then can be the use of it?”</p> +<p>“Why,” said the physician, “I perceive I +must explain to you the nature of the action of my paint. +It does not exactly prevent sin; it extenuates instead the +painful consequences. It is not so much for this world, as +for the next; it is not against life; in short, it is against +death that I have fitted you out. And when you come to die, +you will give me news of my paint.”</p> +<p>“Oh!” cried the young man, “I had not +understood that, and it seems a little disappointing. But +there is no doubt all is for the best: and in the meanwhile, I +shall be obliged if you will help me to undo the evil I have +brought on innocent persons.”</p> +<p>“That is none of my business,” said the physician; +“but if you will go round the corner to the police office, +I feel sure it will afford you relief to give yourself +up.”</p> +<p>Six weeks later, the physician was called to the town +gaol.</p> +<p>“What is the meaning of this?” cried the young +man. “Here am I literally crusted with your paint; +and I have broken my leg, and committed all the crimes in the +calendar, and must be hanged to-morrow; and am in the meanwhile +in a fear so extreme that I lack words to picture it.”</p> +<p>“Dear me,” said the physician. “This +is really amazing. Well, well; perhaps, if you had not been +painted, you would have been more frightened still.”</p> +<h2>VIII.—THE HOUSE OF ELD.</h2> +<p>So soon as the child began to speak, the gyve was riveted; and +the boys and girls limped about their play like convicts. +Doubtless it was more pitiable to see and more painful to bear in +youth; but even the grown folk, besides being very unhandy on +their feet, were often sick with ulcers.</p> +<p>About the time when Jack was ten years old, many strangers +began to journey through that country. These he beheld +going lightly by on the long roads, and the thing amazed +him. “I wonder how it comes,” he asked, +“that all these strangers are so quick afoot, and we must +drag about our fetter?”</p> +<p>“My dear boy,” said his uncle, the catechist, +“do not complain about your fetter, for it is the only +thing that makes life worth living. None are happy, none +are good, none are respectable, that are not gyved like us. +And I must tell you, besides, it is very dangerous talk. If +you grumble of your iron, you will have no luck; if ever you take +it off, you will be instantly smitten by a +thunderbolt.”</p> +<p>“Are there no thunderbolts for these strangers?” +asked Jack.</p> +<p>“Jupiter is longsuffering to the benighted,” +returned the catechist.</p> +<p>“Upon my word, I could wish I had been less +fortunate,” said Jack. “For if I had been born +benighted, I might now be going free; and it cannot be denied the +iron is inconvenient, and the ulcer hurts.”</p> +<p>“Ah!” cried his uncle, “do not envy the +heathen! Theirs is a sad lot! Ah, poor souls, if they +but knew the joys of being fettered! Poor souls, my heart +yearns for them. But the truth is they are vile, odious, +insolent, ill-conditioned, stinking brutes, not truly +human—for what is a man without a fetter?—and you +cannot be too particular not to touch or speak with +them.”</p> +<p>After this talk, the child would never pass one of the +unfettered on the road but what he spat at him and called him +names, which was the practice of the children in that part.</p> +<p>It chanced one day, when he was fifteen, he went into the +woods, and the ulcer pained him. It was a fair day, with a +blue sky; all the birds were singing; but Jack nursed his +foot. Presently, another song began; it sounded like the +singing of a person, only far more gay; at the same time there +was a beating on the earth. Jack put aside the leaves; and +there was a lad of his own village, leaping, and dancing and +singing to himself in a green dell; and on the grass beside him +lay the dancer’s iron.</p> +<p>“Oh!” cried Jack, “you have your fetter +off!”</p> +<p>“For God’s sake, don’t tell your +uncle!” cried the lad.</p> +<p>“If you fear my uncle,” returned Jack “why +do you not fear the thunderbolt”?</p> +<p>“That is only an old wives’ tale,” said the +other. “It is only told to children. Scores of +us come here among the woods and dance for nights together, and +are none the worse.”</p> +<p>This put Jack in a thousand new thoughts. He was a grave +lad; he had no mind to dance himself; he wore his fetter +manfully, and tended his ulcer without complaint. But he +loved the less to be deceived or to see others cheated. He +began to lie in wait for heathen travellers, at covert parts of +the road, and in the dusk of the day, so that he might speak with +them unseen; and these were greatly taken with their wayside +questioner, and told him things of weight. The wearing of +gyves (they said) was no command of Jupiter’s. It was +the contrivance of a white-faced thing, a sorcerer, that dwelt in +that country in the Wood of Eld. He was one like Glaucus +that could change his shape, yet he could be always told; for +when he was crossed, he gobbled like a turkey. He had three +lives; but the third smiting would make an end of him indeed; and +with that his house of sorcery would vanish, the gyves fall, and +the villagers take hands and dance like children.</p> +<p>“And in your country?” Jack would ask.</p> +<p>But at this the travellers, with one accord, would put him +off; until Jack began to suppose there was no land entirely +happy. Or, if there were, it must be one that kept its folk +at home; which was natural enough.</p> +<p>But the case of the gyves weighed upon him. The sight of +the children limping stuck in his eyes; the groans of such as +dressed their ulcers haunted him. And it came at last in +his mind that he was born to free them.</p> +<p>There was in that village a sword of heavenly forgery, beaten +upon Vulcan’s anvil. It was never used but in the +temple, and then the flat of it only; and it hung on a nail by +the catechist’s chimney. Early one night, Jack rose, +and took the sword, and was gone out of the house and the village +in the darkness.</p> +<p>All night he walked at a venture; and when day came, he met +strangers going to the fields. Then he asked after the Wood +of Eld and the house of sorcery; and one said north, and one +south; until Jack saw that they deceived him. So then, when +he asked his way of any man, he showed the bright sword naked; +and at that the gyve on the man’s ankle rang, and answered +in his stead; and the word was still <i>Straight on</i>. +But the man, when his gyve spoke, spat and struck at Jack, and +threw stones at him as he went away; so that his head was +broken.</p> +<p>So he came to that wood, and entered in, and he was aware of a +house in a low place, where funguses grew, and the trees met, and +the steaming of the marsh arose about it like a smoke. It +was a fine house, and a very rambling; some parts of it were +ancient like the hills, and some but of yesterday, and none +finished; and all the ends of it were open, so that you could go +in from every side. Yet it was in good repair, and all the +chimneys smoked.</p> +<p>Jack went in through the gable; and there was one room after +another, all bare, but all furnished in part, so that a man could +dwell there; and in each there was a fire burning, where a man +could warm himself, and a table spread where he might eat. +But Jack saw nowhere any living creature; only the bodies of some +stuffed.</p> +<p>“This is a hospitable house,” said Jack; +“but the ground must be quaggy underneath, for at every +step the building quakes.”</p> +<p>He had gone some time in the house, when he began to be +hungry. Then he looked at the food, and at first he was +afraid; but he bared the sword, and by the shining of the sword, +it seemed the food was honest. So he took the courage to +sit down and eat, and he was refreshed in mind and body.</p> +<p>“This is strange,” thought he, “that in the +house of sorcery there should be food so wholesome.”</p> +<p>As he was yet eating, there came into that room the appearance +of his uncle, and Jack was afraid because he had taken the +sword. But his uncle was never more kind, and sat down to +meat with him, and praised him because he had taken the +sword. Never had these two been more pleasantly together, +and Jack was full of love to the man.</p> +<p>“It was very well done,” said his uncle, “to +take the sword and come yourself into the House of Eld; a good +thought and a brave deed. But now you are satisfied; and we +may go home to dinner arm in arm.”</p> +<p>“Oh, dear, no!” said Jack. “I am not +satisfied yet.”</p> +<p>“How!” cried his uncle. “Are you not +warmed by the fire? Does not this food sustain +you?”</p> +<p>“I see the food to be wholesome,” said Jack; +“and still it is no proof that a man should wear a gyve on +his right leg.”</p> +<p>Now at this the appearance of his uncle gobbled like a +turkey.</p> +<p>“Jupiter!” cried Jack, “is this the +sorcerer?”</p> +<p>His hand held back and his heart failed him for the love he +bore his uncle; but he heaved up the sword and smote the +appearance on the head; and it cried out aloud with the voice of +his uncle; and fell to the ground; and a little bloodless white +thing fled from the room.</p> +<p>The cry rang in Jack’s ears, and his knees smote +together, and conscience cried upon him; and yet he was +strengthened, and there woke in his bones the lust of that +enchanter’s blood. “If the gyves are to +fall,” said he, “I must go through with this, and +when I get home I shall find my uncle dancing.”</p> +<p>So he went on after the bloodless thing. In the way, he +met the appearance of his father; and his father was incensed, +and railed upon him, and called to him upon his duty, and bade +him be home, while there was yet time. “For you can +still,” said he, “be home by sunset; and then all +will be forgiven.”</p> +<p>“God knows,” said Jack, “I fear your anger; +but yet your anger does not prove that a man should wear a gyve +on his right leg.”</p> +<p>And at that the appearance of his father gobbled like a +turkey.</p> +<p>“Ah, heaven,” cried Jack, “the sorcerer +again!”</p> +<p>The blood ran backward in his body and his joints rebelled +against him for the love he bore his father; but he heaved up the +sword, and plunged it in the heart of the appearance; and the +appearance cried out aloud with the voice of his father; and fell +to the ground; and a little bloodless white thing fled from the +room.</p> +<p>The cry rang in Jack’s ears, and his soul was darkened; +but now rage came to him. “I have done what I dare +not think upon,” said he. “I will go to an end +with it, or perish. And when I get home, I pray God this +may be a dream, and I may find my father dancing.”</p> +<p>So he went on after the bloodless thing that had escaped; and +in the way he met the appearance of his mother, and she +wept. “What have you done?” she cried. +“What is this that you have done? Oh, come home +(where you may be by bedtime) ere you do more ill to me and mine; +for it is enough to smite my brother and your father.”</p> +<p>“Dear mother, it is not these that I have +smitten,” said Jack; “it was but the enchanter in +their shape. And even if I had, it would not prove that a +man should wear a gyve on his right leg.”</p> +<p>And at this the appearance gobbled like a turkey.</p> +<p>He never knew how he did that; but he swung the sword on the +one side, and clove the appearance through the midst; and it +cried out aloud with the voice of his mother; and fell to the +ground; and with the fall of it, the house was gone from over +Jack’s head, and he stood alone in the woods, and the gyve +was loosened from his leg.</p> +<p>“Well,” said he, “the enchanter is now dead, +and the fetter gone.” But the cries rang in his soul, +and the day was like night to him. “This has been a +sore business,” said he. “Let me get forth out +of the wood, and see the good that I have done to +others.”</p> +<p>He thought to leave the fetter where it lay, but when he +turned to go, his mind was otherwise. So he stooped and put +the gyve in his bosom; and the rough iron galled him as he went, +and his bosom bled.</p> +<p>Now when he was forth of the wood upon the highway, he met +folk returning from the field; and those he met had no fetter on +the right leg, but, behold! they had one upon the left. +Jack asked them what it signified; and they said, “that was +the new wear, for the old was found to be a +superstition”. Then he looked at them nearly; and +there was a new ulcer on the left ankle, and the old one on the +right was not yet healed.</p> +<p>“Now, may God forgive me!” cried Jack. +“I would I were well home.”</p> +<p>And when he was home, there lay his uncle smitten on the head, +and his father pierced through the heart, and his mother cloven +through the midst. And he sat in the lone house and wept +beside the bodies.</p> +<h3>MORAL.</h3> +<p>Old is the tree and the fruit good,<br /> +Very old and thick the wood.<br /> +Woodman, is your courage stout?<br /> +Beware! the root is wrapped about<br /> +Your mother’s heart, your father’s bones;<br /> +And like the mandrake comes with groans.</p> +<h2>IX.—THE FOUR REFORMERS.</h2> +<p>Four reformers met under a bramble bush. They were all +agreed the world must be changed. “We must abolish +property,” said one.</p> +<p>“We must abolish marriage,” said the second.</p> +<p>“We must abolish God,” said the third.</p> +<p>“I wish we could abolish work,” said the +fourth.</p> +<p>“Do not let us get beyond practical politics,” +said the first. “The first thing is to reduce men to +a common level.”</p> +<p>“The first thing,” said the second, “is to +give freedom to the sexes.”</p> +<p>“The first thing,” said the third, “is to +find out how to do it.”</p> +<p>“The first step,” said the first, “is to +abolish the Bible.”</p> +<p>“The first thing,” said the second, “is to +abolish the laws.”</p> +<p>“The first thing,” said the third, “is to +abolish mankind.”</p> +<h2>X.—THE MAN AND HIS FRIEND.</h2> +<p>A man quarrelled with his friend.</p> +<p>“I have been much deceived in you,” said the +man.</p> +<p>And the friend made a face at him and went away.</p> +<p>A little after, they both died, and came together before the +great white Justice of the Peace. It began to look black +for the friend, but the man for a while had a clear character and +was getting in good spirits.</p> +<p>“I find here some record of a quarrel,” said the +justice, looking in his notes. “Which of you was in +the wrong?”</p> +<p>“He was,” said the man. “He spoke ill +of me behind my back.”</p> +<p>“Did he so?” said the justice. “And +pray how did he speak about your neighbours?”</p> +<p>“Oh, he had always a nasty tongue,” said the +man.</p> +<p>“And you chose him for your friend?” cried the +justice. “My good fellow, we have no use here for +fools.”</p> +<p>So the man was cast in the pit, and the friend laughed out +aloud in the dark and remained to be tried on other charges.</p> +<h2>XI.—THE READER.</h2> +<p>“I never read such an impious book,” said the +reader, throwing it on the floor.</p> +<p>“You need not hurt me,” said the book; “you +will only get less for me second hand, and I did not write +myself.”</p> +<p>“That is true,” said the reader. “My +quarrel is with your author.”</p> +<p>“Ah, well,” said the book, “you need not buy +his rant.”</p> +<p>“That is true,” said the reader. “But +I thought him such a cheerful writer.”</p> +<p>“I find him so,” said the book.</p> +<p>“You must be differently made from me,” said the +reader.</p> +<p>“Let me tell you a fable,” said the book. +“There were two men wrecked upon a desert island; one of +them made believe he was at home, the other +admitted—”</p> +<p>“Oh, I know your kind of fable,” said the +reader. “They both died.”</p> +<p>“And so they did,” said the book. “No +doubt of that. And everybody else.”</p> +<p>“That is true,” said the reader. “Push +it a little further for this once. And when they were all +dead?”</p> +<p>“They were in God’s hands, the same as +before,” said the book.</p> +<p>“Not much to boast of, by your account,” cried the +reader.</p> +<p>“Who is impious now?” said the book.</p> +<p>And the reader put him on the fire.</p> +<blockquote><p>The coward crouches from the rod,<br /> +And loathes the iron face of God.</p> +</blockquote> +<h2>XII.—THE CITIZEN AND THE TRAVELLER.</h2> +<p>“Look round you,” said the citizen. +“This is the largest market in the world.”</p> +<p>“Oh, surely not,” said the traveller.</p> +<p>“Well, perhaps not the largest,” said the citizen, +“but much the best.”</p> +<p>“You are certainly wrong there,” said the +traveller. “I can tell you . . .”</p> +<p>They buried the stranger at the dusk.</p> +<h2>XIII.—THE DISTINGUISHED STRANGER.</h2> +<p>Once upon a time there came to this earth a visitor from a +neighbouring planet. And he was met at the place of his +descent by a great philosopher, who was to show him +everything.</p> +<p>First of all they came through a wood, and the stranger looked +upon the trees. “Whom have we here?” said +he.</p> +<p>“These are only vegetables,” said the +philosopher. “They are alive, but not at all +interesting.”</p> +<p>“I don’t know about that,” said the +stranger. “They seem to have very good manners. +Do they never speak?”</p> +<p>“They lack the gift,” said the philosopher.</p> +<p>“Yet I think I hear them sing,” said the +other.</p> +<p>“That is only the wind among the leaves,” said the +philosopher. “I will explain to you the theory of +winds: it is very interesting.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said the stranger, “I wish I knew +what they are thinking.”</p> +<p>“They cannot think,” said the philosopher.</p> +<p>“I don’t know about that,” returned the +stranger: and then, laying his hand upon a trunk: “I like +these people,” said he.</p> +<p>“They are not people at all,” said the +philosopher. “Come along.”</p> +<p>Next they came through a meadow where there were cows.</p> +<p>“These are very dirty people,” said the +stranger.</p> +<p>“They are not people at all,” said the +philosopher; and he explained what a cow is in scientific words +which I have forgotten.</p> +<p>“That is all one to me,” said the stranger. +“But why do they never look up?”</p> +<p>“Because they are graminivorous,” said the +philosopher; “and to live upon grass, which is not highly +nutritious, requires so close an attention to business that they +have no time to think, or speak, or look at the scenery, or keep +themselves clean.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said the stranger, “that is one way +to live, no doubt. But I prefer the people with the green +heads.”</p> +<p>Next they came into a city, and the streets were full of men +and women.</p> +<p>“These are very odd people,” said the +stranger.</p> +<p>“They are the people of the greatest nation in the +world,” said the philosopher.</p> +<p>“Are they indeed?” said the stranger. +“They scarcely look so.”</p> +<h2>XIV.—THE CART-HORSES AND THE SADDLE-HORSE.</h2> +<p>Two cart-horses, a gelding and a mare, were brought to Samoa, +and put in the same field with a saddle-horse to run free on the +island. They were rather afraid to go near him, for they +saw he was a saddle-horse, and supposed he would not speak to +them. Now the saddle-horse had never seen creatures so +big. “These must be great chiefs,” thought he, +and he approached them civilly. “Lady and +gentleman,” said he, “I understand you are from the +colonies. I offer you my affectionate compliments, and make +you heartily welcome to the islands.”</p> +<p>The colonials looked at him askance, and consulted with each +other.</p> +<p>“Who can he be?” said the gelding.</p> +<p>“He seems suspiciously civil,” said the mare.</p> +<p>“I do not think he can be much account,” said the +gelding.</p> +<p>“Depend upon it he is only a Kanaka,” said the +mare.</p> +<p>Then they turned to him.</p> +<p>“Go to the devil!” said the gelding.</p> +<p>“I wonder at your impudence, speaking to persons of our +quality!” cried the mare.</p> +<p>The saddle-horse went away by himself. “I was +right,” said he, “they are great chiefs.”</p> +<h2>XV.—THE TADPOLE AND THE FROG.</h2> +<p>“Be ashamed of yourself,” said the frog.</p> +<p>“When I was a tadpole, I had no tail.”</p> +<p>“Just what I thought!” said the tadpole.</p> +<p>“You never were a tadpole.”</p> +<h2>XVI.—SOMETHING IN IT.</h2> +<p>The natives told him many tales. In particular, they +warned him of the house of yellow reeds tied with black sinnet, +how any one who touched it became instantly the prey of +Akaänga, and was handed on to him by Miru the ruddy, and +hocussed with the kava of the dead, and baked in the ovens and +eaten by the eaters of the dead.</p> +<p>“There is nothing in it,” said the missionary.</p> +<p>There was a bay upon that island, a very fair bay to look +upon; but, by the native saying, it was death to bathe +there. “There is nothing in that,” said the +missionary; and he came to the bay, and went swimming. +Presently an eddy took him and bore him towards the reef. +“Oho!” thought the missionary, “it seems there +is something in it after all.” And he swam the +harder, but the eddy carried him away. “I do not care +about this eddy,” said the missionary; and even as he said +it, he was aware of a house raised on piles above the sea; it was +built of yellow reeds, one reed joined with another, and the +whole bound with black sinnet; a ladder led to the door, and all +about the house hung calabashes. He had never seen such a +house, nor yet such calabashes; and the eddy set for the +ladder. “This is singular,” said the +missionary, “but there can be nothing in it.” +And he laid hold of the ladder and went up. It was a fine +house; but there was no man there; and when the missionary looked +back he saw no island, only the heaving of the sea. +“It is strange about the island,” said the +missionary, “but who’s afraid? my stories are the +true ones.” And he laid hold of a calabash, for he +was one that loved curiosities. Now he had no sooner laid +hand upon the calabash than that which he handled, and that which +he saw and stood on, burst like a bubble and was gone; and night +closed upon him, and the waters, and the meshes of the net; and +he wallowed there like a fish.</p> +<p>“A body would think there was something in this,” +said the missionary. “But if these tales are true, I +wonder what about my tales!”</p> +<p>Now the flaming of Akaänga’s torch drew near in the +night; and the misshapen hands groped in the meshes of the net; +and they took the missionary between the finger and the thumb, +and bore him dripping in the night and silence to the place of +the ovens of Miru. And there was Miru, ruddy in the glow of +the ovens; and there sat her four daughters, and made the kava of +the dead; and there sat the comers out of the islands of the +living, dripping and lamenting.</p> +<p>This was a dread place to reach for any of the sons of +men. But of all who ever came there, the missionary was the +most concerned; and, to make things worse, the person next him +was a convert of his own.</p> +<p>“Aha,” said the convert, “so you are here +like your neighbours? And how about all your +stories?”</p> +<p>“It seems,” said the missionary, with bursting +tears, “that there was nothing in them.”</p> +<p>By this the kava of the dead was ready, and the daughters of +Miru began to intone in the old manner of singing. +“Gone are the green islands and the bright sea, the sun and +the moon and the forty million stars, and life and love and +hope. Henceforth is no more, only to sit in the night and +silence, and see your friends devoured; for life is a deceit, and +the bandage is taken from your eyes.”</p> +<p>Now when the singing was done, one of the daughters came with +the bowl. Desire of that kava rose in the +missionary’s bosom; he lusted for it like a swimmer for the +land, or a bridegroom for his bride; and he reached out his hand, +and took the bowl, and would have drunk. And then he +remembered, and put it back.</p> +<p>“Drink!” sang the daughter of Miru.</p> +<p>“There is no kava like the kava of the dead, and to +drink of it once is the reward of living.”</p> +<p>“I thank you. It smells excellent,” said the +missionary. “But I am a blue-ribbon man myself; and +though I am aware there is a difference of opinion even in our +own confession, I have always held kava to be +excluded.”</p> +<p>“What!” cried the convert. “Are you +going to respect a taboo at a time like this? And you were +always so opposed to taboos when you were alive!”</p> +<p>“To other people’s,” said the +missionary. “Never to my own.”</p> +<p>“But yours have all proved wrong,” said the +convert.</p> +<p>“It looks like it,” said the missionary, +“and I can’t help that. No reason why I should +break my word.”</p> +<p>“I never heard the like of this!” cried the +daughter of Miru. “Pray, what do you expect to +gain?”</p> +<p>“That is not the point,” said the +missionary. “I took this pledge for others, I am not +going to break it for myself.”</p> +<p>The daughter of Miru was puzzled; she came and told her +mother, and Miru was vexed; and they went and told +Akaänga. “I don’t know what to do about +this,” said Akaänga; and he came and reasoned with the +missionary.</p> +<p>“But there <i>is</i> such a thing as right and +wrong,” said the missionary; “and your ovens cannot +alter that.”</p> +<p>“Give the kava to the rest,” said Akaänga to +the daughters of Miru. “I must get rid of this +sea-lawyer instantly, or worse will come of it.”</p> +<p>The next moment the missionary came up in the midst of the +sea, and there before him were the palm trees of the +island. He swam to the shore gladly, and landed. Much +matter of thought was in that missionary’s mind.</p> +<p>“I seem to have been misinformed upon some +points,” said he. “Perhaps there is not much in +it, as I supposed; but there is something in it after all. +Let me be glad of that.”</p> +<p>And he rang the bell for service.</p> +<h3>MORAL.</h3> +<p>The sticks break, the stones crumble,<br /> +The eternal altars tilt and tumble,<br /> +Sanctions and tales dislimn like mist<br /> +About the amazed evangelist.<br /> +He stands unshook from age to youth<br /> +Upon one pin-point of the truth.</p> +<h2>XVII.—FAITH, HALF FAITH AND NO FAITH AT ALL.</h2> +<p>In the ancient days there went three men upon pilgrimage; one +was a priest, and one was a virtuous person, and the third was an +old rover with his axe.</p> +<p>As they went, the priest spoke about the grounds of faith.</p> +<p>“We find the proofs of our religion in the works of +nature,” said he, and beat his breast.</p> +<p>“That is true,” said the virtuous person.</p> +<p>“The peacock has a scrannel voice,” said the +priest, “as has been laid down always in our books. +How cheering!” he cried, in a voice like one that +wept. “How comforting!”</p> +<p>“I require no such proofs,” said the virtuous +person.</p> +<p>“Then you have no reasonable faith,” said the +priest.</p> +<p>“Great is the right, and shall prevail!” cried the +virtuous person. “There is loyalty in my soul; be +sure, there is loyalty in the mind of Odin.”</p> +<p>“These are but playings upon words,” returned the +priest. “A sackful of such trash is nothing to the +peacock.”</p> +<p>Just then they passed a country farm, where there was a +peacock seated on a rail; and the bird opened its mouth and sang +with the voice of a nightingale.</p> +<p>“Where are you now?” asked the virtuous +person. “And yet this shakes not me! Great is +the truth, and shall prevail!”</p> +<p>“The devil fly away with that peacock!” said the +priest; and he was downcast for a mile or two.</p> +<p>But presently they came to a shrine, where a Fakeer performed +miracles.</p> +<p>“Ah!” said the priest, “here are the true +grounds of faith. The peacock was but an adminicle. +This is the base of our religion.”</p> +<p>And he beat upon his breast, and groaned like one with +colic.</p> +<p>“Now to me,” said the virtuous person, “all +this is as little to the purpose as the peacock. I believe +because I see the right is great and must prevail; and this +Fakeer might carry on with his conjuring tricks till doomsday, +and it would not play bluff upon a man like me.”</p> +<p>Now at this the Fakeer was so much incensed that his hand +trembled; and, lo! in the midst of a miracle the cards fell from +up his sleeve.</p> +<p>“Where are you now?” asked the virtuous +person. “And yet it shakes not me!”</p> +<p>“The devil fly away with the Fakeer!” cried the +priest. “I really do not see the good of going on +with this pilgrimage.”</p> +<p>“Cheer up!” cried the virtuous person. +“Great is the right, and shall prevail!”</p> +<p>“If you are quite sure it will prevail,” says the +priest.</p> +<p>“I pledge my word for that,” said the virtuous +person.</p> +<p>So the other began to go on again with a better heart.</p> +<p>At last one came running, and told them all was lost: that the +powers of darkness had besieged the Heavenly Mansions, that Odin +was to die, and evil triumph.</p> +<p>“I have been grossly deceived,” cried the virtuous +person.</p> +<p>“All is lost now,” said the priest.</p> +<p>“I wonder if it is too late to make it up with the +devil?” said the virtuous person.</p> +<p>“Oh, I hope not,” said the priest. +“And at any rate we can but try. But what are you +doing with your axe?” says he to the rover.</p> +<p>“I am off to die with Odin,” said the rover.</p> +<h2>XVIII.—THE TOUCHSTONE.</h2> +<p>The King was a man that stood well before the world; his smile +was sweet as clover, but his soul withinsides was as little as a +pea. He had two sons; and the younger son was a boy after +his heart, but the elder was one whom he feared. It befell +one morning that the drum sounded in the dun before it was yet +day; and the King rode with his two sons, and a brave array +behind them. They rode two hours, and came to the foot of a +brown mountain that was very steep.</p> +<p>“Where do we ride?” said the elder son.</p> +<p>“Across this brown mountain,” said the King, and +smiled to himself.</p> +<p>“My father knows what he is doing,” said the +younger son.</p> +<p>And they rode two hours more, and came to the sides of a black +river that was wondrous deep.</p> +<p>“And where do we ride?” asked the elder son.</p> +<p>“Over this black river,” said the King, and smiled +to himself.</p> +<p>“My father knows what he is doing,” said the +younger son.</p> +<p>And they rode all that day, and about the time of the +sunsetting came to the side of a lake, where was a great dun.</p> +<p>“It is here we ride,” said the King; “to a +King’s house, and a priest’s, and a house where you +will learn much.”</p> +<p>At the gates of the dun, the King who was a priest met them; +and he was a grave man, and beside him stood his daughter, and +she was as fair as the morn, and one that smiled and looked +down.</p> +<p>“These are my two sons,” said the first King.</p> +<p>“And here is my daughter,” said the King who was a +priest.</p> +<p>“She is a wonderful fine maid,” said the first +King, “and I like her manner of smiling,”</p> +<p>“They are wonderful well-grown lads,” said the +second, “and I like their gravity.”</p> +<p>And then the two Kings looked at each other, and said, +“The thing may come about”.</p> +<p>And in the meanwhile the two lads looked upon the maid, and +the one grew pale and the other red; and the maid looked upon the +ground smiling.</p> +<p>“Here is the maid that I shall marry,” said the +elder. “For I think she smiled upon me.”</p> +<p>But the younger plucked his father by the sleeve. +“Father,” said he, “a word in your ear. +If I find favour in your sight, might not I wed this maid, for I +think she smiles upon me?”</p> +<p>“A word in yours,” said the King his father. +“Waiting is good hunting, and when the teeth are shut the +tongue is at home.”</p> +<p>Now they were come into the dun, and feasted; and this was a +great house, so that the lads were astonished; and the King that +was a priest sat at the end of the board and was silent, so that +the lads were filled with reverence; and the maid served them +smiling with downcast eyes, so that their hearts were +enlarged.</p> +<p>Before it was day, the elder son arose, and he found the maid +at her weaving, for she was a diligent girl. +“Maid,” quoth he, “I would fain marry +you.”</p> +<p>“You must speak with my father,” said she, and she +looked upon the ground smiling, and became like the rose.</p> +<p>“Her heart is with me,” said the elder son, and he +went down to the lake and sang.</p> +<p>A little after came the younger son. “Maid,” +quoth he, “if our fathers were agreed, I would like well to +marry you.”</p> +<p>“You can speak to my father,” said she; and looked +upon the ground, and smiled and grew like the rose.</p> +<p>“She is a dutiful daughter,” said the younger son, +“she will make an obedient wife.” And then he +thought, “What shall I do?” and he remembered the +King her father was a priest; so he went into the temple, and +sacrificed a weasel and a hare.</p> +<p>Presently the news got about; and the two lads and the first +King were called into the presence of the King who was a priest, +where he sat upon the high seat.</p> +<p>“Little I reck of gear,” said the King who was a +priest, “and little of power. For we live here among +the shadow of things, and the heart is sick of seeing them. +And we stay here in the wind like raiment drying, and the heart +is weary of the wind. But one thing I love, and that is +truth; and for one thing will I give my daughter, and that is the +trial stone. For in the light of that stone the seeming +goes, and the being shows, and all things besides are +worthless. Therefore, lads, if ye would wed my daughter, +out foot, and bring me the stone of touch, for that is the price +of her.”</p> +<p>“A word in your ear,” said the younger son to his +father. “I think we do very well without this +stone.”</p> +<p>“A word in yours,” said the father. “I +am of your way of thinking; but when the teeth are shut the +tongue is at home.” And he smiled to the King that +was a priest.</p> +<p>But the elder son got to his feet, and called the King that +was a priest by the name of father. “For whether I +marry the maid or no, I will call you by that word for the love +of your wisdom; and even now I will ride forth and search the +world for the stone of touch.” So he said farewell, +and rode into the world.</p> +<p>“I think I will go, too,” said the younger son, +“if I can have your leave. For my heart goes out to +the maid.”</p> +<p>“You will ride home with me,” said his father.</p> +<p>So they rode home, and when they came to the dun, the King had +his son into his treasury. “Here,” said he, +“is the touchstone which shows truth; for there is no truth +but plain truth; and if you will look in this, you will see +yourself as you are.”</p> +<p>And the younger son looked in it, and saw his face as it were +the face of a beardless youth, and he was well enough pleased; +for the thing was a piece of a mirror.</p> +<p>“Here is no such great thing to make a work +about,” said he; “but if it will get me the maid I +shall never complain. But what a fool is my brother to ride +into the world, and the thing all the while at home!”</p> +<p>So they rode back to the other dun, and showed the mirror to +the King that was a priest; and when he had looked in it, and +seen himself like a King, and his house like a King’s +house, and all things like themselves, he cried out and blessed +God. “For now I know,” said he, “there is +no truth but the plain truth; and I am a King indeed, although my +heart misgave me.” And he pulled down his temple, and +built a new one; and then the younger son was married to the +maid.</p> +<p>In the meantime the elder son rode into the world to find the +touchstone of the trial of truth; and whenever he came to a place +of habitation, he would ask the men if they had heard of +it. And in every place the men answered: “Not only +have we heard of it, but we alone, of all men, possess the thing +itself, and it hangs in the side of our chimney to this +day”. Then would the elder son be glad, and beg for a +sight of it. And sometimes it would be a piece of mirror, +that showed the seeming of things; and then he would say, +“This can never be, for there should be more than +seeming”. And sometimes it would be a lump of coal, +which showed nothing; and then he would say, “This can +never be, for at least there is the seeming”. And +sometimes it would be a touchstone indeed, beautiful in hue, +adorned with polishing, the light inhabiting its sides; and when +he found this, he would beg the thing, and the persons of that +place would give it him, for all men were very generous of that +gift; so that at the last he had his wallet full of them, and +they chinked together when he rode; and when he halted by the +side of the way he would take them out and try them, till his +head turned like the sails upon a windmill.</p> +<p>“A murrain upon this business!” said the elder +son, “for I perceive no end to it. Here I have the +red, and here the blue and the green; and to me they seem all +excellent, and yet shame each other. A murrain on the +trade! If it were not for the King that is a priest and +whom I have called my father, and if it were not for the fair +maid of the dun that makes my mouth to sing and my heart enlarge, +I would even tumble them all into the salt sea, and go home and +be a King like other folk.”</p> +<p>But he was like the hunter that has seen a stag upon a +mountain, so that the night may fall, and the fire be kindled, +and the lights shine in his house; but desire of that stag is +single in his bosom.</p> +<p>Now after many years the elder son came upon the sides of the +salt sea; and it was night, and a savage place, and the clamour +of the sea was loud. There he was aware of a house, and a +man that sat there by the light of a candle, for he had no +fire. Now the elder son came in to him, and the man gave +him water to drink, for he had no bread; and wagged his head when +he was spoken to, for he had no words.</p> +<p>“Have you the touchstone of truth?” asked the +elder son and when the man had wagged his head, “I might +have known that,” cried the elder son. “I have +here a wallet full of them!” And with that he +laughed, although his heart was weary.</p> +<p>And with that the man laughed too, and with the fuff of his +laughter the candle went out.</p> +<p>“Sleep,” said the man, “for now I think you +have come far enough; and your quest is ended, and my candle is +out.”</p> +<p>Now when the morning came, the man gave him a clear pebble in +his hand, and it had no beauty and no colour; and the elder son +looked upon it scornfully and shook his head; and he went away, +for it seemed a small affair to him.</p> +<p>All that day he rode, and his mind was quiet, and the desire +of the chase allayed. “How if this poor pebble be the +touchstone, after all?” said he: and he got down from his +horse, and emptied forth his wallet by the side of the way. +Now, in the light of each other, all the touchstones lost their +hue and fire, and withered like stars at morning; but in the +light of the pebble, their beauty remained, only the pebble was +the most bright. And the elder son smote upon his +brow. “How if this be the truth?” he cried, +“that all are a little true?” And he took the +pebble, and turned its light upon the heavens, and they deepened +about him like the pit; and he turned it on the hills, and the +hills were cold and rugged, but life ran in their sides so that +his own life bounded; and he turned it on the dust, and he beheld +the dust with joy and terror; and he turned it on himself, and +kneeled down and prayed.</p> +<p>“Now, thanks be to God,” said the elder son, +“I have found the touchstone; and now I may turn my reins, +and ride home to the King and to the maid of the dun that makes +my mouth to sing and my heart enlarge.”</p> +<p>Now when he came to the dun, he saw children playing by the +gate where the King had met him in the old days; and this stayed +his pleasure, for he thought in his heart, “It is here my +children should be playing”. And when he came into +the hall, there was his brother on the high seat and the maid +beside him; and at that his anger rose, for he thought in his +heart, “It is I that should be sitting there, and the maid +beside me”.</p> +<p>“Who are you?” said his brother. “And +what make you in the dun?”</p> +<p>“I am your elder brother,” he replied. +“And I am come to marry the maid, for I have brought the +touchstone of truth.”</p> +<p>Then the younger brother laughed aloud. +“Why,” said he, “I found the touchstone years +ago, and married the maid, and there are our children playing at +the gate.”</p> +<p>Now at this the elder brother grew as gray as the dawn. +“I pray you have dealt justly,” said he, “for I +perceive my life is lost.”</p> +<p>“Justly?” quoth the younger brother. +“It becomes you ill, that are a restless man and a +runagate, to doubt my justice, or the King my father’s, +that are sedentary folk and known in the land.”</p> +<p>“Nay,” said the elder brother, “you have all +else, have patience also; and suffer me to say the world is full +of touchstones, and it appears not easily which is +true.”</p> +<p>“I have no shame of mine,” said the younger +brother. “There it is, and look in it.”</p> +<p>So the elder brother looked in the mirror, and he was sore +amazed; for he was an old man, and his hair was white upon his +head; and he sat down in the hall and wept aloud.</p> +<p>“Now,” said the younger brother, “see what a +fool’s part you have played, that ran over all the world to +seek what was lying in our father’s treasury, and came back +an old carle for the dogs to bark at, and without chick or +child. And I that was dutiful and wise sit here crowned +with virtues and pleasures, and happy in the light of my +hearth.”</p> +<p>“Methinks you have a cruel tongue,” said the elder +brother; and he pulled out the clear pebble and turned its light +on his brother; and behold the man was lying, his soul was shrunk +into the smallness of a pea, and his heart was a bag of little +fears like scorpions, and love was dead in his bosom. And +at that the elder brother cried out aloud, and turned the light +of the pebble on the maid, and, lo! she was but a mask of a +woman, and withinside’s she was quite dead, and she smiled +as a clock ticks, and knew not wherefore.</p> +<p>“Oh, well,” said the elder brother, “I +perceive there is both good and bad. So fare ye all as well +as ye may in the dun; but I will go forth into the world with my +pebble in my pocket.”</p> +<h2>XIX.—THE POOR THING.</h2> +<p>There was a man in the islands who fished for his bare +bellyful, and took his life in his hands to go forth upon the sea +between four planks. But though he had much ado, he was +merry of heart; and the gulls heard him laugh when the spray met +him. And though he had little lore, he was sound of spirit; +and when the fish came to his hook in the mid-waters, he blessed +God without weighing. He was bitter poor in goods and +bitter ugly of countenance, and he had no wife.</p> +<p>It fell in the time of the fishing that the man awoke in his +house about the midst of the afternoon. The fire burned in +the midst, and the smoke went up and the sun came down by the +chimney. And the man was aware of the likeness of one that +warmed his hands at the red peats.</p> +<p>“I greet you,” said the man, “in the name of +God.”</p> +<p>“I greet you,” said he that warmed his hands, +“but not in the name of God, for I am none of His; nor in +the name of Hell, for I am not of Hell. For I am but a +bloodless thing, less than wind and lighter than a sound, and the +wind goes through me like a net, and I am broken by a sound and +shaken by the cold.”</p> +<p>“Be plain with me,” said the man, “and tell +me your name and of your nature.”</p> +<p>“My name,” quoth the other, “is not yet +named, and my nature not yet sure. For I am part of a man; +and I was a part of your fathers, and went out to fish and fight +with them in the ancient days. But now is my turn not yet +come; and I wait until you have a wife, and then shall I be in +your son, and a brave part of him, rejoicing manfully to launch +the boat into the surf, skilful to direct the helm, and a man of +might where the ring closes and the blows are going.”</p> +<p>“This is a marvellous thing to hear,” said the +man; “and if you are indeed to be my son, I fear it will go +ill with you; for I am bitter poor in goods and bitter ugly in +face, and I shall never get me a wife if I live to the age of +eagles.”</p> +<p>“All this hate I come to remedy, my Father,” said +the Poor Thing; “for we must go this night to the little +isle of sheep, where our fathers lie in the dead-cairn, and +to-morrow to the Earl’s Hall, and there shall you find a +wife by my providing.”</p> +<p>So the man rose and put forth his boat at the time of the +sunsetting; and the Poor Thing sat in the prow, and the spray +blew through his bones like snow, and the wind whistled in his +teeth, and the boat dipped not with the weight of him.</p> +<p>“I am fearful to see you, my son,” said the +man. “For methinks you are no thing of +God.”</p> +<p>“It is only the wind that whistles in my teeth,” +said the Poor Thing, “and there is no life in me to keep it +out.”</p> +<p>So they came to the little isle of sheep, where the surf burst +all about it in the midst of the sea, and it was all green with +bracken, and all wet with dew, and the moon enlightened it. +They ran the boat into a cove, and set foot to land; and the man +came heavily behind among the rocks in the deepness of the +bracken, but the Poor Thing went before him like a smoke in the +light of the moon. So they came to the dead-cairn, and they +laid their ears to the stones; and the dead complained +withinsides like a swarm of bees: “Time was that marrow was +in our bones, and strength in our sinews; and the thoughts of our +head were clothed upon with acts and the words of men. But +now are we broken in sunder, and the bonds of our bones are +loosed, and our thoughts lie in the dust.”</p> +<p>Then said the Poor Thing: “Charge them that they give +you the virtue they withheld”.</p> +<p>And the man said: “Bones of my fathers, greeting! for I +am sprung of your loins. And now, behold, I break open the +piled stones of your cairn, and I let in the noon between your +ribs. Count it well done, for it was to be; and give me +what I come seeking in the name of blood and in the name of +God.”</p> +<p>And the spirits of the dead stirred in the cairn like ants; +and they spoke: “You have broken the roof of our cairn and +let in the noon between our ribs; and you have the strength of +the still-living. But what virtue have we? what power? or +what jewel here in the dust with us, that any living man should +covet or receive it? for we are less than nothing. But we +tell you one thing, speaking with many voices like bees, that the +way is plain before all like the grooves of launching: So forth +into life and fear not, for so did we all in the ancient +ages.” And their voices passed away like an eddy in a +river.</p> +<p>“Now,” said the Poor Thing, “they have told +you a lesson, but make them give you a gift. Stoop your +hand among the bones without drawback, and you shall find their +treasure.”</p> +<p>So the man stooped his hand, and the dead laid hold upon it +many and faint like ants; but he shook them off, and behold, what +he brought up in his hand was the shoe of a horse, and it was +rusty.</p> +<p>“It is a thing of no price,” quoth the man, +“for it is rusty.”</p> +<p>“We shall see that,” said the Poor Thing; +“for in my thought it is a good thing to do what our +fathers did, and to keep what they kept without question. +And in my thought one thing is as good as another in this world; +and a shoe of a horse will do.”</p> +<p>Now they got into their boat with the horseshoe, and when the +dawn was come they were aware of the smoke of the Earl’s +town and the bells of the Kirk that beat. So they set foot +to shore; and the man went up to the market among the fishers +over against the palace and the Kirk; and he was bitter poor and +bitter ugly, and he had never a fish to sell, but only a shoe of +a horse in his creel, and it rusty.</p> +<p>“Now,” said the Poor Thing, “do so and so, +and you shall find a wife and I a mother.”</p> +<p>It befell that the Earl’s daughter came forth to go into +the Kirk upon her prayers; and when she saw the poor man stand in +the market with only the shoe of a horse, and it rusty, it came +in her mind it should be a thing of price.</p> +<p>“What is that?” quoth she.</p> +<p>“It is a shoe of a horse,” said the man.</p> +<p>“And what is the use of it?” quoth the +Earl’s daughter.</p> +<p>“It is for no use,” said the man.</p> +<p>“I may not believe that,” said she; “else +why should you carry it?”</p> +<p>“I do so,” said he, “because it was so my +fathers did in the ancient ages; and I have neither a better +reason nor a worse.”</p> +<p>Now the Earl’s daughter could not find it in her mind to +believe him. “Come,” quoth she, “sell me +this, for I am sure it is a thing of price.”</p> +<p>“Nay,” said the man, “the thing is not for +sale.”</p> +<p>“What!” cried the Earl’s daughter. +“Then what make you here in the town’s market, with +the thing in your creel and nought beside?”</p> +<p>“I sit here,” says the man, “to get me a +wife.”</p> +<p>“There is no sense in any of these answers,” +thought the Earl’s daughter; “and I could find it in +my heart to weep.”</p> +<p>By came the Earl upon that; and she called him and told him +all. And when he had heard, he was of his daughter’s +mind that this should be a thing of virtue; and charged the man +to set a price upon the thing, or else be hanged upon the +gallows; and that was near at hand, so that the man could see +it.</p> +<p>“The way of life is straight like the grooves of +launching,” quoth the man. “And if I am to be +hanged let me be hanged.”</p> +<p>“Why!” cried the Earl, “will you set your +neck against a shoe of a horse, and it rusty?”</p> +<p>“In my thought,” said the man, “one thing is +as good as another in this world and a shoe of a horse will +do.”</p> +<p>“This can never be,” thought the Earl; and he +stood and looked upon the man, and bit his beard.</p> +<p>And the man looked up at him and smiled. “It was +so my fathers did in the ancient ages,” quoth he to the +Earl, “and I have neither a better reason nor a +worse.”</p> +<p>“There is no sense in any of this,” thought the +Earl, “and I must be growing old.” So he had +his daughter on one side, and says he: “Many suitors have +you denied, my child. But here is a very strange matter +that a man should cling so to a shoe of a horse, and it rusty; +and that he should offer it like a thing on sale, and yet not +sell it; and that he should sit there seeking a wife. If I +come not to the bottom of this thing, I shall have no more +pleasure in bread; and I can see no way, but either I should hang +or you should marry him.”</p> +<p>“By my troth, but he is bitter ugly,” said the +Earl’s daughter. “How if the gallows be so near +at hand?”</p> +<p>“It was not so,” said the Earl, “that my +fathers did in the ancient ages. I am like the man, and can +give you neither a better reason nor a worse. But do you, +prithee, speak with him again.”</p> +<p>So the Earl’s daughter spoke to the man. “If +you were not so bitter ugly,” quoth she, “my father +the Earl would have us marry.”</p> +<p>“Bitter ugly am I,” said the man, “and you +as fair as May. Bitter ugly I am, and what of that? +It was so my fathers—”</p> +<p>“In the name of God,” said the Earl’s +daughter, “let your fathers be!”</p> +<p>“If I had done that,” said the man, “you had +never been chaffering with me here in the market, nor your father +the Earl watching with the end of his eye.”</p> +<p>“But come,” quoth the Earl’s daughter, +“this is a very strange thing, that you would have me wed +for a shoe of a horse, and it rusty.”</p> +<p>“In my thought,” quoth the man, “one thing +is as good—”</p> +<p>“Oh, spare me that,” said the Earl’s +daughter, “and tell me why I should marry.”<br /> +</p> +<p>“Listen and look,” said the man.</p> +<p>Now the wind blew through the Poor Thing like an infant +crying, so that her heart was melted; and her eyes were unsealed, +and she was aware of the thing as it were a babe unmothered, and +she took it to her arms, and it melted in her arms like the +air.</p> +<p>“Come,” said the man, “behold a vision of +our children, the busy hearth, and the white heads. And let +that suffice, for it is all God offers.”</p> +<p>“I have no delight in it,” said she; but with that +she sighed.</p> +<p>“The ways of life are straight like the grooves of +launching,” said the man; and he took her by the hand.</p> +<p>“And what shall we do with the horseshoe?” quoth +she.</p> +<p>“I will give it to your father,” said the man; +“and he can make a kirk and a mill of it for me.”<br +/> +</p> +<p>It came to pass in time that the Poor Thing was born; but +memory of these matters slept within him, and he knew not that +which he had done. But he was a part of the eldest son; +rejoicing manfully to launch the boat into the surf, skilful to +direct the helm, and a man of might where the ring closes and the +blows are going.</p> +<h2>XX.—THE SONG OF THE MORROW.</h2> +<p>The King of Duntrine had a daughter when he was old, and she +was the fairest King’s daughter between two seas; her hair +was like spun gold, and her eyes like pools in a river; and the +King gave her a castle upon the sea beach, with a terrace, and a +court of the hewn stone, and four towers at the four +corners. Here she dwelt and grew up, and had no care for +the morrow, and no power upon the hour, after the manner of +simple men.</p> +<p>It befell that she walked one day by the beach of the sea, +when it was autumn, and the wind blew from the place of rains; +and upon the one hand of her the sea beat, and upon the other the +dead leaves ran. This was the loneliest beach between two +seas, and strange things had been done there in the ancient +ages. Now the King’s daughter was aware of a crone +that sat upon the beach. The sea foam ran to her feet, and +the dead leaves swarmed about her back, and the rags blew about +her face in the blowing of the wind.</p> +<p>“Now,” said the King’s daughter, and she +named a holy name, “this is the most unhappy old crone +between two seas.”</p> +<p>“Daughter of a King,” said the crone, “you +dwell in a stone house, and your hair is like the gold: but what +is your profit? Life is not long, nor lives strong; and you +live after the way of simple men, and have no thought for the +morrow and no power upon the hour.”</p> +<p>“Thought for the morrow, that I have,” said the +King’s daughter; “but power upon the hour, that have +I not.” And she mused with herself.</p> +<p>Then the crone smote her lean hands one within the other, and +laughed like a sea-gull. “Home!” cried +she. “O daughter of a King, home to your stone house; +for the longing is come upon you now, nor can you live any more +after the manner of simple men. Home, and toil and suffer, +till the gift come that will make you bare, and till the man come +that will bring you care.”</p> +<p>The King’s daughter made no more ado, but she turned +about and went home to her house in silence. And when she +was come into her chamber she called for her nurse.</p> +<p>“Nurse,” said the King’s daughter, +“thought is come upon me for the morrow, so that I can live +no more after the manner of simple men. Tell me what I must +do that I may have power upon the hour.”</p> +<p>Then the nurse moaned like a snow wind. +“Alas!” said she, “that this thing should be; +but the thought is gone into your marrow, nor is there any cure +against the thought. Be it so, then, even as you will; +though power is less than weakness, power shall you have; and +though the thought is colder than winter, yet shall you think it +to an end.”</p> +<p>So the King’s daughter sat in her vaulted chamber in the +masoned house, and she thought upon the thought. Nine years +she sat; and the sea beat upon the terrace, and the gulls cried +about the turrets, and wind crooned in the chimneys of the +house. Nine years she came not abroad, nor tasted the clean +air, neither saw God’s sky. Nine years she sat and +looked neither to the right nor to the left, nor heard speech of +any one, but thought upon the thought of the morrow. And +her nurse fed her in silence, and she took of the food with her +left hand, and ate it without grace.</p> +<p>Now when the nine years were out, it fell dusk in the autumn, +and there came a sound in the wind like a sound of piping. +At that the nurse lifted up her finger in the vaulted house.</p> +<p>“I hear a sound in the wind,” said she, +“that is like the sound of piping.”</p> +<p>“It is but a little sound,” said the King’s +daughter, “but yet is it sound enough for me.”</p> +<p>So they went down in the dusk to the doors of the house, and +along the beach of the sea. And the waves beat upon the one +hand, and upon the other the dead leaves ran; and the clouds +raced in the sky, and the gulls flew widdershins. And when +they came to that part of the beach where strange things had been +done in the ancient ages, lo, there was the crone, and she was +dancing widdershins.</p> +<p>“What makes you dance widdershins, old crone?” +said the King’s daughter; “here upon the bleak beach, +between the waves and the dead leaves?”</p> +<p>“I hear a sound in the wind that is like a sound of +piping,” quoth she. “And it is for that that I +dance widdershins. For the gift comes that will make you +bare, and the man comes that must bring you care. But for +me the morrow is come that I have thought upon, and the hour of +my power.”</p> +<p>“How comes it, crone,” said the King’s +daughter, “that you waver like a rag, and pale like a dead +leaf before my eyes?”</p> +<p>“Because the morrow has come that I have thought upon, +and the hour of my power,” said the crone; and she fell on +the beach, and, lo! she was but stalks of the sea tangle, and +dust of the sea sand, and the sand lice hopped upon the place of +her.</p> +<p>“This is the strangest thing that befell between two +seas,” said the King’s daughter of Duntrine.</p> +<p>But the nurse broke out and moaned like an autumn gale. +“I am weary of the wind,” quoth she; and she bewailed +her day.</p> +<p>The King’s daughter was aware of a man upon the beach; +he went hooded so that none might perceive his face, and a pipe +was underneath his arm. The sound of his pipe was like +singing wasps, and like the wind that sings in windlestraw; and +it took hold upon men’s ears like the crying of gulls.</p> +<p>“Are you the comer?” quoth the King’s +daughter of Duntrine.</p> +<p>“I am the corner,” said he, “and these are +the pipes that a man may hear, and I have power upon the hour, +and this is the song of the morrow.” And he piped the +song of the morrow, and it was as long as years; and the nurse +wept out aloud at the hearing of it.</p> +<p>“This is true,” said the King’s daughter, +“that you pipe the song of the morrow; but that ye have +power upon the hour, how may I know that? Show me a marvel +here upon the beach, between the waves and the dead +leaves.”</p> +<p>And the man said, “Upon whom?”</p> +<p>“Here is my nurse,” quoth the King’s +daughter. “She is weary of the wind. Show me a +good marvel upon her.”</p> +<p>And, lo! the nurse fell upon the beach as it were two handfuls +of dead leaves, and the wind whirled them widdershins, and the +sand lice hopped between.</p> +<p>“It is true,” said the King’s daughter of +Duntrine, “you are the comer, and you have power upon the +hour. Come with me to my stone house.”</p> +<p>So they went by the sea margin, and the man piped the song of +the morrow, and the leaves followed behind them as they went.</p> +<p>Then they sat down together; and the sea beat on the terrace, +and the gulls cried about the towers, and the wind crooned in the +chimneys of the house. Nine years they sat, and every year +when it fell autumn, the man said, “This is the hour, and I +have power in it”; and the daughter of the King said, +“Nay, but pipe me the song of the morrow”. And +he piped it, and it was long like years.</p> +<p>Now when the nine years were gone, the King’s daughter +of Duntrine got her to her feet, like one that remembers; and she +looked about her in the masoned house; and all her servants were +gone; only the man that piped sat upon the terrace with the hand +upon his face; and as he piped the leaves ran about the terrace +and the sea beat along the wall. Then she cried to him with +a great voice, “This is the hour, and let me see the power +in it”. And with that the wind blew off the hood from +the man’s face, and, lo! there was no man there, only the +clothes and the hood and the pipes tumbled one upon another in a +corner of the terrace, and the dead leaves ran over them.</p> +<p>And the King’s daughter of Duntrine got her to that part +of the beach where strange things had been done in the ancient +ages; and there she sat her down. The sea foam ran to her +feet, and the dead leaves swarmed about her back, and the veil +blew about her face in the blowing of the wind. And when +she lifted up her eyes, there was the daughter of a King come +walking on the beach. Her hair was like the spun gold, and +her eyes like pools in a river, and she had no thought for the +morrow and no power upon the hour, after the manner of simple +men.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FABLES***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 343-h.htm or 343-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/4/343 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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