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04 - Anthem - Ayn Rand · Science Fiction Books - Daily

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  Chapter four. Many days passed before we could speak to the Golden One again.
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  But then came the day when the sky turned white, as if the
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  sun had burst and spread its flame in the air, and the fields lay
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  still without breath, and the dust of the road was white in the glow.
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  So the women of the field were weary, and they tarried over their
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  work, and they were far from the road when we came. But the
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  Golden One stood alone at the hedge, waiting. We stopped, and we
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  saw that their eyes, so hard and scornful to the world, were looking
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  at us as if they would obey any word we might speak. And we
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  said, we have given you a name in our thoughts Liberty five three thousand.
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  What is our name? They asked, the Golden One, Nor do
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  we call you equality seven two five two one when we think of you?
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  What name have you given us? They looked straight into our eyes eyes,
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  and they held their head high, and they answered the Unconquered. For a
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  long time we could not speak. Then we said, such thoughts are forbidden,
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  Golden One, But you think such thoughts as these, and you wish
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  us to think them. We looked into their eyes, and we could not
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  lie yes, we whispered, and they smiled, and then we said,
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  our dearest one, do not obey us. They stepped back, and their
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  eyes were wide, and still speak those words. Again. They whispered.
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  Which words we asked, But they did not answer, and we knew it.
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  Our dearest one, we whispered, Never have men said this to women.
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  The head of the Golden One bowed slowly, and they stood still before
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  us, their arms at their sides, the palms of their hands turned to
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  us, as if their body were delivered in submission to our eyes, and
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  we could not speak. Then they raised their head and they spoke simply and
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  gently, as if they wished us to forget some anxiety of their own.
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  The day is hot, they said, and you have worked for many hours,
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  and you must be weary. No, we answered, It is cooler
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  in the fields. They said, and there is water to drink. Are
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  you thirsty, yes, we answered, but we cannot cross the hedge.
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  We shall bring the water to you, they said. Then they knelt by
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  the moat, they gathered water into their two hands. They rose, and
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  they held the water out to our lips. We do not know if we
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  drank that water. We only knew suddenly that their hands were empty, but
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  we were still holding our lips to their hands, and that they knew it,
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  but did not move. We raised our head and stepped back, for
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  we did not understand what had made us do this, and we were afraid
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  to understand it. And the Golden One stepped back and stood, looking upon
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  their hands in wonder. Then the Golden One moved away, even though no
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  others were coming. And they moved, stepping back as if they could not
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  turn from us, their arms bent before them, as if they could not
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  lower their hands. End of Chapter four