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09 - Anthem - Ayn Rand · Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter nine. We have not written for many days. We
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  Speaker 1: did not wish to speak, for we needed no words
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  Speaker 1: to remember that which has happened to us. It was
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  Speaker 1: our second day in the forest that we heard steps
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  Speaker 1: behind us. We hid in the bushes and we waited.
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  Speaker 1: The steps came closer, and then we saw the fold
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  Speaker 1: of a white tunic among the trees, and a gleam
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  Speaker 1: of gold. We leapt forward. We ran to them, and
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  Speaker 1: we stood looking upon the Golden One. They saw us,
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  Speaker 1: and their hands closed into fists, and the fists pulled
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  Speaker 1: their arms down, as if they wished their arms to
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  Speaker 1: hold them, while their bodies swayed, and they could not speak.
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  Speaker 1: We dared not come too close to them. We asked,
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  Speaker 1: and our voice trembled, how come you to be here,
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  Speaker 1: Golden One? But they whispered, only we have found you.
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  Speaker 1: How came you to be in the forest, we asked.
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  Speaker 1: They raised their head, and there was a great pride
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  Speaker 1: in their voice. They answered, we have followed you. Then
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  Speaker 1: we could not speak, and they said, we heard that
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  Speaker 1: you had gone to the uncharted forest. For the whole
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  Speaker 1: city is speaking of it. So on the night of
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  Speaker 1: the day when we heard it, we ran away from
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  Speaker 1: the home of the peasants. We found the marks of
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  Speaker 1: your feet across the plain where no men walk. So
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  Speaker 1: we followed them, and we went into the forest, and
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  Speaker 1: we followed the path where the branches were broken by
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  Speaker 1: your body. Their white tunic was torn, and the branches
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  Speaker 1: had cut the skin of their own arms. But they
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  Speaker 1: spoke as if they had never taken notice of it,
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  Speaker 1: nor of weariness, nor of fear. We have followed you,
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  Speaker 1: they said, and we shall follow you wherever you go.
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  Speaker 1: If danger threatens you, we shall face it. Also. If
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  Speaker 1: it be death, we shall die with you. You are damned,
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  Speaker 1: and we wish to share your damnation. They looked upon us,
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  Speaker 1: and their voice was low, but there was bitterness and
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  Speaker 1: triumph in their voice. Your eyes are as a flame,
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  Speaker 1: but our brothers have neither hope nor fire. Your mouth
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  Speaker 1: is cut of granite, but our brothers are soft and humble.
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  Speaker 1: Your head is high, but our brothers cringe. You walk,
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  Speaker 1: but our brothers crawl. We wish to be damned with you,
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  Speaker 1: rather than be blessed with all of our brothers. Do
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  Speaker 1: as you please with us, but do not send us
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  Speaker 1: away from you. Then they knelt and bowed their golden
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  Speaker 1: head before us, we had never thought of that which
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  Speaker 1: we did. We bent to raise the Golden One to
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  Speaker 1: their feet, but when we touched them it was as
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  Speaker 1: if madness had stricken us. We seized their body, and
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  Speaker 1: we pressed our lips to theirs. The golden One breathed once,
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  Speaker 1: and their breath was a moan, and then their arms
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  Speaker 1: closed around us. We stood together for a long time,
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  Speaker 1: and we were frightened that we had lived for twenty
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  Speaker 1: one years and had never known what joy is possible
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  Speaker 1: to men. Then we said, our dearest one, fear nothing
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  Speaker 1: of the forest. There is no danger in solitude. We
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  Speaker 1: have no need of our brothers. Let us forget their
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  Speaker 1: good and our evil. Let us forget all things save
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  Speaker 1: that we are together, and that there is joy between us.
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  Speaker 1: Give us your hand. Look ahead. It is our own world,
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  Speaker 1: golden One, a strange, unknown world, but our own. Then
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  Speaker 1: we walked on into the forest, their hand in ours,
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  Speaker 1: And that night we knew that to hold the body
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  Speaker 1: of a woman in our arms is neither ugly nor shameful,
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  Speaker 1: but the one ecstasy granted to the race of men.
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  Speaker 1: We have walked for many days. The forest has no end,
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  Speaker 1: and we seek no end. But each day added to
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  Speaker 1: the chain of days between us and the city is
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  Speaker 1: like an added blessing. We have made a bow and
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  Speaker 1: many arrows. We can kill more birds than we need
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  Speaker 1: for our food. We find water and fruit in the forest.
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  Speaker 1: At night, we choose a clearing, and we build a
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  Speaker 1: ring of fires around it. We sleep in the midst
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  Speaker 1: of that ring, and the beasts dare not attack us.
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  Speaker 1: We can see their eyes, green and yellow as coals,
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  Speaker 1: watching us from the tree. Branches beyond the fire smolder
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  Speaker 1: as a crown of jewels around us, and smoke stands
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  Speaker 1: still in the air in columns made blue by the moonlight.
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  Speaker 1: We sleep together in the midst of the ring, the
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  Speaker 1: arms of the Golden One around us, their head upon
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  Speaker 1: our breast. Some day we shall stop and build a house,
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  Speaker 1: when we shall have gone far enough. But we do
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  Speaker 1: not have to hasten. The days before us are without end,
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  Speaker 1: like the forest. We cannot understand this new life which
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  Speaker 1: we have found, yet it seems so clear and so simple.
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  Speaker 1: When questions come to puzzle us, we walk faster, then
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  Speaker 1: turn and forget all things as we watch the Golden
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  Speaker 1: One following. The shadows of leaves fall upon their arms
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  Speaker 1: as they spread the branches apart, but their shoulders are
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  Speaker 1: in the sun. The skin of their arms is like
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  Speaker 1: a blue mist, but their shoulders are white and glowing,
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  Speaker 1: as if the light fell not from above, but rose
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  Speaker 1: from under the skin. We watched the leaf which has
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  Speaker 1: fallen upon their shoulder, and it lies at the curve
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  Speaker 1: of their neck, and a drop of dew glistens upon
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  Speaker 1: it like a jewel. They approach us, and they stop laughing,
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  Speaker 1: noing what we think, and they wait obediently, without question,
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  Speaker 1: till it pleases us to turn and go on. We
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  Speaker 1: go on, and we bless the earth under our feet.
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  Speaker 1: But questions come to us again as we walk in silence.
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  Speaker 1: If that we have found is the corruption of solitude,
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  Speaker 1: then what can men wish for save corruption? If this
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  Speaker 1: is the great evil of being alone, then what is
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  Speaker 1: good and what is evil? Everything which comes from the
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  Speaker 1: many is good, everything which comes from one is evil.
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  Speaker 1: Thus we have been taught with our first breath, we
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  Speaker 1: have broken the law, but we have never doubted it.
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  Speaker 1: Yet now, as we walk the forest, we are learning
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  Speaker 1: to doubt. There is no life for men save in
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  Speaker 1: useful toil for the good of their brothers. But we
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  Speaker 1: live not when we toiled for our brothers, we were
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  Speaker 1: only weary. There is no joy for men save the
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  Speaker 1: joy shared with all their brothers. But the only things
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  Speaker 1: which taught us joy were the power created in our
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  Speaker 1: wires and the Golden One. And both these joys belonged
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  Speaker 1: to us alone. They came from us alone. They bear
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  Speaker 1: no relation to our brothers, and they do not concern
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  Speaker 1: our brothers in any way. Thus do we wonder there
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  Speaker 1: is some error, one frightful error, in the thinking of men.
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  Speaker 1: What is that error? We do not know, But the
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  Speaker 1: knowledge struggles within us, struggles to be borne to day.
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  Speaker 1: The Golden One stopped suddenly and said, we love you.
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  Speaker 1: But then they frowned and shook their head and looked
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  Speaker 1: at us helplessly. No, they whispered, that is not what
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  Speaker 1: we wished to say. They were silent. Then they spoke slowly,
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  Speaker 1: and their words were halting, like the words of a
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  Speaker 1: child learning to speak for the first time. We are
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  Speaker 1: one alone and only, and we love you, who are
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  Speaker 1: one alone and only. We looked into each other's eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and we knew that the breath of a miracle had
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  Speaker 1: touched us, and fled and left us groping vainly, and
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  Speaker 1: we felt torn, torn for some word we could not find.
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  Speaker 1: End Chapter nine,