Latest / The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories by Mark Twain / Eve's Diary
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- 0:00Speaker 1: Section thirty two of The thirty thousand Dollar Bequest and
- 0:03Speaker 1: Other Stories. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
- 0:08Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
- 0:12Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. The thirty thousand Dollar Bequest
- 0:16Speaker 1: and Other Stories by Mark Twain, Section thirty two Eve's Diary,
- 0:23Speaker 1: translated from the original Saturday, I am almost a whole
- 0:28Speaker 1: day old now. I arrived yesterday. That is as it
- 0:31Speaker 1: seems to me, and it must be so, for if
- 0:35Speaker 1: there was a day before yesterday, I was not there
- 0:37Speaker 1: when it happened, or I should remember it. It could be,
- 0:41Speaker 1: of course, that it did happen, and that I was
- 0:43Speaker 1: not noticing very well. I will be very watchful now,
- 0:48Speaker 1: and if any day before yesterday's happen, I will make
- 0:50Speaker 1: a note of it. It will be best to start
- 0:53Speaker 1: right and not let the record get confused. For some
- 0:56Speaker 1: instinct tells me that these details are going to be
- 0:59Speaker 1: important to the historian some day. For I feel like
- 1:03Speaker 1: an experiment. I feel exactly like an experiment. It would
- 1:07Speaker 1: be impossible for a person to feel more like an
- 1:10Speaker 1: experiment than I do, and so I am coming to
- 1:13Speaker 1: feel convinced that that is what I am. An experiment,
- 1:18Speaker 1: just an experiment and nothing more. Then if I am
- 1:21Speaker 1: an experiment, am I the whole of it? No? I
- 1:25Speaker 1: think not. I think the rest of it is part
- 1:27Speaker 1: of it. I am the main part of it, but
- 1:30Speaker 1: I think the rest of it has its share in
- 1:33Speaker 1: the matter. Is my position assured or do I have
- 1:36Speaker 1: to watch it and take care of it? The latter.
- 1:39Speaker 1: Perhaps some instinct tells me that eternal vigilance is the
- 1:43Speaker 1: price of supremacy. That is a good phrase, I think
- 1:47Speaker 1: for one so young. Everything looks better today than it
- 1:51Speaker 1: did yesterday. In the rush of finishing up yesterday, the
- 1:55Speaker 1: mountains were left in a ragged condition, and some of
- 1:58Speaker 1: the plains were so cluttered with rubbish and remnence that
- 2:02Speaker 1: the aspects were quite distressing. Noble and beautiful works of
- 2:06Speaker 1: art should not be subjected to haste, and this majestic
- 2:10Speaker 1: New World is indeed a most noble and beautiful work,
- 2:14Speaker 1: and certainly marvelously near to being perfect, notwithstanding the shortness
- 2:19Speaker 1: of the time. There are too many stars in some
- 2:22Speaker 1: places and not enough in others, but that can be
- 2:25Speaker 1: remedied presently, No doubt the moon got loose last night
- 2:29Speaker 1: and slid down and fell out of the scheme, a
- 2:32Speaker 1: very great loss. It breaks my heart to think of it.
- 2:36Speaker 1: There isn't another thing among the ornaments and decorations that
- 2:40Speaker 1: is comparable to it. For beauty and finish. It should
- 2:43Speaker 1: have been fastened better if we can only get it
- 2:46Speaker 1: back again. But of course there is no telling where
- 2:50Speaker 1: it went to, and besides, whoever gets it will hide it.
- 2:54Speaker 1: I know it because I would do it myself. I
- 2:57Speaker 1: believe I can be honest in all other matters. But
- 3:00Speaker 1: I already begin to realize that the core and center
- 3:03Speaker 1: of my nature is love of the beautiful, a passion
- 3:06Speaker 1: for the beautiful, and that it would not be safe
- 3:09Speaker 1: to trust me with a moon that belonged to another
- 3:12Speaker 1: person and that person didn't know I had it. I
- 3:15Speaker 1: could give up a moon that I found in the
- 3:17Speaker 1: daytime because I should be afraid some one was looking.
- 3:21Speaker 1: But if I found it in the dark, I am
- 3:23Speaker 1: sure I should find some kind of an excuse for
- 3:26Speaker 1: not saying anything about it. For I do love moons.
- 3:30Speaker 1: They are so pretty and so romantic. I wish we
- 3:33Speaker 1: had five or six. I would never go to bed,
- 3:37Speaker 1: I should never get tired lying on the moss bank
- 3:40Speaker 1: and looking up at them. Stars are good too. I
- 3:44Speaker 1: wish I could get some to put in my hair,
- 3:46Speaker 1: but I suppose I never can. You would be surprised
- 3:50Speaker 1: to find how far off they are, for they do
- 3:52Speaker 1: not look it when they first showed last night. I
- 3:56Speaker 1: tried to knock some down with a pole, but it
- 3:58Speaker 1: didn't reach, which astonished me. Then I tried clods till
- 4:03Speaker 1: I was all tired out, but I never got one.
- 4:06Speaker 1: It was because I am left handed and cannot throw good.
- 4:10Speaker 1: Even when I aimed at the one, I wasn't after
- 4:13Speaker 1: I couldn't hit the other one, though I did make
- 4:16Speaker 1: some close shots, for I saw the black blot of
- 4:18Speaker 1: the clod sail right into the midst of the golden
- 4:21Speaker 1: clusters forty or fifty times, just barely missing them. And
- 4:25Speaker 1: if I could have held out a little longer, maybe
- 4:28Speaker 1: I could have got one. So I cried a little,
- 4:31Speaker 1: which was natural, I suppose, for one of my age.
- 4:34Speaker 1: And after I was rested, I got a basket and
- 4:37Speaker 1: started for a place on the extreme rim of the
- 4:40Speaker 1: circle where the stars were close to the ground and
- 4:43Speaker 1: I could get them with my hands, which would be
- 4:46Speaker 1: better anyway, because I could gather them tenderly then and
- 4:49Speaker 1: not break them. But it was farther than I thought,
- 4:53Speaker 1: and at last I had to give it up. I
- 4:55Speaker 1: was so tired I couldn't drag my feet another step,
- 4:58Speaker 1: and besides they sore and hurt me very much. I
- 5:03Speaker 1: couldn't get back home. It was too far in turning cold.
- 5:07Speaker 1: But I found some tigers and nestled in among them,
- 5:10Speaker 1: and was most adorably comfortable. And their breath was sweet
- 5:14Speaker 1: and pleasant because they live on strawberries. I had never
- 5:17Speaker 1: seen a tiger before, but I knew them in a
- 5:20Speaker 1: minute by the stripes. If I could have one of
- 5:23Speaker 1: those skins, it would make a lovely gown. To day,
- 5:27Speaker 1: I am getting better ideas about distances. I was so
- 5:31Speaker 1: eager to get hold of every pretty thing that I
- 5:33Speaker 1: giddily grabbed for it, sometimes when it was too far off,
- 5:37Speaker 1: and sometimes when it was about six inches away but
- 5:40Speaker 1: seemed a foot alas with thorns between, I learned the lesson.
- 5:46Speaker 1: Also I made an axiom, all out of my own head,
- 5:49Speaker 1: my very first one, the scratched experiment shuns the thorn.
- 5:55Speaker 1: I think it is a very good one for one
- 5:57Speaker 1: so young. I followed the other experiment around yesterday afternoon
- 6:02Speaker 1: at a distance to see what it might be for
- 6:05Speaker 1: if I could, but I was not able to make out.
- 6:09Speaker 1: I think it is a man. I had never seen
- 6:11Speaker 1: a man, but it looked like one, and I feel
- 6:14Speaker 1: sure that that is what it is. I realized that
- 6:17Speaker 1: I feel more curiosity about it than about any of
- 6:20Speaker 1: the other reptiles if it is a reptile, and I
- 6:24Speaker 1: suppose it is, for it has frowsy hair and blue
- 6:27Speaker 1: eyes and looks like a reptile. It has no hips.
- 6:31Speaker 1: It tapers like a carrot. When it stands, it spreads
- 6:34Speaker 1: itself apart like a derrick. So I think it is
- 6:37Speaker 1: a reptile, though it may be architecture. I was afraid
- 6:41Speaker 1: of it at first, and started to run every time
- 6:44Speaker 1: it turned around, for I thought it was going to
- 6:46Speaker 1: chase me. But by and by I found it was
- 6:49Speaker 1: only trying to get away, So after that I was
- 6:52Speaker 1: not timid any more, but tracked it along several hours,
- 6:56Speaker 1: about twenty yards behind, which made it nervous and unhappy.
- 7:01Speaker 1: At last, it was a good deal. Worried and climbed
- 7:04Speaker 1: a tree. I waited a good while, then gave it
- 7:07Speaker 1: up and went home to day the same thing over.
- 7:11Speaker 1: I've got it up the tree again. Sunday it is
- 7:15Speaker 1: up there yet, resting apparently, But it is a subterfuge. Sunday,
- 7:20Speaker 1: isn't the day of rest? Saturday is appointed for that.
- 7:24Speaker 1: It looks to me like a creature that is more
- 7:27Speaker 1: interested in resting than in anything else. It would tire
- 7:31Speaker 1: me to rest so much. It tires me just to
- 7:34Speaker 1: sit around and watch the tree. I do wonder what
- 7:37Speaker 1: it is, for I never see it do anything. They
- 7:41Speaker 1: returned the moon last night, and I was so happy.
- 7:45Speaker 1: I think it is very honest of them. It slid
- 7:48Speaker 1: down and fell off again, but I was not distressed.
- 7:51Speaker 1: There is no need to worry when one has that
- 7:54Speaker 1: kind of neighbors. They will fetch it back. I wish
- 7:57Speaker 1: I could do something to show my appreciation. I would
- 8:01Speaker 1: like to send them some stars, for we have more
- 8:03Speaker 1: than we can use. I mean, I not we, for
- 8:07Speaker 1: I can see that the reptile cares nothing for such things.
- 8:11Speaker 1: It has low tastes and is not kind. When I
- 8:15Speaker 1: went there yesterday evening in the gloaming, it had crept
- 8:18Speaker 1: down and was trying to catch the little speckled fishes
- 8:21Speaker 1: that lay in the pool. And I had to clot
- 8:23Speaker 1: it to make it go up the tree again and
- 8:25Speaker 1: let them alone. I wonder if that is what it
- 8:29Speaker 1: is for. Hasn't it any heart? Hasn't it any compassion
- 8:33Speaker 1: for those little creatures? Can it be that it was
- 8:36Speaker 1: designed and manufactured for such ungentle work? It has the
- 8:40Speaker 1: look of it. One of the clods took it back
- 8:43Speaker 1: of the ear and it used language. It gave me
- 8:47Speaker 1: a thrill, for it was the first time I had
- 8:49Speaker 1: ever heard speech except my own. I did not understand
- 8:53Speaker 1: the words, but they seemed expressive. When I found it
- 8:57Speaker 1: could talk, I felt a new interest in it, for
- 8:59Speaker 1: I love to talk. I talk all day and in
- 9:03Speaker 1: my sleep too, and I am very interesting. But if
- 9:06Speaker 1: I had another to talk to, I could be twice
- 9:09Speaker 1: as interesting and would never stop if desired. If this
- 9:14Speaker 1: reptile is a man, it isn't an it is it?
- 9:17Speaker 1: That wouldn't be grammatical, would it? I think it would
- 9:21Speaker 1: be he? I think so. In that case, one would
- 9:24Speaker 1: parse it thus nominative, he, dative, him, possessive his'n Well,
- 9:31Speaker 1: I will consider it a man and call it he
- 9:33Speaker 1: until it turns out to be something else. This will
- 9:36Speaker 1: be handier than having so many uncertainties. Next week Sunday.
- 9:43Speaker 1: All the week I tagged around after him and tried
- 9:45Speaker 1: to get acquainted. I had to do the talking because
- 9:49Speaker 1: he was shy, but I didn't mind it. He seemed
- 9:52Speaker 1: pleased to have me around, and I used the sociable
- 9:55Speaker 1: we a good deal because it seemed to flatter him
- 9:58Speaker 1: to be included. Wednesday, we are getting along very well
- 10:04Speaker 1: indeed now and getting better and better acquainted. He does
- 10:07Speaker 1: not try to avoid me any more, which is a
- 10:10Speaker 1: good sign and shows that he likes to have me
- 10:13Speaker 1: with him. That pleases me, and I study to be
- 10:16Speaker 1: useful to him in every way I can so as
- 10:19Speaker 1: to increase his regard. During the last day or two,
- 10:23Speaker 1: I have taken all the work of naming things off
- 10:26Speaker 1: his hands, and this has been a great relief to him,
- 10:29Speaker 1: for he has no gift in that line and is
- 10:31Speaker 1: evidently very grateful. He can't think of a rational name
- 10:36Speaker 1: to save him, but I do not let him see
- 10:38Speaker 1: that I am aware of his defect. Whenever a new
- 10:41Speaker 1: creature comes along, I name it before he has time
- 10:44Speaker 1: to expose himself by an awkward silence. In this way
- 10:48Speaker 1: I have saved him many embarrassments. I have no defect
- 10:52Speaker 1: like this. The minute I set eyes on an animal,
- 10:56Speaker 1: I know what it is. I don't have to reflect
- 10:59Speaker 1: a moment. The right name comes out instantly, just as
- 11:02Speaker 1: if it were an inspiration, as no doubt it is
- 11:05Speaker 1: for I am sure it wasn't in me half a
- 11:08Speaker 1: minute before. I seemed to know, just by the shape
- 11:11Speaker 1: of the creature and the way it acts, what animal
- 11:14Speaker 1: it is. When the dodo came along, he thought it
- 11:17Speaker 1: was a wild cat. I saw it in his eye,
- 11:21Speaker 1: but I saved him, and I was careful not to
- 11:24Speaker 1: do it in a way that could hurt his pride.
- 11:27Speaker 1: I just spoke up in a quite natural way of
- 11:29Speaker 1: pleasing surprise, and not as if I was dreaming of
- 11:32Speaker 1: conveying information, and said, well, I do declare if there
- 11:37Speaker 1: isn't the dodo, I explained, without seeming to be explaining
- 11:41Speaker 1: how I know it for a dodo. And although I
- 11:44Speaker 1: thought maybe he was a little piqued that I knew
- 11:46Speaker 1: the creature when he didn't, it was quite evident that
- 11:49Speaker 1: he admired me. That was very agreeable, and I thought
- 11:54Speaker 1: of it more than once with gratification before I slept.
- 11:58Speaker 1: How little a thing can make us happy when we
- 12:00Speaker 1: feel that we have earned it. Thursday my first sorrow.
- 12:07Speaker 1: Yesterday he avoided me and seemed to wish I would
- 12:09Speaker 1: not talk to him. I could not believe it, and
- 12:13Speaker 1: thought there was some mistake, for I loved to be
- 12:15Speaker 1: with him and loved to hear him talk, and so
- 12:18Speaker 1: how could it be that he could feel unkind toward
- 12:21Speaker 1: me when I had not done anything? But at last
- 12:24Speaker 1: it seemed true. So I went away and sat lonely
- 12:27Speaker 1: in the place where I first saw him the morning
- 12:30Speaker 1: that we were made. And I did not know what
- 12:32Speaker 1: he was and was indifferent about him. But now it
- 12:36Speaker 1: was a mournful place, and every little thing spoke of him,
- 12:40Speaker 1: and my heart was very sore. I did not know
- 12:43Speaker 1: why very clearly, for it was a new feeling. I
- 12:47Speaker 1: had not experienced it before, and it was all a mystery,
- 12:50Speaker 1: and I could not make it out. But when night came,
- 12:54Speaker 1: I could not bear the lonesomeness and went to the
- 12:57Speaker 1: new shelter which he has built, to ask him what
- 12:59Speaker 1: I had done that was wrong, and how I could
- 13:02Speaker 1: mend it and get back his kindness again. But he
- 13:05Speaker 1: put me out in the rain, and it was my
- 13:07Speaker 1: first sorrow. Sunday. It is pleasant again now, and I
- 13:13Speaker 1: am happy. But those were heavy days. I do not
- 13:17Speaker 1: think of them when I can help it. I tried
- 13:20Speaker 1: to get him some of those apples, but I cannot
- 13:22Speaker 1: learn to throw straight. I failed, but I think the
- 13:26Speaker 1: good intention pleased him. They are forbidden, and he says,
- 13:29Speaker 1: I shall come to harm. But so I come to
- 13:32Speaker 1: harm through pleasing him. Why shall I care for that harm? Monday?
- 13:39Speaker 1: This morning I told him my name, hoping it would
- 13:41Speaker 1: interest him, But he did not care for it. It
- 13:45Speaker 1: is strange. If he should tell me his name, I
- 13:47Speaker 1: would care. I think it would be pleasanter in my
- 13:50Speaker 1: ears than any other sound. He talks very little. Perhaps
- 13:55Speaker 1: it is because he is not bright and is sensitive
- 13:58Speaker 1: about it and wishes to conceal feel it. It is
- 14:01Speaker 1: such a pity that he should feel so, for brightness
- 14:04Speaker 1: is nothing. It is in the heart that the values lie.
- 14:08Speaker 1: I wish I could make him understand that a loving,
- 14:11Speaker 1: good heart is riches and riches enough, and that without it,
- 14:15Speaker 1: intellect is poverty. Although he talks so little, he has
- 14:19Speaker 1: quite a considerable vocabulary. This morning he used a surprisingly
- 14:24Speaker 1: good word. He evidently recognized himself that it was a
- 14:28Speaker 1: good one, for he worked it in twice afterward. Casually.
- 14:32Speaker 1: It was good casual art. Still it showed that he
- 14:36Speaker 1: possesses a certain quality of perception, without a doubt, that
- 14:40Speaker 1: seed can be made to grow if cultivated. Where did
- 14:43Speaker 1: he get that word? I do not think I have
- 14:46Speaker 1: ever used it. No, he took no interest in my name.
- 14:50Speaker 1: I tried to hide my disappointment, but I suppose I
- 14:53Speaker 1: did not succeed. I went away and sat on the
- 14:56Speaker 1: moss bank with my feet in the water. It is
- 14:59Speaker 1: where I go when I hunger for companionship, someone to
- 15:03Speaker 1: look at, someone to talk to. It is not enough
- 15:06Speaker 1: that lovely white body painted there in the pool, But
- 15:10Speaker 1: it is something, and something is better than utter loneliness.
- 15:14Speaker 1: It talks when I talk. It is sad. When I
- 15:17Speaker 1: am sad, it comforts me with its sympathy. It says,
- 15:21Speaker 1: do not be downhearted, you poor friendless girl. I will
- 15:25Speaker 1: be your friend. It is a good friend to me,
- 15:28Speaker 1: and my only one. It is my sister. That first
- 15:32Speaker 1: time that she forsook me. Ah, I shall never forget that,
- 15:36Speaker 1: never never my heart was lead in my body. I
- 15:41Speaker 1: said she was all I had, And now she is gone.
- 15:45Speaker 1: In my despair. I said, break my heart, I cannot
- 15:48Speaker 1: bear my life anymore, and hid my face in my hands,
- 15:52Speaker 1: and there was no solace for me. And when I
- 15:55Speaker 1: took them away after a little there she was again
- 15:58Speaker 1: white and shining in beautiful and I sprang into her arms.
- 16:03Speaker 1: That was perfect happiness. I had known happiness before, but
- 16:07Speaker 1: it was not like this, which was ecstasy. I never
- 16:11Speaker 1: doubted her afterward. Sometimes she stayed away, maybe an hour,
- 16:16Speaker 1: maybe almost the whole day, but I waited and did
- 16:19Speaker 1: not doubt. I said, she is busy, or she has
- 16:23Speaker 1: gone on a journey, but she will come. And it
- 16:26Speaker 1: was so she always did. At night. She would not
- 16:30Speaker 1: come if it was dark, for she was a timid
- 16:32Speaker 1: little thing, But if there was a moon, she would come.
- 16:36Speaker 1: I am not afraid of the dark. But she is
- 16:38Speaker 1: younger than I am. She was born after I was
- 16:42Speaker 1: many and many are the visits I have paid her.
- 16:45Speaker 1: She is my comfort and my refuge when my life
- 16:48Speaker 1: is hard, and it is mainly that Tuesday. All the
- 16:54Speaker 1: morning I was at work improving the estate, and I
- 16:57Speaker 1: purposely kept away from him, in the hope that he
- 16:59Speaker 1: would get lonely and come. But he did not. At noon,
- 17:04Speaker 1: I stopped for the day and took my recreation by
- 17:07Speaker 1: flitting all about with the bees and the butterflies, and
- 17:10Speaker 1: reveling in the flowers, those beautiful creatures that catch the
- 17:13Speaker 1: smile of God out of the sky and preserve it.
- 17:17Speaker 1: I gathered them and made them into wreaths and garlands,
- 17:20Speaker 1: and clothed myself in them while I ate my luncheon apples.
- 17:24Speaker 1: Of course, then I sat in the shade and wished
- 17:27Speaker 1: and waited. But he did not come. But no matter,
- 17:32Speaker 1: nothing would have come of it, for he does not
- 17:34Speaker 1: care for flowers. He called them rubbish, and cannot tell
- 17:38Speaker 1: one from another, and thinks it is superior to feel
- 17:42Speaker 1: like that. He does not care for me. He does
- 17:45Speaker 1: not care for flowers. He does not care for the
- 17:48Speaker 1: painted sky at even tide. Is there anything he does
- 17:52Speaker 1: care for except building shacks to coop himself up in
- 17:55Speaker 1: from the good, clean rain, and thumping the melons, and
- 17:58Speaker 1: sampling the grapes and fingering the fruit on the trees.
- 18:02Speaker 1: To see how those properties are coming along. I laid
- 18:05Speaker 1: a dry stick on the ground and tried to bore
- 18:08Speaker 1: a hole in it with another one, in order to
- 18:10Speaker 1: carry out a scheme that I had and soon I
- 18:13Speaker 1: got an awful fright. A thin, transparent, bluish film rose
- 18:17Speaker 1: out of the hole, and I dropped everything and ran.
- 18:21Speaker 1: I thought it was a spirit, and I was so frightened.
- 18:25Speaker 1: But I looked back and it was not coming. So
- 18:28Speaker 1: I leaned against a rock and rested and panted, and
- 18:31Speaker 1: let my limbs go on trembling until they got steady again.
- 18:35Speaker 1: Then I crept warily back, alert, watching and ready to
- 18:39Speaker 1: fly if there was occasion. And when I was come near,
- 18:43Speaker 1: I parted the branches of a rose bush and peeped through,
- 18:46Speaker 1: wishing the man was about. I was looking so cunning
- 18:49Speaker 1: and pretty, But the sprite was gone. I went there
- 18:53Speaker 1: and there was a pinch of delicate pink dust in
- 18:56Speaker 1: the hole. I put my finger in to feel it,
- 18:59Speaker 1: and said, and took it out again. It was a
- 19:02Speaker 1: cruel pain. I put my finger in my mouth, and
- 19:06Speaker 1: by standing first on one foot and then the other,
- 19:08Speaker 1: and grunting, I presently eased my misery. Then I was
- 19:12Speaker 1: full of interest and began to examine. I was curious
- 19:17Speaker 1: to know what the pink dust was. Suddenly the name
- 19:20Speaker 1: of it occurred to me, though I had never heard
- 19:22Speaker 1: of it before. It was fire. I was as certain
- 19:26Speaker 1: of it as a person could be of anything in
- 19:28Speaker 1: the world, So without hesitation, I named it that fire.
- 19:34Speaker 1: I had created something that didn't exist before. I had
- 19:38Speaker 1: added a new thing to the world's uncountable properties. I
- 19:42Speaker 1: realized this and was proud of my achievement and was
- 19:45Speaker 1: going to run and find him and tell him about it,
- 19:48Speaker 1: thinking to raise myself in his esteem. But I reflected
- 19:52Speaker 1: and did not do it. No, he would not care
- 19:55Speaker 1: for it. He would ask what it was good for,
- 19:58Speaker 1: and what could I answer for if it was not
- 20:01Speaker 1: good for something but only beautiful, merely beautiful. So I
- 20:06Speaker 1: sighed and did not go for it wasn't good for anything.
- 20:09Speaker 1: It could not build a shack, It could not improve melons,
- 20:13Speaker 1: it could not hurry a fruit crop. It was useless.
- 20:17Speaker 1: It was a foolishness and a vanity. He would despise
- 20:20Speaker 1: it and say cutting words, but to me it was
- 20:24Speaker 1: not despicable. I said, oh, you fire, I love you, you
- 20:28Speaker 1: dainty pink creature, for you are beautiful and that is enough,
- 20:33Speaker 1: and was going to gather it to my breast, but refrained.
- 20:37Speaker 1: Then I made another maxim out of my head. Though
- 20:40Speaker 1: it was so nearly like the first one that I
- 20:43Speaker 1: was afraid it was only a plagiarism. The burnt experiment
- 20:47Speaker 1: shuns the fire. I rot again, and when I had
- 20:51Speaker 1: made a good deal of fire dust, I emptied it
- 20:54Speaker 1: into a handful of dry brown grass, intending to carry
- 20:57Speaker 1: it home and keep it always in play with it.
- 21:00Speaker 1: But the wind struck it, and it sprayed up and
- 21:03Speaker 1: spat out at me fiercely, and I dropped it and ran.
- 21:07Speaker 1: When I looked back, the blue spirit was towering up
- 21:10Speaker 1: and stretching and rolling away like a cloud. And instantly
- 21:13Speaker 1: I thought of the name of it, smoke, though upon
- 21:17Speaker 1: my word, I had never heard of smoke before. Soon
- 21:21Speaker 1: brilliant yellow and red flares shot up through the smoke,
- 21:24Speaker 1: and I named them in an instant flames. And I
- 21:28Speaker 1: was right too, though these were the very first flames
- 21:31Speaker 1: that had ever been in the world. They climbed the trees,
- 21:35Speaker 1: then flashed splendidly in and out of the vast and
- 21:37Speaker 1: increasing volume of tumbling smoke, and I had to clap
- 21:41Speaker 1: my hands and laugh and dance in my rapture. It
- 21:44Speaker 1: was so new and strange, and so wonderful and so beautiful.
- 21:49Speaker 1: He came running and stopped and gazed and said not
- 21:52Speaker 1: a word for many minutes. Then he asked what it was. Ah,
- 21:57Speaker 1: it was too bad that he should ask such a
- 21:59Speaker 1: direct Questioneschin. I had to answer it, of course, and
- 22:02Speaker 1: I did. I said it was fire. If it annoyed him,
- 22:07Speaker 1: that I should know, and he must ask. That was
- 22:09Speaker 1: not my fault. I had no desire to annoy him.
- 22:13Speaker 1: After a pause, he asked how did it come? Another
- 22:18Speaker 1: direct question, and it also had to have a direct answer.
- 22:22Speaker 1: I made it. The fire was traveling farther and farther off.
- 22:27Speaker 1: He went to the edge of the burned place and
- 22:29Speaker 1: stood looking down and said, what are these fire coals?
- 22:35Speaker 1: He picked up one to examine it, but changed his
- 22:38Speaker 1: mind and put it down again. Then he went away.
- 22:41Speaker 1: Nothing interests him, but I was interested. There were ashes,
- 22:47Speaker 1: gray and soft and delicate and pretty. I knew what
- 22:50Speaker 1: they were at once, and the embers. I knew the
- 22:53Speaker 1: embers too. I found my apples and raked them out
- 22:57Speaker 1: and was glad for I am very youngung and my
- 23:00Speaker 1: appetite is active. But I was disappointed. They were all
- 23:04Speaker 1: burst open and spoiled. Spoiled apparently, but it was not so.
- 23:09Speaker 1: They were better than raw ones. Fire is beautiful. Some
- 23:13Speaker 1: day it will be useful, I think Friday. I saw
- 23:18Speaker 1: him again for a moment last Monday, at nightfall, but
- 23:21Speaker 1: only for a moment. I was hoping he would praise
- 23:25Speaker 1: me for trying to improve the estate, for I had
- 23:28Speaker 1: meant well and had worked hard. But he was not
- 23:31Speaker 1: pleased and turned away and left me. He was also
- 23:34Speaker 1: displeased on another account. I tried once more to persuade
- 23:38Speaker 1: him to stop going over the falls. That was because
- 23:42Speaker 1: the fire had revealed to me a new passion, quite
- 23:45Speaker 1: new and distinctly different from love, grief and those others
- 23:49Speaker 1: which I had already discovered. Fear. And it is horrible.
- 23:54Speaker 1: I wish I had never discovered it. It gives me
- 23:57Speaker 1: dark moments and spoils my happiness, and it makes me
- 24:01Speaker 1: shiver and tremble and shudder. But I could not persuade him,
- 24:05Speaker 1: for he has not discovered fear yet, and so he
- 24:08Speaker 1: could not understand me. And of Eve's diary