THE AVENGER OF PERDONDARIS
I was rowing on the Thames not many days after my return from the Yannand drifting eastwards with the fall of the tide away from WestminsterBridge, near which I had hired my boat. All kinds of things were onthe water with me--sticks drifting, and huge boats--and I waswatching, so absorbed the traffic of that great river that I did notnotice I had come to the City until I looked up and saw that part ofthe Embankment that is nearest to Go-by Street. And then I suddenlywondered what befell Singanee, for there was a stillness about hisivory palace when I passed it by, which made me think that he had notthen returned. And though I had seen him go forth with his terrificspear, and mighty elephant-hunter though he was, yet his was a fearfulquest for I knew that it was none other than to avenge Perdondaris byslaying that monster with the single tusk who had overthrown itsuddenly in a day. So I tied up my boat as soon as I came to somesteps, and landed and left the Embankment, and about the third streetI came to I began to look for the opening of Go-by Street; it is verynarrow, you hardly notice it at first, but there it was, and soon Iwas in the old man's shop. But a young man leaned over the counter.He had no information to give me about the old man--he was sufficientin himself. As to the little old door in the back of the shop, "Weknow nothing about that, sir." So I had to talk to him and humourhim. He had for sale on the counter an instrument for picking up alump of sugar in a new way. He was pleased when I looked at it and hebegan to praise it. I asked him what was the use of it, and he saidthat it was of no use but that it had only been invented a week agoand was quite new and was made of real silver and was being very muchbought. But all the while I was straying towards the back of theshop. When I enquired about the idols there he said that they weresome of the season's novelties and were a choice selection of mascots;and while I made a pretence of selecting one I suddenly saw thewonderful old door. I was through it at once and the youngshop-keeper after me. No one was more surprised than he when he sawthe street of grass and the purple flowers on it; he ran across in hisfrock-coat on to the opposite pavement and only just stopped in time,for the world ended there. Looking downward over the pavement's edgehe saw, instead of accustomed kitchen-windows, white clouds and awide, blue sky. I led him to the old back door of the shop, lookingpale and in need of air, and pushed him lightly and he went limplythrough, for I thought the air was better for him on the side of thestreet that he knew. As soon as the door was shut on that astonishedman I turned to the right and went along the street till I saw thegardens and the cottages, and a little red patch moving in a garden,which I knew to be the old witch wearing her shawl.
"Come for a change of illusion again?" she said.
"I have come from London," I said. "And I want to see Singanee. Iwant to go to his ivory palace over the elfin mountains where theamethyst precipice is."
"Nothing like changing your illusions," she said, "or you grow tired.London's a fine place but one wants to see the elfin mountainssometimes."
"Then you know London?" I said.
"Of course I do," she said. "I can dream as well as you. You are notthe only person that can imagine London." Men were toiling dreadfullyin her garden; it was in the heat of the day and they were diggingwith spades; she suddenly turned from me to beat one of them over theback with a long black stick that she carried. "Even my poets go toLondon sometimes," she said to me.
"Why did you beat that man?" I said.
"To make him work," she answered.
"But he is tired," I said.
"Of course he is," said she.
And I looked and saw that the earth was difficult and dry and thatevery spadeful that the tired men lifted was full of pearls; but somemen sat quite still and watched the butterflies that flitted about thegarden and the old witch did not beat them with her stick. And when Iasked her who the diggers were she said, "These are my poets, they aredigging for pearls." And when I asked her what so many pearls werefor she said to me: "To feed the pigs of course."
"But do the pigs like pearls?" I said to her.
"Of course they don't," she said. And I would have pressed the matterfurther but the old black cat had come out of the cottage and waslooking at me whimsically and saying nothing so that I knew I wasasking silly questions. And I asked instead why some of the poetswere idle and were watching butterflies without being beaten. And shesaid: "The butterflies know where the pearls are hidden and they arewaiting for one to alight above the buried treasure. They cannot diguntil they know where to dig." And all of a sudden a faun came out ofa rhododendron forest and began to dance upon a disk of bronze inwhich a fountain was set; and the sound of his two hooves dancing onthe bronze was beautiful as bells.
"Tea-bell," said the witch; and all the poets threw down their spadesand followed her into the house, and I followed them; but the witchand all of us followed the black cat, who arched his back and liftedhis tail and walked along the garden-path of blue enamelled tiles andthrough the black-thatched porch and the open, oaken door and into alittle room where tea was ready. And in the garden the flowers beganto sing and the fountain tinkled on the disk of bronze. And I learnedthat the fountain came from an otherwise unknown sea, and sometimes itthrew gilded fragments up from the wrecks of unheard-of galleons,foundered in storms of some sea that was nowhere in the world; orbattered to bits in wars waged with we know not whom. Some said thatit was salt because of the sea and others that it was salt withmariners' tears. And some of the poets took large flowers out ofvases and threw their petals all about the room, and others talked twoat a time and other sang. "Why they are only children after all," Isaid.
"Only children!" repeated the old witch who was pouring out cowslipwine.
_"Only_ children," said the old black cat. And every one laughed atme.
"I sincerely apologize," I said. "I did not mean to say it. I didnot intend to insult any one."
"Why he knows nothing at all," said the old black cat. And everybodylaughed till the poets were put to bed.
And then I took one look at the fields we know, and turned to theother window that looks on the elfin mountains. And the eveninglooked like a sapphire. And I saw my way though the fields weregrowing dim, and when I found it I went downstairs and through thewitch's parlour, and out of doors and came that night to the palace ofSinganee.
Lights glittered through every crystal slab--and all wereuncurtained--in the palace of ivory. The sounds were those of atriumphant dance. Very haunting indeed was the booming of a bassoon,and like the dangerous advance of some galloping beast were the blowswielded by a powerful man on the huge, sonourous drum. It seemed tome as I listened that the contest of Singanee with the more thanelephantine destroyer of Perdondaris had already been set to music.And as I walked in the dark along the amethyst precipice I suddenlysaw across it a curved white bridge. It was one ivory tusk. And Iknew it for the triumph of Singanee. I knew at once that this curvedmass of ivory that had been dragged by ropes to bridge the abyss wasthe twin of the ivory gate that once Perdondaris had, and had itselfbeen the destruction of that once famous city--towers and walls andpeople. Already men had begun to hollow it and to carve human figureslife-size along its sides. I walked across it; and half way across,at the bottom of the curve, I met a few of the carvers fast asleep. Onthe opposite cliff by the palace lay the thickest end of the tusk andI came down a ladder which leaned against the tusk for they had notyet carved steps.
Outside the ivory palace it was as I had supposed and the sentry atthe gate slept heavily; and though I asked of him permission to enterthe palace he only muttered a blessing on Singanee and fell asleepagain. It was evident that he had been drinking bak. Inside the ivoryhall I met with servitors who told me that any stranger was welcomethere that night, because they extolled the triumph of Singanee. Andthey offered me bak to drink to commemorate the splendour but I didnot know its power nor whether a little or much prevailed over a manso I said that I was under an oath to a god to drink nothingbeautiful; and they asked me if h
e could not be appeased by a prayer,and I said, "In nowise," and went towards the dance; and theycommiserated me and abused that god bitterly, thinking to please methereby, and then they fell to drinking bak to the glory of Singanee.Outside the curtains that hung before the dance there stood achamberlain and when I told him that though a stranger there, yet Iwas well known to Mung and Sish and Kib, the gods of Pegana, whosesigns I made, he bade me ample welcome. Therefore I questioned himabout my clothes asking if they were not unsuitable to so august anoccasion and he swore by the spear that had slain the destroyer ofPerdondaris that Singanee would think it a shameful thing that anystranger not unknown to the gods should enter the dancing hallunsuitably clad; and therefore he led me to another room and tooksilken robes out of an old sea-chest of black and seamy oak with greencopper hasps that were set with a few pale sapphires, and requested meto choose a suitable robe. And I chose a bright green robe, with anunder-robe of light blue which was seen here and there, and a lightblue sword-belt. I also wore a cloak that was dark purple with twothin strips of dark-blue along the border and a row of large darksapphires sewn along the purple between them; it hung down from myshoulders behind me. Nor would the chamberlain of Singanee let metake any less than this, for he said that not even a stranger, on thatnight, could be allowed to stand in the way of his master'smunificence which he was pleased to exercise in honour of his victory.As soon as I was attired we went to the dancing hall and the firstthing that I saw in that tall, scintillant chamber was the huge formof Singanee standing among the dancers and the heads of the men nohigher than his waist. Bare were the huge arms that had held thespear that had avenged Perdondaris. The chamberlain led me to him andI bowed, and said that I gave thanks to the gods to whom he looked forprotection; and he said that he had heard my gods well spoken of bythose accustomed to pray but this he said only of courtesy, for heknew not whom they were.
Singanee was simply dressed and only wore on his head a plain goldband to keep his hair from falling over his forehead, the ends of thegold were tied in the back with a bow of purple silk. But all hisqueens wore crowns of great magnificence, though whether they werecrowned as the queens of Singanee or whether queens were attractedthere from the thrones of distant lands by the wonder of him and thesplendour I did not know.
All there wore silken robes of brilliant colours and the feet of allwere bare and very shapely for the custom of boots was unknown inthose regions. And when they saw that my big toes were deformed inthe manner of Europeans, turning inwards towards the others instead ofbeing straight, one or two asked sympathetically if an accident hadbefallen me. And rather than tell them truly that deforming out bigtoes was our custom and our pleasure I told them that I was under thecurse of a malignant god at whose feet I had neglected to offerberries in infancy. And to some extent I justified myself, forConvention is a god though his ways are evil; and had I told them thetruth I would not have been understood. They gave me a lady to dancewith who was of marvellous beauty, she gold me that her name wasSaranoora, a princess from the North, who had been sent as tribute tothe palace of Singanee. And partly she danced as Europeans dance andpartly as the fairies of the waste who lure, as legend has it, losttravellers to their doom. And if I could get thirty heathen men out offantastic lands, with their long black hair and little elfin eyes andinstruments of music even unknown to Nebuchadnezzar the King; and if Icould make them play those tunes that I heard in the ivory palace onsome lawn, gentle reader, at evening near your house then you wouldunderstand the beauty of Saranoora and the blaze of light and colourin that stupendous hall and the lithesome movement of those mysteriousqueens that danced round Singanee. Then gentle reader you would begentle no more but the thoughts that run like leopards over the farfree lands would come leaping into your head even were it London, yes,even in London: you would rise up then and beat your hands on the wallwith its pretty pattern of flowers, in the hope that the bricks mightbreak and reveal the way to that palace of ivory by the amethyst gulfwhere the golden dragons are. For there have been men who have burnedprisons down that the prisoners might escape, and even suchincendiaries those dark musicians are who dangerously burn down customthat the pining thoughts may go free. Let your elders have no fear,have no fear. I will not play those tunes in any streets we know. Iwill not bring those strange musicians here, I will only whisper theway to the Lands of Dream, and only a few frail feet shall find theway, and I shall dream alone of the beauty of Saranoora and sometimessigh. We danced on and on at the will of the thirty musicians, butwhen the stars were paling and the wind that knew the dawn wasruffling up the edge of the skirts of night, then Saranoora theprincess of the North led me out into a garden. Dark groves of treeswere there which filled the night with perfume and guarded night'smysteries from the arising dawn. There floated over us, wandering inthat garden, the triumphant melody of those dark musicians, whoseorigin was unguessed even by those that dwelt there and knew the Landsof Dream. For only a moment once sang the tolulu-bird, for thefestival of that night had scared him and he was silent. For only amoment once we heard him singing in some far grove because themusicians rested and our bare feet made no sound; for a moment weheard that bird of which once our nightingale dreamed and handed onthe tradition to his children. And Saranoora told me that they havenamed the bird the Sister of Song; but for the musicians, whopresently played again, she said they had no name, for no one knew whothey were or from what country. Then some one sang quite near us inthe darkness to an instrument of strings telling of Singanee and hisbattle against the monster. And soon we saw him sitting on the groundand singing to the night of that spear-thrust that had found thethumping heart of the destroyer of Perdondaris; and we stopped awhileand asked him who had seen so memorable a struggle and he answerednone but Singanee and he whose tusk had scattered Perdondaris, and nowthe last was dead. And when we asked him if Singanee had told him ofthe struggle he said that that proud hunter would say no word about itand that therefore his mighty deed was given to the poets and becometheir trust forever, and he struck again his instrument of strings andsang on.
When the strings of pearls that hung down from her neck began to gleamall over Saranoora I knew that dawn was near and that that memorablenight was all but gone. And at last we left the garden and came tothe abyss to see the sunrise shine on the amethyst cliff. And at firstit lit up the beauty of Saranoora and then it topped the world andblazed upon those cliffs of amethyst until it dazzled our eyes, and weturned from it and saw the workman going out along the tusk to hollowit and to carve a balustrade of fair professional figures. And thosewho had drunken bak began to awake and to open their dazzled eyes atthe amethyst precipice and to rub them and turn them away. And nowthose wonderful kingdoms of song that the dark musicians establishedall night by magical chords dropped back again to the sway of thatancient silence who ruled before the gods, and the musicians wrappedtheir cloaks about them and covered up their marvellous instrumentsand stole away to the plains; and no one dared ask them whither theywent or why they dwelt there, or what god they served. And the dancestopped and all the queens departed. And then the female slave cameout again by a door and emptied her basket of sapphires down the abyssas I saw her do before. Beautiful Saranoora said that those greatqueens would never wear their sapphires more than once and that everyday at noon a merchant from the mountains sold new ones for thatevening. Yet I suspected that something more than extravagance lay atthe back of that seemingly wasteful act of tossing sapphires into anabyss, for thee were in the depths of it those two dragons of gold ofwhom nothing seemed to be known. And I thought, and I think so still,that Singanee, terrific though he was in war with the elephants, fromwhose tusks he had built his palace, well knew and even feared thosedragons in the abyss, and perhaps valued those priceless jewels lessthan he valued his queens, and that he to whom so many lands paidbeautiful tribute out of their dread of his spear, himself paidtribute to the golden dragons. Whether those dragons had wings I couldnot see; nor, if they had, could I
tell if they could bear that weightof solid gold from the abyss; nor by what paths they could crawl fromit did I know. And I know not what use to a golden dragon shouldsapphires be or a queen. Only it seemed strange to me that so muchwealth of jewels should be thrown by command of a man who had nothingto fear--to fall flashing and changing their colours at dawn into anabyss.
I do not know how long we lingered there watching the sunrise on thosemiles of amethyst. And it is strange that that great and famouswonder did not move me more than it did, but my mind was dazzled bythe fame of it and my eyes were actually dazzled by the blaze, and asoften happens I thought more of little things and remember watchingthe daylight in the solitary sapphire that Saranoora had and that shewore upon her finger in a ring. Then, the dawn wind being all abouther, she said that she was cold and turned back into the ivory palace.And I feared that we might never meet again, for time movesdifferently over the Lands of Dream than over the fields we know; likeocean-currents going different ways and bearing drifting ships. Andat the doorway of the ivory palace I turned to say farewell and yet Ifound no words that were suitable to say. And often now when I standin other lands I stop and think of many things to have said; yet all Isaid was "Perhaps we shall meet again." And she said that it waslikely that we should often meet for that this was a little thing forthe gods to permit not knowing that the gods of the Lands of Dreamhave little power upon the fields we know. Then she went in throughthe doorway. And having exchanged for my own clothes again the raimentthat the chamberlain had given me I turned from the hospitality ofmighty Singanee and set my face towards the fields we know. I crossedthat enormous tusk that had been the end of Perdondaris and met theartists carving it as I went; and some by way of greeting as I passedextolled Singanee, and in answer I gave honour to his name. Daylighthad not yet penetrated wholly to the bottom of the abyss but thedarkness was giving place to a purple haze and I could faintly see onegolden dragon there. Then looking once towards the ivory palace, andseeing no one at the windows, I turned sorrowfully away, and going bythe way that I knew passed through the gap in the mountains and downtheir slopes till I came again in sight of the witch's cottage. Andas I went to the upper window to look for the fields we know, thewitch spoke to me; but I was cross, as one newly waked from sleep, andI would not answer her. Then the cat questioned me as to whom I hadmet, and I answered him that in the fields we know cats kept theirplace and did not speak to man. And then I came downstairs and walkedstraight out of the door, heading for Go-by Street. "You are goingthe wrong way," the witch called through the window; and indeed I hadsooner gone back to the ivory palace again, but I had no right totrespass any further on the hospitality of Singanee and one cannotstay always in the Lands of Dream, and what knowledge had that oldwitch of the call of the fields we know or the little though manysnares that bind our feet therein? So I paid no heed to her, but kepton, and came to Go-by Street. I saw the house with the green doorsome way up the street but thinking that the near end of the streetwas closer to the Embankment where I had left my boat I tried thefirst door I came to, a cottage thatched like the rest, with littlegolden spires along the roof-ridge, and strange birds sitting thereand preening marvellous feathers. The door opened, and to my surpriseI found myself in what seemed like a shepherd's cottage; a man who wassitting on a log of wood in a little low dark room said something tome in an alien language. I muttered something and hurried through tothe street. The house was thatched in front as well as behind. Therewere not golden spires in front, no marvellous birds; but there was nopavement. There was a row of houses, byres, and barns but no othersign of a town. Far off I saw one or two little villages. Yet therewas the river--and no doubt the Thames, for it was the width of theThames and had the curves of it, if you can imagine the Thames in thatparticular spot without a city around it, without any bridges, and theEmbankment fallen in. I saw that there had happened to me permanentlyand in the light of day some such thing as happens to a man, but to achild more often, when he awakes before morning in some strange roomand sees a high, grey window where the door ought to be and unfamiliarobjects in wrong places and though knowing where he is yet knows nothow it can be that the place should look like that.
A flock of sheep came by me presently looking the same as ever, butthe man who led them had a wild, strange look. I spoke to him and hedid not understand me. Then I went down to the river to see if myboat was there and at the very spot where I had left it, in the mud(for the tide was low) I saw a half-buried piece of blackened woodthat might have been part of a boat, but I could not tell. I began tofeel that I had missed the world. It would be a strange thing totravel from far away to see London and not be able to find it amongall the roads that lead there, but I seemed to have travelled in Timeand to have missed it among the centuries. And when as I wanderedover the grassy hills I came on a wattled shrine that was thatchedwith straw and saw a lion in it more worn with time than even theSphinx at Gizeh and when I knew it for one of the four in TrafalgarSquare then I saw that I was stranded far away in the future with manycenturies of treacherous years between me and anything that I hadknown. And then I sat on the grass by the worn paws of the lion tothink out what to do. And I decided to go back through Go-by Streetand, since there was nothing left to keep me any more to the fields weknow, to offer myself as a servant in the palace of Singanee, and tosee again the face of Saranoora and those famous, wonderful,amethystine dawns upon the abyss where the golden dragons play. And Istayed no longer to look for remains of the ruins of London; for thereis little pleasure in seeing wonderful things if there is no one atall to hear of them and to wonder. So I returned at once to Go-byStreet, the little row of huts, and saw no other record that Londonhad been except that one stone lion. I went to the right house thistime. It was very much altered and more like one of those huts thatone sees on Salisbury plain than a shop in the city of London, but Ifound it by counting the houses in the street for it was still a rowof houses though pavement and city were gone. And it was still a shop.A very different shop to the one I knew, but things were for salethere--shepherd's crooks, food, and rude axes. And a man with longhair was there who was clad in skins. I did not speak to him for I didnot know his language. He said to me something that sounded like"Everkike." It conveyed no meaning to me; but when he looked towardsone of his buns, light suddenly dawned in my mind, and I knew thatEngland was even England still and that still she was not conquered,and that though they had tired of London they still held to theirland; for the words that the man had said were, "Av er kike," and thenI knew that that very language that was carried to distant lands bythe old, triumphant cockney was spoken still in his birthplace andthat neither his politics nor his enemies had destroyed him after allthese thousand years. I had always disliked the Cockney dialect--andwith the arrogance of the Irishman who hears from rich and poor theEnglish of the splendour of Elizabeth; and yet when I heard thosewords my eyes felt sore as with impending tears--it should beremembered how far away I was. I think I was silent for a littlewhile. Suddenly I saw that the man who kept the shop was asleep.That habit was strangely like the ways of a man who if he were thenalive would be (if I could judge from the time-worn look of the lion)over a thousand years old. But then how old was I? It is perfectlyclear that Time moves over the Lands of Dream swifter or slower thanover the fields we know. For the dead, and the long dead, live againin our dreams; and a dreamer passes through the events of days in asingle moment of the Town-Hall's clock. Yet logic did not aid me andmy mind was puzzled. While the old man slept--and strangely like inface he was to the old man who had shown me first the little, oldbackdoor--I went to the far end of his wattled shop. There was a doorof a sort on leather hinges. I pushed it open and there I was againunder the notice-board at the back of the shop, at least the back ofGo-by Street had not changed. Fantastic and remote though this grassstreet was with its purple flowers and the golden spires, and theworld ending at its opposite pavement, yet I breathed more happily tosee something again
that I had seen before. I thought I had lostforever the world I knew, and now that I was at the back of Go-byStreet again I felt the loss less than when I was standing wherefamiliar things ought to be; and I turned my mind to what was left mein the vast Lands of Dream and thought of Saranoora. And when I sawthe cottages again I felt less lonely even at the thought of the catthough he generally laughed at the things I said. And the first thingthat I saw when I saw the witch was that I had lost the world and wasgoing back for the rest of my days to the palace of Singanee. And thefirst thing that she said was: "Why! You've been through the wrongdoor," quite kindly for she saw how unhappy I looked. And I said,"Yes, but it's all the same street. The whole street's altered andLondon's gone and the people I used to know and the houses I used torest in, and everything; and I'm tired."
"What did you want to go through the wrong door for?" she said.
"O, that made no difference," I said.
"O, didn't it?" she said in a contradictory way.
"Well I wanted to get to the near end of the street so as to find myboat quickly by the Embankment. And now my boat, and the Embankmentand--and----."
"Some people are always in such a hurry," said the old black cat. AndI felt too unhappy to be angry and I said nothing more.
And the old witch said, "Now which way do you want to go?" and she wastalking rather like a nurse to a small child. And I said, "I havenowhere to go."
And she said, "Would you rather go home or go to the ivory palace ofSinganee." And I said, "I've got a headache, and I don't want to goanywhere, and I'm tired of the Lands of Dream."
"Then suppose you try going in through the right door," she said.
"That's no good," I said. "Everyone's dead and gone, and they'reselling buns there."
"What do you know about Time?" she said.
"Nothing," answered the old, black cat, though nobody spoke to him.
"Run along," said the old witch.
So I turned and trudged away to Go-by Street again. I was very tired."What does he know about anything?" said the old black cat behind me.I knew what he was going to say next. He waited a moment and thensaid, "Nothing." When I looked over my shoulder he was strutting backto the cottage. And when I got to Go-by Street I listlessly openedthe door through which I had just now come. I saw no use in doing it,I just did wearily as I was told. And the moment I got inside I sawit was just the same as of old, and the sleepy old man was there whosold idols. And I bought a vulgar thing that I did not want, for thesheer joy of seeing accustomed things. And when I turned from Go-byStreet which was just the same as ever, the first thing that I saw wasa taximeter running into a hansom cab. And I took off my hat andcheered. And I went to the Embankment and there was my boat, and thestately river full of dirty, accustomed things. And I rowed back andbought a penny paper, (I had been away it seemed for one day) and Iread it from cover to cover--patent remedies for incurable illnessesand all--and I determined to walk, as soon as I was rested, in all thestreets that I knew and to call on all the people that I had ever met,and to be content for long with the fields we know.
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