Latest / Legend of Sleepy Hollow / Christmas Outside Of Eden - Coningsby Dawson

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Christmas Outside Of Eden - Coningsby Dawson · Legend of Sleepy Hollow

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Speaker 1: Part one of Christmas Outside of Eden. This is a
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Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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Speaker 1: Recording by David Wales. Christmas Outside of Eden by Connings V. Dawson,
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Speaker 1: Part one one. This is the story the Robins tell
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Speaker 1: as they huddle beneath the holly on the eve of Christmas.
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Speaker 1: They have told it every Christmas Eve since the world started.
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Speaker 1: They commenced telling it long before Christ was born, for
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Speaker 1: their memory goes further back than men's. The Christmas which
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Speaker 1: they celebrate, began just outside of Eden, within sight of
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Speaker 1: its gold locked doors. The Robins have only two stories,
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Speaker 1: one for Christmas and one for Easter. Their Easter story
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Speaker 1: is quite different. It has to do with how they
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Speaker 1: got the splash of red upon their breasts. It was
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Speaker 1: when God's son was hanging on the cross. They wanted
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Speaker 1: to do something to spare him. They were too weak
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Speaker 1: to pull out the nails from his feet and hands,
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Speaker 1: so they tore their little breasts in plucking the thorns
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Speaker 1: one by one from the crown that had been set
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Speaker 1: upon his forehead. Since then, God has allowed their breast
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Speaker 1: to remain read as a remembrance of his gratitude. But
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Speaker 1: their Christmas story happened long before, when they weren't robin redbreasts,
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Speaker 1: but only robins. It is a merry, tender sort of story.
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Speaker 1: They twitter it in a chuckling fashion to their children.
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Speaker 1: If you prefer to hear it first hand, creep out
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Speaker 1: to the nearest holly bush on almost any Christmas Eve
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Speaker 1: when snow has made the night all pale and shadowy.
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Speaker 1: If the robins have chosen your holly bush as their rendezvous,
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Speaker 1: and you understand their language, you won't need to read
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Speaker 1: what I have written. Like all two stories, it is
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Speaker 1: much better told than read. It's the story of the
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Speaker 1: first laugh that was ever heard in Earth or heaven.
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Speaker 1: To be in jo vod properly, it needs the chuckling
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Speaker 1: twitter of the grown up robins and the squeaky interruptions
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Speaker 1: of the baby birds asking questions. When they get terrifically excited,
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Speaker 1: they jig up and down on the holly branches, and
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Speaker 1: the frozen snow falls with a brittle clatter. Then the
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Speaker 1: mother and father birds say hush quite suddenly. No one
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Speaker 1: speaks for a full five seconds. They huddle closer, listening
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Speaker 1: and holding their breath. That's how the story ought to
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Speaker 1: be heard after nightfall on Christmas Eve, when behind darkened
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Speaker 1: windows little boys and girls have gone to bed early,
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Speaker 1: having hung up their very biggest stockings. Of course, I
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Speaker 1: can't tell it that way on paper, but I'll do
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Speaker 1: my best to repeat the precise words in which the
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Speaker 1: robins tell it. Two. It was very long ago at
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Speaker 1: the beginning of all wonders, sun, moon, and stars were new.
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Speaker 1: They wandered about in the clouds, uncertainly, calling to one another,
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Speaker 1: like ships in a fog. It was the same on Earth.
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Speaker 1: Neither trees, nor rivers, nor animals were quite sure why
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Speaker 1: they had been created or what was expected of them.
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Speaker 1: They were terribly afraid of doing wrong, and they had
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Speaker 1: good reason for The man and woman had done wrong
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Speaker 1: and had been locked out of Eden. That had happened
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Speaker 1: in April, when the world was three months old. Up
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Speaker 1: to that time, everything had gone very well. No one
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Speaker 1: had known what fear was. No one had guessed that
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Speaker 1: anything existed outside the walls of Eden, or that there
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Speaker 1: was such a thing as wrongdoing. Animals, trees, and rivers
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Speaker 1: had lived together with the man and the woman in
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Speaker 1: the high walled garden as a happy family. If they
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Speaker 1: had wanted to know anything, they had asked the man.
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Speaker 1: He had always given them answers, even though he had
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Speaker 1: to invent them. They had never dreamt of doubting him,
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Speaker 1: not even the woman. The reason for this had been God.
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Speaker 1: Every afternoon, God had come, stepping down from the sky
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Speaker 1: to walk with the man through the sun spangled shadows
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Speaker 1: of the grassy paths. They had heard the kindly rumble
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Speaker 1: of his voice like distant thunder, and the little tones
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Speaker 1: of the man as he asked his questions. At six
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Speaker 1: o'clock regularly, God had shaken hands with the man and
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Speaker 1: climbed leisurely back up the sky blue stairs that led
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Speaker 1: to Heaven. Because of this, the man had gained a
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Speaker 1: reputation among the animals for being wise. They had thought
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Speaker 1: of him as God's friend. He had given orders to everybody,
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Speaker 1: even to the woman, and everyone had been proud to
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Speaker 1: obey him. It had been in April the great change
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Speaker 1: had occurred. There had been all kinds of rumors. The
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Speaker 1: first that had been suspected had been when God had
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Speaker 1: failed to come for his customary walk. The next had
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Speaker 1: been when he had arrived with his face hidden in anger.
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Speaker 1: The trees of Eden had bent and clashed, as if
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Speaker 1: a strong wind were blowing everything. A living that was
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Speaker 1: not rooted had run away to hide. Nevertheless, when God
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Speaker 1: had called to the man, they had tiptoed nearer to listen.
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Speaker 1: The trouble had seemed to be about some fruit. God
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Speaker 1: had told the man that he must not pluck it.
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Speaker 1: He had not only plucked it, but had eaten of it,
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Speaker 1: so had the woman. It had seemed a small matter
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Speaker 1: to make such a fuss about. They had supposed that
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Speaker 1: God's anger would soon blow over, and that everything would
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Speaker 1: be again as friendly as before, And so everything might
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Speaker 1: have been had it not been for the man. Instead
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Speaker 1: of saying he was sorry, he had started to argue
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Speaker 1: and blame the woman. At that God had refused to
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Speaker 1: speak with him longer. He had ordered the man and
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Speaker 1: woman and all the animals to leave Eden immediately. He
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Speaker 1: had given them no time to pack. Lining them up
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Speaker 1: like soldiers, he had numbered them to make certain that
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Speaker 1: none were missing, and then, with the man and woman leading,
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Speaker 1: had marched them beyond the walls and locked the golden
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Speaker 1: gates of Eden against them forever. Since then, all had
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Speaker 1: been privation and confusion. The animals, from regarding the man
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Speaker 1: as their lord, had grown to despise him. They had
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Speaker 1: blamed him for their misfortunes. They had told him that
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Speaker 1: it was his fault that they had lost their happiness,
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Speaker 1: and that God walked the earth no more. The woman
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Speaker 1: had told him so. Most particularly, of all the created world,
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Speaker 1: only the dog and the robin had remained faithful to him.
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Speaker 1: The dog slept across his feet at night to keep
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Speaker 1: them warm, and the robin sang to him each dawn
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Speaker 1: that he should not lose courage. Three through the world's
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Speaker 1: first summer, things had not been so bad, though, of course.
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Speaker 1: The wilderness that grew outside of Eden was not so
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Speaker 1: comfortable as the garden they had lost. In the garden,
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Speaker 1: no one had needed to work. Food had grown on
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Speaker 1: the trees to one's hand, and because it was so sheltered,
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Speaker 1: the weather had been always pleasant. It hadn't been necessary
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Speaker 1: to wear clothing. It hadn't been necessary to build houses,
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Speaker 1: for it had never rained. Birds hadn't troubled to make nests,
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Speaker 1: nor rabbits to dig warrens. Everybody had felt perfectly safe
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Speaker 1: to sleep out of doors wherever he happened to find
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Speaker 1: himself without a thought of protection. Here in the wilderness,
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Speaker 1: it was different. There were no paths. The jungle grew up,
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Speaker 1: tall and threatening thorns leapt out to tear one's flesh.
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Speaker 1: If it hadn't been for the elephant uprooting trees in
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Speaker 1: his fits of temper, no one would have been able
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Speaker 1: to travel anywhere. One by one, the animals slunk away
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Speaker 1: and began to lead their own lives, independently, making lairs
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Speaker 1: for themselves. Every day that went by, they avoided the
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Speaker 1: man and woman more and more. At first they used
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Speaker 1: to peep out of the thicket to jeer at their helplessness.
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Speaker 1: Soon they learned to disregard them as if they were
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Speaker 1: not there. From having believed himself to be the wisest
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Speaker 1: of living creatures, the man discovered himself to be the
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Speaker 1: most incompetent. Often and often he would creep to the
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Speaker 1: gold locked gates and peer between the bars, hoping to
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Speaker 1: see God walking there as formerly. But God walked no more.
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Speaker 1: As he had climbed back into heaven, he had destroyed
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Speaker 1: the sky blue stairs behind him. There was no way
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Speaker 1: in which the man could reach him to ask his
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Speaker 1: advice or pardon. But it was the woman who caused
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Speaker 1: the man most unhappiness. It wasn't that she despised and
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Speaker 1: blamed him. He'd grown used to that since leaving Eden.
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Speaker 1: Everybody except the dog and the robin despised and blamed him.
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Speaker 1: The woman caused him unhappiness because she was unwell, really unwell,
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Speaker 1: not just an upset stomach or a headache. In Eden,
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Speaker 1: she had always been strong and beautiful, like sunlight. Leaping
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Speaker 1: on the st smooth green lawn so white and pink,
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Speaker 1: and darting. Her long gold hair had swayed about her
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Speaker 1: like a flame. Her white arms had parted it as
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Speaker 1: though she were a swimmer. Her eyes had been shy
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Speaker 1: and merry. From dawn to dusk, she had been a darling.
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Speaker 1: Never a cross word had she spoken. The furry creatures
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Speaker 1: of the woods had been her playmates, and the birds
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Speaker 1: had perched upon her shoulders to sing their finest songs.
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Speaker 1: Now she was wan and thin as a withered branch,
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Speaker 1: like the elephant uprooting trees. She often lost her temper.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes she was sorry for her crossness, more often she wasn't.
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Speaker 1: When the man offered her things to eat, no matter
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Speaker 1: what trouble he'd taken to get them. She'd say she
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Speaker 1: wasn't hungry, And yet he loved her none the less
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Speaker 1: for her perverseness. He was so afraid he couldn't have
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Speaker 1: told you of what he was afraid for nobody had
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Speaker 1: had time to die in the world. As yet he
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Speaker 1: was filled with dread lest like God, she might vanish
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Speaker 1: and walk the earth. No more so he cudgeled his
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Speaker 1: brains to find things to cure her. He invented wrong remedies,
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Speaker 1: just as in Eden he had invented wrong answers to
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Speaker 1: the animal's questions. He was never certain whether they would
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Speaker 1: do her good or harm, but he always assured her
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Speaker 1: gravely that if she'd only try them, she'd feel instantly better.
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Speaker 1: She never did. On the contrary, she felt worse and worse.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps the wilderness was the cause. Perhaps it was the
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Speaker 1: forbidden fruit she had eaten. Perhaps it was a little
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Speaker 1: of both, plus a touch of eden sickness. She had
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Speaker 1: never known an hour's ill health up to the moment
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Speaker 1: when she had eaten the fruit and been turned out
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Speaker 1: of the garden. The poor man was distracted. He didn't
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Speaker 1: care what he did or whom he robbed. If only
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Speaker 1: he might hear her singing again and see her once
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Speaker 1: more or smiling. What he did wasn't tactful. It only
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Speaker 1: made the animals hate him all except the dog and
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Speaker 1: the robin, and brought new dangers about his head. It
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Speaker 1: was the month of October, and nights were getting shivery.
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Speaker 1: He had scraped together fallen leaves to make a bed
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Speaker 1: for her, and had woven a covering of withered grasses.
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Speaker 1: In spite of this, from the setting of the sun
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Speaker 1: till long after its rising, all through the dark hours,
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Speaker 1: her teeth chattered. She cried continually. Every time she cried
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Speaker 1: out in the jungle, the hyaena scoffed. The man rarely
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Speaker 1: got any rest until full day. All night he was
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Speaker 1: rubbing her back, her feet and hands in an effort
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Speaker 1: to make her warm. As a consequence, he slept late
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Speaker 1: and accomplished hardly any work. He didn't even have time
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Speaker 1: to notice how all the animals were building houses. The
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Speaker 1: woman was so fretful that he never dared leave her
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Speaker 1: for longer than an hour. The poor thing was forever
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Speaker 1: complaining that God might have made her out of something
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Speaker 1: better than a rib, if he was going to make
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Speaker 1: her at all. It was a colder night than usual.
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Speaker 1: When the woman was crying very bitterly and the Hyaena
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Speaker 1: was doing more than his ordinary share of scoffing, that
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Speaker 1: the idea occurred to the man. The Hyaena was scoffing
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Speaker 1: because he was comfortable. He was comfortable because of the
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Speaker 1: heavy coat that he wore. The man determined to teach
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Speaker 1: him a lesson by taking his coat from him. It
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Speaker 1: was another remedy. He hoped that if he clothed a
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Speaker 1: woman with it she might grow strong. Telling her that
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Speaker 1: he wouldn't be gone for long, he padded stealthily away,
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Speaker 1: followed by the dog, and faded out of sight among
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Speaker 1: the shadows. They found the hyaena in an open space
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Speaker 1: which the elephant had been clearing the day before. He
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Speaker 1: was seated on his hind legs, gazing up at the
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Speaker 1: moon with his fine, warm coat, all bristly scoffing and scoffing.
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Speaker 1: He was far too busy with his ill natured merriment
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Speaker 1: to hear them coming. In a flash, the dog had
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Speaker 1: him by the throat, holding him while the man robbed
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Speaker 1: him of his clothing. When they had stripped him of everything,
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Speaker 1: even of his bushy tail, they let him go, and
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Speaker 1: he fled naked, howling the alarm through the forest. By
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Speaker 1: the time they got back to the woman, all the
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Speaker 1: underbrush was stirring from every part of the wilderness, and
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Speaker 1: twos and threes the animals were coming together. The night
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Speaker 1: was alive with their glowing eyes. The leaves trembled with
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Speaker 1: their savage muttering. Be quick, whispered the man put this on.
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Speaker 1: She dried her tears as she felt the warmth of
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Speaker 1: the fur. It's comfy, she sawed. It fits exactly, And then,
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Speaker 1: oh man, I'm frightened. What have you done? You gave
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Speaker 1: me a present once before. The man was making a
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Speaker 1: club out of a tree. As he stripped it of
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Speaker 1: its branches. He answered boastfully, it was I and the dog.
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Speaker 1: We did it together. You were cold, so we stole
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Speaker 1: the hyaena's coat from him. All the animals are angry.
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Speaker 1: They know that we shall do again what we have done.
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Speaker 1: Once they feel safe no longer. They say it must
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Speaker 1: be stopped. They want to get back the hyaena's coat
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Speaker 1: from us, and they will, Oh, my master, the dog interrupted,
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Speaker 1: unless we protect ourselves through the wilderness. Not many miles
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Speaker 1: from here, a limestone ridge rises above the forest in
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Speaker 1: the limestone ridge, there is a cave. If we can
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Speaker 1: win our way to it before our enemies come together,
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Speaker 1: we can stand in the entrance and guard the woman.
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Speaker 1: So the dog ran ahead, growling with such fierceness that
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Speaker 1: everything fled from his path. Behind him came the man,
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Speaker 1: carrying the woman very closely because he loved her, and
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Speaker 1: trailing his tremendous club. By dawn, before their enemies could
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Speaker 1: guess their purpose, they had gained the cave. By the
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Speaker 1: time the animals had held their conference and decreed that
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Speaker 1: the man and the dog must be punished, they had
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Speaker 1: escaped and were ready to defy all comers. Four. From
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Speaker 1: that moment, a new and exciting kind of life started.
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Speaker 1: Not an hour out of the twenty four was free
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Speaker 1: from anxiety, always whether it was day or night. The
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Speaker 1: man and the dog had to take turns at guarding
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Speaker 1: the entrance. The men gathered piles of stones and learned
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Speaker 1: how to throw them unerringly. The dog, trusted to his
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Speaker 1: teeth and the fear which his bark inspired. The animals
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Speaker 1: were furiously determined. They never ceased from attempting to surprise them.
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Speaker 1: Quite often they would have succeeded had it not been
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Speaker 1: for the robin, who hiding in the bushes, overheard their
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Speaker 1: strategies and flew back to the man in time with warnings.
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Speaker 1: The cave was well chosen. It was approached by a
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Speaker 1: steep and narrow path. Only one enemy could attack at once,
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Speaker 1: so the defenders were always able to roll down boulders
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Speaker 1: on him before he gained a footing. That was how
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Speaker 1: they treated the lion when he came thrashing his tail
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Speaker 1: and roaring on the first morning. To make them prisoners,
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Speaker 1: they gave a rock a big shove and knocked him
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Speaker 1: over like a nine pen. He was so hurt in
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Speaker 1: his feelings that he sulked in bed for a week.
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Speaker 1: For many more weeks, he was easily tired, seeing that
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Speaker 1: he was the king of the beasts and the president
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Speaker 1: of their conference. This made the animals the more indignant
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Speaker 1: and the more determined that the man and the dog
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Speaker 1: must be punished. The next to attempt their capture were
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Speaker 1: the elephant and the rhinoceros. They boasted that they weren't
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Speaker 1: afraid of rocks. Nevertheless, they came together to back up
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Speaker 1: each other's courage. Half Way up the slope, they stuck.
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Speaker 1: They were too heavy. For so steep a path, the
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Speaker 1: ground crumbled from under them. The dog worried them, the
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Speaker 1: man struck them, and away they went, bumping down the hill,
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Speaker 1: rolling over and over. They never stopped till they had
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Speaker 1: reached the bottom, where they lay on their backs with
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Speaker 1: their feet in the air, grunting and panting like a
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Speaker 1: pair of upturned locomotives. At first, the man and the
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Speaker 1: dog regarded the enmity they had aroused in the light
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Speaker 1: of a huge joke. They got a good deal of
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Speaker 1: fun out of fighting. But the sporting side of the
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Speaker 1: affair ceased to appeal to them when they were compelled
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Speaker 1: to recognize the seriousness of their predicament. They were absolutely
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Speaker 1: cut off from supplies. At a season when food was
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Speaker 1: running short, they had to sneak out at night at
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Speaker 1: the risk of capture to get anything to eat at all.
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Speaker 1: They had a sick woman on their hands, who cried
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Speaker 1: not for food but for delicacies. Instead of gathering strength,
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Speaker 1: she grew steadily weaker. And then there was the matter
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Speaker 1: of sleep. It was as scarce as food. They hardly
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Speaker 1: snatched wink of it. When they weren't on guard or fighting,
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Speaker 1: they were soothing her fretfulness foraging for her or thinking
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Speaker 1: up some new method of keeping her warm. It was
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Speaker 1: damp in the cave, Sunlight rarely tiptoed farther than the entrance.
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Speaker 1: It didn't take them long to discover that the hyena's
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Speaker 1: coat had been as dearly purchased as the forbidden fruit
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Speaker 1: that had lost them the garden. Peace, which they might
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Speaker 1: have concluded in the early days, was now entirely out
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Speaker 1: of the question. Even an offer to return the hyaena's
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Speaker 1: coat wouldn't have made any impression. They had carried hostilities
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Speaker 1: too far. There wasn't an animal whom they had not wounded,
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Speaker 1: and who wasn't mad with them clean through From the
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Speaker 1: point of his nose to the tip of his tail,
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Speaker 1: Often and often standing in the entrance to his cave,
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Speaker 1: the man would gaze longingly across the bronzy roof of
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Speaker 1: the forest to the distant shining of the padlocked gates
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Speaker 1: of Eden. He was farther than ever from the garden
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Speaker 1: now with its tranquil, blessedness. If only he hadn't learnt
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Speaker 1: to steal. Stealing had been the cause of his downfall,
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Speaker 1: first the forbidden fruit and then the Hyaena's coat. If
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Speaker 1: he had been less enterprising and more obedient, he would
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Speaker 1: still have been the friend of God. After a wakeful night,
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Speaker 1: he crept to the entrance to discover that the worst
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Speaker 1: thing of all had happened. A worse thing, you exclaim.
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Speaker 1: I thought you were going to tell us a cheerful
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Speaker 1: Christmas story, and so I am. But all the unfortunate
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Speaker 1: part comes first. That's the way the robins tell it.
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Speaker 1: If you'll be patient and read on, you'll find this
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Speaker 1: is the very cheerfulest story that was ever told in
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Speaker 1: earth or heaven. You may not have noticed that we've
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Speaker 1: not yet come to the first laugh. The woman has
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Speaker 1: smiled and the Hyaena has scoffed, but no one has laughed.
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Speaker 1: It's when we come to the first laugh that the
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Speaker 1: happiness commences. Five. The worst thing of all that the
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Speaker 1: man discovered when he crept to the cave entrance after
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Speaker 1: a wakeful night was this, with a terrible, stealthy silence,
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Speaker 1: Snow was drifting down, so that even the distant shining
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Speaker 1: of the gates of Eden was blotted out. It was frightening.
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Speaker 1: Snow had never fallen in the world before. If it had,
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Speaker 1: the man had not seen it. Within the walls of
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Speaker 1: the garden, summer had been perpetual. He stood there, staring
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Speaker 1: out forlornly at the misty sea of shifting whiteness. It
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Speaker 1: chilled him to the bone. It seemed to him that
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Speaker 1: the pillars of the sky had collapsed and the dust
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Speaker 1: of the moon and stars was falling. Soon everything would
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Speaker 1: be buried, and the world itself would be no more.
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Speaker 1: He looked at the calendar which he had scratched upon
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Speaker 1: the wall. It was the twenty fourth day of December.
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Speaker 1: He wondered whether God knew what was happening, and whether
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Speaker 1: he had planned it. And he gave up wondering, for
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Speaker 1: behind him, from the blackness of the cave, the woman
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Speaker 1: called O man. She cried, I cannot bear this any longer.
21:11
Speaker 1: He groped his way to her and raised her in
21:13
Speaker 1: his arms so that her head lay on his breast.
21:17
Speaker 1: Even in the darkness, he could see the glow of
21:20
Speaker 1: her hair like the shadow of flame, growing fainter and fainter.
21:25
Speaker 1: My woman, He whispered, what can I do for you?
21:28
Speaker 1: And again he whispered, what can I do for you?
21:34
Speaker 1: She pressed her face close to his before she answered,
21:37
Speaker 1: petting him the way she had been used to do
21:40
Speaker 1: in Eden. Do for me nothing you've tried with your remedies.
21:45
Speaker 1: You've tried so hard, poor you. If we could only
21:49
Speaker 1: find God, if we could, the man said. But and
21:53
Speaker 1: then they both grew silent, for how could they find
21:56
Speaker 1: God when he had climbed back to heaven, to drawing
22:00
Speaker 1: the sky blue stairs behind him. Perhaps he still walks
22:04
Speaker 1: in Eden. It was the woman who had spoken, if
22:08
Speaker 1: you were to go and watch through the bars of
22:10
Speaker 1: Eden till he comes, and were to call to him,
22:13
Speaker 1: if you were to tell him that I cannot bear
22:15
Speaker 1: it any longer, and that we're sorry, so sorry that
22:19
Speaker 1: we did it in our ignorance. Without ending what she
22:23
Speaker 1: was saying, she fell to sobbing. He didn't dare to
22:27
Speaker 1: tell her that the moon and stars were falling, and
22:30
Speaker 1: that the gates of Eden were blotted out. From where
22:33
Speaker 1: she lay in the blackness of the cave, she could
22:36
Speaker 1: see nothing. She was too weak even to crawl to
22:39
Speaker 1: the entrance, as he did his best to comfort her.
22:43
Speaker 1: If we could only again find God, she kept whispering.
22:47
Speaker 1: So at last, having ordered the dog to guard her,
22:50
Speaker 1: the man departed on his hopeless errand it was brave
22:54
Speaker 1: of him. He believed that in trying to find God,
22:57
Speaker 1: he would get so lost that he would never be
22:59
Speaker 1: able to ret trace his footsteps. Before he went, he
23:02
Speaker 1: kissed the woman tenderly, begging forgiveness for all the misery
23:06
Speaker 1: he had caused her. But I caused it too, she confessed.
23:11
Speaker 1: It wasn't your rib that was to blame. It wasn't
23:14
Speaker 1: you at all. I wanted the fruit and we ate
23:16
Speaker 1: it together. It was the first time she had acknowledged it.
23:21
Speaker 1: Until then, she had insisted that the fault was his solely.
23:25
Speaker 1: So in the moment of farewell, she restored to him
23:28
Speaker 1: one little ray of the great lost Sun of flaming happiness.
23:34
Speaker 1: End of Part one, Part two of Christmas Outside of
23:44
Speaker 1: Eden by conningsby Dawson. This LibriVox recording is in the
23:48
Speaker 1: public domain. Part two six. The air was so thick
23:53
Speaker 1: with falling snow that he was well nigh stifled. His
23:57
Speaker 1: eyes were blinded, as though they were padded with cotton wool.
24:00
Speaker 1: The flakes brushed against his cheeks like live things. At
24:04
Speaker 1: his sixth step from the entrance, he had lost his direction.
24:08
Speaker 1: His feet commenced to slide against his will. He went
24:11
Speaker 1: avalanching and cavorting down the path. At the bottom, he
24:16
Speaker 1: lay panting for a time. Then, because he was cold,
24:19
Speaker 1: he picked himself up and went blundering on, not in
24:22
Speaker 1: the least knowing where he was going. Bushes clutched at
24:26
Speaker 1: his feet, trees slashed across his face. He was inclined
24:30
Speaker 1: to weep, but checked himself, remembering that on one of
24:34
Speaker 1: those sunny afternoon walks, God had told him that to
24:37
Speaker 1: cry wasn't manly, and I must find God. I must
24:42
Speaker 1: find God, he kept repeating to himself. The only way
24:46
Speaker 1: he knew of finding God was by pressing forward. God
24:50
Speaker 1: had once confessed to him the reason I am God
24:53
Speaker 1: is because I show courage. Then I'll show courage too,
24:57
Speaker 1: he thought. Presently, he found himself in the heart of
25:00
Speaker 1: the forest and began to breathe more freely. Avenues of
25:04
Speaker 1: giant trees stretched before him, which Chris crossed one another
25:09
Speaker 1: and faded into the gloom of twilight polonnaded tunnels. He
25:13
Speaker 1: could almost feel the gnarled trunks bracing themselves and the
25:17
Speaker 1: crooked branches linking arms to bear up the weight of
25:20
Speaker 1: the downpoured roof of whiteness. As his eyes grew accustomed
25:25
Speaker 1: to the dimness. He saw the animals strewn flat among
25:28
Speaker 1: fallen leaves, their nose pressed between their paws, shivering with terror. Overhead,
25:35
Speaker 1: birds and monkeys sat in rows, squeezed side by side
25:39
Speaker 1: for companionship, weeping silently. Of a sudden he regained his majesty,
25:45
Speaker 1: being filled with contempt for their cowardice. For I am man,
25:49
Speaker 1: he reminded himself, so like to God that I could
25:53
Speaker 1: easily be mistaken for him. And these are the creatures
25:56
Speaker 1: who dared to talk of punishing me. Throwing out his chain,
26:00
Speaker 1: he strode valiantly past them, utterly ignoring their presence. From
26:05
Speaker 1: behind him, a voice called whimperingly, it was the lions,
26:10
Speaker 1: the king of beasts, squeaky and falsetto with panic. Master,
26:14
Speaker 1: thou art wise, what has happened? To tell us? Had
26:18
Speaker 1: he known how, the man would have laughed, But the
26:21
Speaker 1: laugh comes later in the story. Without turning his head,
26:25
Speaker 1: still going away from them, he answered, it is a
26:28
Speaker 1: punishment for what thou and thy people have done to
26:30
Speaker 1: me and my woman, O lion. He had made the
26:33
Speaker 1: answer up on the spur of the moment. He knew
26:36
Speaker 1: no more than they did what had happened, But he
26:39
Speaker 1: loved inventing, and was never so content as when he
26:42
Speaker 1: was pretending that he was God. Immediately they forgot the
26:47
Speaker 1: wrong answers he had given them, and how he had
26:49
Speaker 1: deceived them in the past. The leaves rustled as they
26:53
Speaker 1: lifted up their heads from between their paws. Their voices
26:56
Speaker 1: trembled as one when they besought him, mast stay with us,
27:01
Speaker 1: we are in terror. Make it leave off. Turning slowly,
27:05
Speaker 1: he blinked at them through the dimness. Folding his arms,
27:09
Speaker 1: he regarded them thoughtfully, with his legs wide apart. He
27:12
Speaker 1: did it as he supposed God might have done it.
27:15
Speaker 1: He spoke at last, it's only just begun. Why should
27:19
Speaker 1: I make it leave off? Because thou art strong and
27:23
Speaker 1: we are repentant. Their manner was so humble and adoring
27:27
Speaker 1: that he felt sorry for them. They had begged his
27:30
Speaker 1: pardon in the same words that he had intended to
27:32
Speaker 1: beg God's. But then he was just the only just
27:37
Speaker 1: creature that God had created. In his heart, he knew
27:40
Speaker 1: that he had merited their revenge. There was scarcely one
27:43
Speaker 1: of them at whom he had not hurled his rocks.
27:46
Speaker 1: He came back walking in stately fashion till he stood
27:50
Speaker 1: fearlessly in the center of them, looking up through the
27:53
Speaker 1: burdened branches at the calamity which he did not understand.
27:57
Speaker 1: He commanded leave off, to his immense surprise, on the
28:02
Speaker 1: instant the snow ceased falling. It settled gently, like a
28:06
Speaker 1: tired bird into its nest. The serenity of the stillness
28:10
Speaker 1: was unbroken. I am hungry, he said. The animals hurried
28:15
Speaker 1: to their stores of food and waited on him. I
28:18
Speaker 1: have not slept. The squirrel scraped fallen leaves into a bed,
28:22
Speaker 1: and the bear and the wolf stood guard. When he awoke,
28:26
Speaker 1: it was a brilliant winter's morning. The sun was charioteering
28:30
Speaker 1: in highest heaven. The forest was white, as though cotton
28:34
Speaker 1: wool had blown through it. As far as I could search,
28:38
Speaker 1: everything glittered sheathed in a film of glass. Snow bulged
28:43
Speaker 1: from branches like pillows filled to bursting. Icicles hung down
28:48
Speaker 1: like fantastic swords. Down the colonnaded avenues. Trees cast their
28:53
Speaker 1: shadows in heavy bars. The spaces between them were golden splashes.
28:59
Speaker 1: The man yawned, I am still tired. Fetch the horse
29:03
Speaker 1: that he may carry me back to my dwelling. He
29:06
Speaker 1: ordered the horse to be fetched, because he had forgotten
29:09
Speaker 1: where his cave was. It was clever of him, he
29:12
Speaker 1: did it to keep the animals from knowing his ignorance.
29:16
Speaker 1: The horse came galloping up, obediently, clutching him by the mane.
29:20
Speaker 1: The man bestrode him off. They started at a sharp trot,
29:24
Speaker 1: with the animal shouting and bounding beside them. As they traveled,
29:28
Speaker 1: the man could hardly keep from smiling at picturing what
29:31
Speaker 1: a fine fellow he was. He made no attempt to
29:35
Speaker 1: restrain himself from giving orders. All the time, he kept
29:38
Speaker 1: urging the animals to shout louder. He wanted the woman
29:42
Speaker 1: to hear them, so that she might crawl to the
29:44
Speaker 1: entrance of the cave and be a witness of his
29:47
Speaker 1: triumphant homecoming. It wasn't good enough merely to picture himself
29:52
Speaker 1: as a fine fellow. He was anxious to hear her
29:55
Speaker 1: say to him, Oh, man, what a fine fellow you are.
29:59
Speaker 1: He'd forgot but completely the purpose of his errand that
30:02
Speaker 1: he'd set out through the world's first snowstorm in search
30:06
Speaker 1: of God. So at last they burst forth from the
30:10
Speaker 1: forest and reached the foot of the slippery ascent. Because
30:13
Speaker 1: it was so slippery, the man dismounted the horse could
30:17
Speaker 1: carry him no further. Having commanded the animals to go
30:20
Speaker 1: on shouting for at least half an hour, he left
30:24
Speaker 1: them and commenced to climb the steep and narrow path.
30:27
Speaker 1: He had to go gingerly on his hands and knees.
30:30
Speaker 1: There were places where he slipped back two steps for
30:33
Speaker 1: every one he advanced. By snatching at rocks and bushes.
30:38
Speaker 1: He dragged himself slowly to the turning, which brought him
30:41
Speaker 1: in sight of the entrance. There, seated in the entrance
30:45
Speaker 1: to the cave he saw. You must remember that by
30:49
Speaker 1: now it was the twenty fifth of December. To remember
30:53
Speaker 1: that is most extraordinarily important. What he saw is so
30:57
Speaker 1: exciting that it deserves another chapter. Seven. He saw the woman,
31:04
Speaker 1: but not the woman as he had left her. She
31:07
Speaker 1: was no longer sick. She was completely restored, as in
31:11
Speaker 1: the old days. Her hair clothed her like a flame.
31:14
Speaker 1: Her face parted it into waves, as though she were
31:17
Speaker 1: a swimmer. He could see the pink dimples in her
31:20
Speaker 1: knees where she sat, and the marble whiteness of her feet,
31:23
Speaker 1: which flashed like jewels. She was again the darling who
31:27
Speaker 1: had delighted his heart when she had darted like a
31:30
Speaker 1: sunbeam across the shaven lawns of Eden. But now she
31:34
Speaker 1: was ten times more radiant. What was it that had
31:38
Speaker 1: changed her? Her tenderness made a golden mist about her,
31:42
Speaker 1: which inspired him with awe. He had had precisely this
31:46
Speaker 1: sense of sunny quietness when he had walked through those
31:50
Speaker 1: long still afternoons with God. She was unaware of him.
31:54
Speaker 1: Her eyes were deep pools of sapphire. She was smiling gently,
31:59
Speaker 1: and rooting above something which nestled in her arms. He
32:03
Speaker 1: called to her softly, She paid him no attention. Far
32:08
Speaker 1: below the ridge, in obedience to his commands, the animals
32:12
Speaker 1: were still shouting. Was it because of them that she
32:15
Speaker 1: was smiling? Had the robin flown ahead of him to
32:18
Speaker 1: tell her what had happened? The robin was perched on
32:22
Speaker 1: her shoulder, fluttering his little wings and singing her his
32:25
Speaker 1: finest song. He called to the robin, like the woman,
32:30
Speaker 1: The robin was too occupied to hear him. No, it
32:33
Speaker 1: wasn't because of him that she was smiling, he felt sure, Then,
32:38
Speaker 1: why was it? He gazed back on the dazzling landscape
32:42
Speaker 1: that spread away below him, hoping to find something there
32:45
Speaker 1: that would tell him how transformed it was from the
32:49
Speaker 1: gloomy jungle that had been wont to threaten him. It
32:52
Speaker 1: was like a nest of down from its farthest edge,
32:56
Speaker 1: where Eden lay a beam of glory spanned with an
33:00
Speaker 1: orange path. It was this beam that made the golden
33:04
Speaker 1: mist about the woman. To his amazement, he saw that
33:07
Speaker 1: Eden's gates were open. Even while he watched, they began
33:11
Speaker 1: to close, slowly and slowly, with the beam ever shortening,
33:16
Speaker 1: till at last they were utterly locked and barred. The
33:21
Speaker 1: memory of lost happiness overwhelmed him. He turned again to
33:25
Speaker 1: the woman. There she sat in the golden mantle of
33:28
Speaker 1: her hair, enthroned on the snow's pure whiteness. Creeping to
33:33
Speaker 1: her humbly, he fell to covering her feet with kisses.
33:37
Speaker 1: So great was his need of her, My woman, he wept.
33:40
Speaker 1: They are cold, so cold. Never again will I leave thee,
33:45
Speaker 1: not even to find God. She bent towards him, lifting
33:50
Speaker 1: his chin in her hand. I shall feel the cold
33:53
Speaker 1: no more. Put thy hand in my breast, dost thou
33:57
Speaker 1: feel it? I have that next my heart, which though
34:00
Speaker 1: I grow old, shall keep me forever warm. As he
34:05
Speaker 1: slipped his hand in her breast, she parted her hair
34:08
Speaker 1: and showed him. Kneeling beside her, he gazed down wonderingly
34:13
Speaker 1: at a thing that he had never seen before. He
34:16
Speaker 1: could find no name for it. It was like himself,
34:19
Speaker 1: and it was like her also, only it was tiny
34:23
Speaker 1: and no thicker than his forearm. It had wee feet
34:26
Speaker 1: and hands, a rosebud of a mouth, and it was
34:29
Speaker 1: smooth and soft. Its head, which was the size of
34:33
Speaker 1: an apple, was a covered with silky floss. Lowering his face,
34:38
Speaker 1: he sniffed it all over. It smelt sweet, like the
34:42
Speaker 1: flowers that used to bloom and eden. What is it?
34:46
Speaker 1: She shook her head. It was here when I wakened.
34:49
Speaker 1: Her eyes became bright and immense as stars its hours.
34:54
Speaker 1: She whispered tenderly. Eight. It was awkward to have something
35:00
Speaker 1: for which you could find no name, especially when it
35:03
Speaker 1: was something that you had begun to love already. We'll
35:07
Speaker 1: have to ask someone, the man said. If I knew
35:10
Speaker 1: where he was, I might ask. The woman's face blanched.
35:14
Speaker 1: Not God, she begged, because of the fruit, we ate
35:17
Speaker 1: he might take it from us. Just then, they were
35:21
Speaker 1: disturbed by a rustling of snow. Looking up, they saw
35:24
Speaker 1: the rabbit watching them with timid eyes and recovering his
35:28
Speaker 1: breath after the long climb. What you want, the man
35:31
Speaker 1: asked sharply. The rabbit flicked his white scut and sat
35:35
Speaker 1: up on his hind legs, his whiskers quivering with excitement.
35:39
Speaker 1: I want to see it, he panted. The dog's been boasting.
35:43
Speaker 1: I hurried because I wanted to be the first to
35:45
Speaker 1: see it. I'm so little, I couldn't do it any harm.
35:50
Speaker 1: Let him see it, said the woman. He's gentle, he
35:53
Speaker 1: might be able to tell us what to call it.
35:56
Speaker 1: So the man told the rabbit that he could have
35:58
Speaker 1: just one peep. When the rabbit tried to get his
36:01
Speaker 1: peep by standing against the woman's knees, he wasn't tall enough,
36:05
Speaker 1: so the man had to lift him until he lay
36:08
Speaker 1: all furry against the little creature that was in the
36:11
Speaker 1: woman's arms. I can't suggest anything, said the rabbit. We
36:16
Speaker 1: ought to consult the other animals. They all want to
36:19
Speaker 1: be friends. They're so curious. But there's one thing I
36:22
Speaker 1: do know. We're both small, and my coat would just
36:26
Speaker 1: fit it. Before they could stop him, He had pulled
36:29
Speaker 1: off his coat and was tucking it snugly around the
36:32
Speaker 1: little stranger. He was right, it did fit exactly so.
36:37
Speaker 1: The first garment of the Earth's first baby was a
36:40
Speaker 1: rabbit skin, which accounts for the rhyme which mothers sing about.
36:45
Speaker 1: Gone to fetch a rabbit skin to wrap the baby
36:47
Speaker 1: bunting in. When the rabbit had presented his gift, he
36:51
Speaker 1: hopped down from the woman's lap. Very much thinner, and
36:56
Speaker 1: now I can bring the other animals, he asked. The
36:59
Speaker 1: man has a He was remembering the last visits of
37:02
Speaker 1: the lion, and the elephant and the rhinoceros. They might
37:06
Speaker 1: find a name for it. The rabbit pleaded, Then the
37:09
Speaker 1: man nodded, and the rabbit scuttled off. They hadn't long
37:13
Speaker 1: to wait before they heard a deep breathing and grunting.
37:17
Speaker 1: Struggling up the frozen path to the cave, came all
37:20
Speaker 1: the animals that God had created. They advanced in single file,
37:25
Speaker 1: The great and the small mixed up together, the giraffe
37:28
Speaker 1: followed by the hedgehog, and the mastodon preceded by the frog.
37:33
Speaker 1: They came hand in hand, forming a chain to pull
37:36
Speaker 1: one another up, Treading on each other's heels, jostling and
37:40
Speaker 1: slipping back on one another. Those behind kept whispering to
37:45
Speaker 1: those in front to hurry. Those in front were two
37:48
Speaker 1: winded to retort. Their ascent was made more difficult by
37:52
Speaker 1: their generosity, for all save one of them carried presents.
37:57
Speaker 1: The one who came empty handed was the stork. He
38:00
Speaker 1: led the procession, looking stately and pompous, as though he
38:04
Speaker 1: were taking the credit for having occasioned the disturbance. The
38:08
Speaker 1: man learned later that that was precisely what he was doing,
38:12
Speaker 1: taking all the credit. He had been telling the animals
38:16
Speaker 1: that it was he who had left the strange little
38:19
Speaker 1: creature at the woman's side the night before. Because of this,
38:23
Speaker 1: he pretended that it wasn't necessary for him to bring
38:26
Speaker 1: a present. There were many who believed him. There still are.
38:30
Speaker 1: When they had all climbed safely to the top, they
38:33
Speaker 1: gathered in a semicircle around the woman, having piled their
38:37
Speaker 1: gifts before her. In silence, they waited. Then she parted
38:41
Speaker 1: her hair and showed them the wonder that nestled in
38:45
Speaker 1: her arms. The man standing at her side addressed them, Oh, brothers,
38:50
Speaker 1: I am wise, for I have walked with God yet
38:54
Speaker 1: have I never seen anything like it? There was nothing
38:57
Speaker 1: like it in Eden. I have sent for you that
39:00
Speaker 1: I may ask you what to call it. No one answered.
39:04
Speaker 1: He questioned each in turn, but none of them could
39:06
Speaker 1: advise him. We have to find a name for it,
39:10
Speaker 1: he said, crossly. So let's sit down and think hard.
39:13
Speaker 1: So they sat down in the snow, scratching their heads
39:17
Speaker 1: and thought hard. From time to time, the man inquired
39:20
Speaker 1: whether any of them had had an inspiration. They never had,
39:25
Speaker 1: which was discouraging when you consider what a lot of
39:28
Speaker 1: them were thinking in this way. At least an hour
39:32
Speaker 1: must have passed. Things were getting both cold and embarrassing
39:36
Speaker 1: when the little creature who was being thought about so
39:39
Speaker 1: hard showed signs of waking and began to stir in
39:43
Speaker 1: the woman's arms. I ought to have told you that
39:46
Speaker 1: ever since the man's home coming, it had been sleeping.
39:50
Speaker 1: First it kicked out with its bandy legs. Then it
39:53
Speaker 1: fisted its pudgy hands and yawned. Then it puckered its
39:57
Speaker 1: wee red face in a manner most alarming, and to
40:00
Speaker 1: the amazement of them all. The woman was so amazed
40:04
Speaker 1: that she nearly let it drop. And yet what it
40:07
Speaker 1: did was perfectly natural. It opened its eyes like two
40:11
Speaker 1: blue patches of heaven and blinked at them. Last of all,
40:16
Speaker 1: it emitted a thin, wailing sound that made everybody abominably unhappy.
40:22
Speaker 1: The crocodile became so emotional that his tears froze in
40:26
Speaker 1: two long icicles. After a pause, the sound was repeated.
40:31
Speaker 1: All the animals rose on their hind legs and covered
40:33
Speaker 1: their ears with their paws. The woman stared at them apologetically.
40:39
Speaker 1: She was distressed and puzzled. Please don't cover your ears,
40:42
Speaker 1: she begged. And don't think that I'm hurting it. There's
40:45
Speaker 1: something that it's trying to tell us. It said the
40:48
Speaker 1: same thing before it began saying it the moment I
40:51
Speaker 1: first found it. It's gone on saying it on and on.
40:55
Speaker 1: There there, my little one, my belovedest. As if to
40:59
Speaker 1: co operate her assertion that it had gone on and on,
41:03
Speaker 1: it commenced to cry afresh out of politeness to the woman.
41:07
Speaker 1: Though the sound hurt them, the tender hearted animals uncovered
41:11
Speaker 1: their ears and listened intently. This is what they heard
41:15
Speaker 1: repeated over and over. Bathe be beebe, babebe. They were
41:25
Speaker 1: all shaking with sobbing when the elephant, in his coarsest manner,
41:29
Speaker 1: lifted up his trunk and snorted through it contemptuously. Stop snorting,
41:34
Speaker 1: the man ordered impatiently. There's no reason why you should snort,
41:39
Speaker 1: isn't there. The elephant shuffled to his feet to depart
41:43
Speaker 1: before he went, Just to show his independence again, he
41:47
Speaker 1: snorted across his shoulders. He remarked, and you think yourself
41:51
Speaker 1: so wise? You want to know what to call it?
41:54
Speaker 1: Every time it speaks, it tells you it cried once more,
41:58
Speaker 1: there you are. The elephant trumpeted triumphantly as he seated
42:03
Speaker 1: himself at the top of the slide, having pulled his
42:06
Speaker 1: tail from under him, preparatory to tobogganing down the path.
42:10
Speaker 1: Don't you hear what it says? Baby, baaby? It couldn't
42:15
Speaker 1: be put more plainly. It's asking you to call it baby.
42:19
Speaker 1: As the elephant pushed off and vanished in a whirl
42:22
Speaker 1: of flying snow, the woman turned to the man with
42:25
Speaker 1: a smile of gladness. The clumsy fellow's right, weren't we
42:30
Speaker 1: the stupids fancy not understanding our own baby? Nine? As
42:37
Speaker 1: you may imagine, all the beasts and birds went back
42:40
Speaker 1: to the jungle very discontented. They didn't see why they
42:44
Speaker 1: shouldn't have babies. They were wild to have babies. They
42:48
Speaker 1: talked of nothing else. No sooner had they got down
42:51
Speaker 1: the hill from visiting the cave than they turned round
42:54
Speaker 1: and started to climb back again. They kept urging the
42:57
Speaker 1: woman to be frank with them and to confess how
43:00
Speaker 1: her baby had happened. Of course, she couldn't confess, seeing
43:04
Speaker 1: that she didn't know herself. All that she knew was
43:08
Speaker 1: that she hadn't felt well since she had eaten the
43:10
Speaker 1: forbidden fruit in Eden, and now that the baby had
43:14
Speaker 1: been born, she felt completely restored. Such information wasn't of
43:19
Speaker 1: much use to the animals, for the forbidden fruit grew
43:23
Speaker 1: inside of Eden, and the gates of Eden were locked.
43:27
Speaker 1: At last, the man had to interfere to prevent her
43:30
Speaker 1: from being bothered. He stuck up a notice at the
43:33
Speaker 1: entrance to the cave. December twenty fifth, mother and child
43:38
Speaker 1: both doing well, don't knock. When the animals came to call,
43:43
Speaker 1: he prevented them from entering by explaining gravely that having
43:47
Speaker 1: a baby was a very touch and go business, and
43:50
Speaker 1: left one decidedly exhausted to have listened to him. You
43:54
Speaker 1: might have supposed that he'd spent all of his life
43:57
Speaker 1: in rocking cradles, whereas he was such a novel that,
44:00
Speaker 1: had it not been for the elephant, he wouldn't even
44:03
Speaker 1: have known that babies were called babies. Like all fathers,
44:07
Speaker 1: he deceived himself that there was nothing he didn't know
44:10
Speaker 1: about baby lore. What was very much more surprising. By
44:14
Speaker 1: whispering and looking secretive, he managed to impress the animals
44:18
Speaker 1: with his new found learning and paternal importance. But what
44:23
Speaker 1: had happened to the robin while all these excitements were
44:27
Speaker 1: going on the last time we mentioned him, he was
44:30
Speaker 1: sitting perched on the woman's shoulder, singing her his very
44:34
Speaker 1: finest song. The robin, though you may not have heard it,
44:38
Speaker 1: has always been a most religious bird. He had made
44:41
Speaker 1: up his mind the moment the man had come back
44:44
Speaker 1: that the first thing to be done was to go
44:46
Speaker 1: and tell God. The chief difficulty about accomplishing this errand
44:51
Speaker 1: was due to God himself, As you will remember, in
44:54
Speaker 1: returning to heaven, God had destroyed the sky blue stairs
44:58
Speaker 1: behind him. But the robin had wings. Moreover, he was
45:02
Speaker 1: an optimist. He hoped that by fluttering up and up,
45:06
Speaker 1: he would be able to reach Heaven in safety. The
45:09
Speaker 1: reason that he had never tried before was because he
45:12
Speaker 1: had been afraid that God would not want him. He
45:16
Speaker 1: felt sure of his welcome now that he was the
45:19
Speaker 1: bearer of such glad tidings. He found the journey much
45:23
Speaker 1: harder than he had expected. There were parts of it
45:26
Speaker 1: that were so bitter that his wings would scarcely flutter.
45:30
Speaker 1: After he had lost sight of Earth, he had to
45:32
Speaker 1: wind his way between the burning stars. They were so
45:36
Speaker 1: close together in places that his feathers were scorched. But
45:39
Speaker 1: he pressed on valiantly till he made out the quiet
45:43
Speaker 1: shining of the gates of Heaven, and entered through the
45:46
Speaker 1: unguarded walls of Jasper into a garden which was in
45:50
Speaker 1: no way different from the one that God had planted
45:53
Speaker 1: upon Earth. Beneath scented trees, the angels were scattered about disconsolately.
46:00
Speaker 1: There were black rims under their eyes. It was easy
46:03
Speaker 1: to see they had been worrying. Their beautiful white gowns
46:07
Speaker 1: had come unstarched. It was many days since they had
46:10
Speaker 1: tidied themselves. There wasn't a sound of any sort, least
46:15
Speaker 1: of all of music. Some of them still carried their harps,
46:18
Speaker 1: but most of them had stacked them in open spaces,
46:21
Speaker 1: the way soldiers stacked their rifles. When the robin sank
46:25
Speaker 1: spent to the grass in front of them, they paid
46:28
Speaker 1: him scant attention. When he weakly chirped his question, Where's God,
46:34
Speaker 1: they jerked their thumbs, indicating the direction. Too listless to
46:38
Speaker 1: waste breath on words, what's the matter? Asked the robin.
46:43
Speaker 1: We're unhappy. After they had said it, they had difficulty
46:47
Speaker 1: to choke back their sobs. But why are you unhappy?
46:51
Speaker 1: Whoever heard of being unhappy in heaven? Because because they
46:57
Speaker 1: glanced at one another forlornly, hoping that someone else would
47:01
Speaker 1: be the first to answer, because of the forbidden fruit,
47:05
Speaker 1: it's made god cross shaw, The robin swelled out his
47:10
Speaker 1: little breast with importance. You'd better visit earth and see
47:13
Speaker 1: our baby. If the woman hadn't eaten the forbidden fruit,
47:17
Speaker 1: there wouldn't be any baby. The word baby was entirely
47:21
Speaker 1: new to them. They sat up beneath their scented trees
47:24
Speaker 1: and began to ask questions, But the robin didn't want
47:27
Speaker 1: to be delayed. He spread his wings and fluttered on.
47:31
Speaker 1: At last, he came to the smoothest of smooth lawns,
47:34
Speaker 1: in the midst of which grew a mulberry tree, beneath
47:37
Speaker 1: whose shadow God was seated with the Virgin Mary. Despite
47:42
Speaker 1: the flakes of sunlight falling and the gold blue peace
47:46
Speaker 1: by which they were surrounded, their attitudes were no less
47:50
Speaker 1: despondent than the angels. God sat with his elbows digging
47:54
Speaker 1: into his knees. His face was buried in his delicate hands.
47:59
Speaker 1: His eyes here through his fingers were strained and red,
48:03
Speaker 1: with always staring broodingly straight before him. Of the Virgin
48:07
Speaker 1: Mary crouching at his feet, the robin could only see
48:10
Speaker 1: the glint of her flaxen hair and the paleness of
48:14
Speaker 1: her narrow shoulders. Her head was bowed in the lap
48:17
Speaker 1: of her maker, as if she had been beseeching him always.
48:21
Speaker 1: The robin was overwhelmed with terror. All his chirpiness was gone.
48:26
Speaker 1: Dear God, he quavered, I beg thy forgiveness. I have come.
48:31
Speaker 1: When I was not bidden, he paused, hoping that God
48:35
Speaker 1: would encourage him. When God took no notice, he felt
48:39
Speaker 1: himself to be the most insignificant and impertinent of living creatures.
48:43
Speaker 1: He spoke again, lest the silence should kill him on
48:47
Speaker 1: the spot. I have brought glad tidings, at least we
48:50
Speaker 1: on earth think they are glad. The woman whom thou
48:53
Speaker 1: didst cast out for eating the fruit that was forbidden
48:56
Speaker 1: has been very sick. She has been six since April
49:01
Speaker 1: till just before daybreak this morning, when she miraculously recovered.
49:05
Speaker 1: At her side she found lying a little thing, Such
49:09
Speaker 1: a little thing, so like to thyself, O God. It
49:13
Speaker 1: has bandy legs and arms no thicker than thy smallest finger.
49:17
Speaker 1: It has a baldy head about the size of an apple,
49:20
Speaker 1: with threads of gold spread over it like floss. It
49:23
Speaker 1: has a pink wee face and a rosebud of a mouth.
49:26
Speaker 1: Its eyes are like patches of thine own blue heaven.
49:29
Speaker 1: And it's soft and cuddly. The woman calls it her belovedest,
49:34
Speaker 1: and it smells sweet like the flowers we used to
49:36
Speaker 1: breathe and eaten. We didn't know what it was. Even
49:40
Speaker 1: the man didn't know. He summoned the animals to come
49:43
Speaker 1: and find a name for it. While they were sitting
49:46
Speaker 1: on their hind legs. Behold it awoke and told us
49:50
Speaker 1: that its rightful name was a baby, and now, o God,
49:54
Speaker 1: wee birds and animals want to have babies. We're all
49:57
Speaker 1: trying to find out how it happened, and I want
50:00
Speaker 1: to find out most especially because a baby. Thou sayest,
50:05
Speaker 1: what is a baby? I, Thy Creator know nothing of it.
50:09
Speaker 1: The last thing I fashioned was the woman who has
50:12
Speaker 1: brought this deep shame upon us. God had spoken through
50:16
Speaker 1: his hands, very softly, yet his voice was like a
50:19
Speaker 1: great wind blowing. It took the Robin some seconds to
50:23
Speaker 1: recover from the shop. By the time he was ready
50:26
Speaker 1: to answer, the angels were rustling through all the glades
50:30
Speaker 1: of Heaven, and the Virgin was gazing at him with
50:33
Speaker 1: wistful intensity. What is a baby? He asked, audaciously, repeating
50:38
Speaker 1: God's word. It is a little man and a little God.
50:42
Speaker 1: Surely thou knowest I know nothing, God thundered, letting fall
50:47
Speaker 1: his hands from before his face be gone. When the
50:51
Speaker 1: hurricane of sound had ended, the Robin found himself hovering
50:54
Speaker 1: in the gateway between the Jasper walls, where the sheer drop,
50:59
Speaker 1: which lies between Earth and Heaven commences. He turned to
51:02
Speaker 1: look back before he took the leap, and saw that
51:05
Speaker 1: behind him the angels were following, following most closely was
51:09
Speaker 1: the virgin. Tell me again, she pleaded. It's little and soft,
51:14
Speaker 1: it's cuddly, and it smells like the flowers that bloom
51:17
Speaker 1: in Eden. Perched on her shoulder with his beak against
51:21
Speaker 1: her ear, he twittered to her his tail once more.
51:25
Speaker 1: While he was telling her, the angels crowded round, smoothing
51:29
Speaker 1: his feathers with shy caresses. But he didn't dare to
51:33
Speaker 1: stay too long, for distantly from beneath the mulberry tree,
51:38
Speaker 1: he still felt the brooding eyes of God. Launching himself
51:42
Speaker 1: from the Virgin's shoulder, he sank between the burning stars
51:46
Speaker 1: and through the bitter coldness of clouds snow laden till
51:49
Speaker 1: late in the wintry afternoon he reached the cave on
51:53
Speaker 1: the limestone ridge, whence a murmur of secret singing was emerging.
51:59
Speaker 1: Ten on the threshold, he paused to listen. Yes, it
52:04
Speaker 1: was the woman. It was the first time she had
52:06
Speaker 1: been happy enough to sing since she had been cast
52:09
Speaker 1: out of Eden. But her song was entirely different from
52:13
Speaker 1: anything that she had sung before. It was more little
52:17
Speaker 1: and tender. It was a lullaby of mother nonsense, which
52:21
Speaker 1: she hummed when she couldn't find the proper rhymes and
52:24
Speaker 1: made up as she went along. As the robin fluttered
52:29
Speaker 1: through the gloom to her shoulder, she pressed her finger
52:32
Speaker 1: to her lips to warn him. The baby eyes were
52:35
Speaker 1: the merest slits of blueness. The little thumb was in
52:38
Speaker 1: the mouth, and the baby lips were sucking hard. The
52:42
Speaker 1: tiny knees were digging into the woman's body, and the
52:45
Speaker 1: baldy head was cushioned on her bosom. The dog snoozed
52:49
Speaker 1: across her feet, the man crouched against her, shrouded in
52:53
Speaker 1: the mantle of her hair. Overcome with weariness, she was
52:57
Speaker 1: mothering them all, rocking herself slowly and singing gently her
53:01
Speaker 1: silly little song. The crooning of it over and over
53:05
Speaker 1: seemed to hush them with a sense of security. You
53:11
Speaker 1: are my own tie, dear little donty sweetest, and won't
53:14
Speaker 1: ee pudding and pie, good little laddie, just like your daddy,
53:19
Speaker 1: fallen from heaven, Come from the sky. But he didn't,
53:24
Speaker 1: whispered the robin. The woman paused in her singing, didn't
53:28
Speaker 1: what he didn't fall from heaven. God's just been telling
53:32
Speaker 1: me he never heard about him. The woman smiled, Never
53:36
Speaker 1: heard about him. Doesn't matter. His mummy's heard about him.
53:40
Speaker 1: She stooped to kiss the soft little bundle, for he
53:43
Speaker 1: had commenced to stir. Then she resumed her singing. Gradually
53:48
Speaker 1: the day failed, the late afternoon faded into evening. Gray
53:53
Speaker 1: twilight stole swiftly down. For a while, the white fields
53:57
Speaker 1: of snow outside reflected a vague deaths. Then night came
54:01
Speaker 1: with a noiseless rush, closing up the entrance to the
54:05
Speaker 1: cave with a wall of blackness. Perched on the woman's shoulder,
54:09
Speaker 1: the robin dozed. She still went on singing. How long
54:14
Speaker 1: he had been dozing, He had no means of telling.
54:17
Speaker 1: He was wakened by a multitudinous rustling, as of a
54:20
Speaker 1: crowd assembling and drawing nearer. At first he thought that
54:24
Speaker 1: it was some of the more persistent of the animals,
54:27
Speaker 1: coming once more to urge the woman to tell them
54:30
Speaker 1: how babies happened. Then of a sudden he knew that
54:34
Speaker 1: he had been mistaken. The gloom of the cave was
54:37
Speaker 1: lit up by a glowing brightness. Peering across the threshold,
54:41
Speaker 1: with all the haloed hosts of heaven. Tiptoeing behind her,
54:45
Speaker 1: was the Virgin Mary. It was the crowd of halos
54:49
Speaker 1: that was causing so much brightness. Stepping to the woman's side,
54:53
Speaker 1: she gazed down longingly at the small gaudman. I want one, Oh,
54:59
Speaker 1: I want one so badly, she murmured. The angels thronging
55:03
Speaker 1: behind her, folded their wings and repeated her words, so badly,
55:08
Speaker 1: so badly. The sound was like a prayer dying out
55:11
Speaker 1: in the void which spreads between Earth and Heaven. Let
55:15
Speaker 1: me hold him, she begged, because she was the Virgin,
55:19
Speaker 1: even though it might wake him. The woman did not
55:22
Speaker 1: dare to refuse her, but she asserted her authority, as
55:26
Speaker 1: all mothers must, by pretending that she was the only
55:30
Speaker 1: person who knew how to hold him properly. And perhaps
55:34
Speaker 1: she was the only one at that moment, for there
55:36
Speaker 1: was no other mother besides herself on earth or heaven.
55:40
Speaker 1: She showed the Virgin how to support his little head
55:43
Speaker 1: because it was wobbly, and how to keep one arm
55:46
Speaker 1: beneath his back because it was weak, and how he
55:49
Speaker 1: liked to be cuddled against her breast because it was
55:52
Speaker 1: warm and cushiony, And then, becoming generous, she taught her
55:56
Speaker 1: the silly little lullaby, I shall never go back to heaven.
56:01
Speaker 1: The virgin whispered, I shall stay here always and help
56:04
Speaker 1: you nurse him. Never go back to heaven. The angels echoed,
56:09
Speaker 1: stay here always. The woman's eyes became troubled. But I
56:13
Speaker 1: want him to myself, she faltered, I don't want helping.
56:17
Speaker 1: Then she ceased to frown, for she had discovered a
56:20
Speaker 1: stronger argument. Besides, what about God. You wouldn't leave him
56:25
Speaker 1: or by himself in heaven, he'd be lonely. The virgin
56:30
Speaker 1: nodded her head vigorously. I would, for I also am
56:33
Speaker 1: a woman. There are no babies in heaven. I couldn't
56:37
Speaker 1: be happy without a baby behind her. The angels nodded
56:41
Speaker 1: their halos. No babies in heaven couldn't be happy without
56:44
Speaker 1: a baby. It must have been so much talking that
56:48
Speaker 1: disturbed him. The baby woke up. As he opened his
56:52
Speaker 1: eyes and saw the Queen of Heaven bending over him,
56:55
Speaker 1: he smiled. It was his first smile on the instant.
57:00
Speaker 1: The woman, like all mothers, became jealous and snatched him
57:03
Speaker 1: back into her own possession. She liked to believe that
57:07
Speaker 1: no one, not even the man, could make him as
57:10
Speaker 1: comfortable as she could, filing her golden hair upon her
57:14
Speaker 1: knees to make a pillow for him. She laid him
57:17
Speaker 1: naked on his back and commenced playing with his toes.
57:21
Speaker 1: If he had not given her his first smile, she
57:24
Speaker 1: would at least make certain of his second. She was
57:27
Speaker 1: so taken up with her playing that she did not
57:30
Speaker 1: notice who had entered. She was the only one who
57:33
Speaker 1: had not noticed. The angels were cowering against the walls
57:37
Speaker 1: of the cave. The man had roused and crouched, covering
57:41
Speaker 1: his face with his hands. Only the virgin stood upright,
57:45
Speaker 1: meek and fearless, with a look of unconquerable challenge. The
57:49
Speaker 1: woman was quite oblivious. She went on with her mother nonsense,
57:53
Speaker 1: and there stood God regarding her through a cloud of
57:58
Speaker 1: puzzlement and anger. The game that she played with the
58:02
Speaker 1: baby feet she was inventing on the spur of the moment.
58:05
Speaker 1: Starting with the tiniest toe, she wiggled it. Then she
58:09
Speaker 1: wiggled the next tiniest, and the next tiniest, and the
58:12
Speaker 1: next tiniest till she had come to the biggest of
58:15
Speaker 1: the tiny toes. To each toe as she wiggled it,
58:19
Speaker 1: she gave a name. When she had wiggled them all
58:22
Speaker 1: she buried her face in the fat, kicking legs. And
58:26
Speaker 1: this is Peedy pe Dy, she said, as she wiggled
58:29
Speaker 1: the littlest toe. And this next babyist is Pollyloudy, and
58:33
Speaker 1: this in the middle is Lady Thistle, and this tall
58:37
Speaker 1: fellow as Lolli Vassal. And last we come of the
58:41
Speaker 1: big big toe, who's king of them all. His name
58:45
Speaker 1: is Great Ormondon. Then she dived her lips into the
58:49
Speaker 1: little squirming legs and kissed them as if she were
58:52
Speaker 1: going to make a meal of them. She had to
58:55
Speaker 1: do it four times before the baby smiled at her.
58:58
Speaker 1: At first he only looked seer and astonished. The fifth
59:02
Speaker 1: time his smile broadened and he gurgled. But the sixth
59:06
Speaker 1: as she came to the Great Ormondon, he burst into
59:09
Speaker 1: a crowing laugh. Never before had a laugh been heard
59:13
Speaker 1: in earth or heaven. It was so surprising that the
59:16
Speaker 1: angel ceased from cowering, and the man uncovered his face
59:20
Speaker 1: to see better. Then God spoke. His voice was kind
59:25
Speaker 1: and tender, like the cooing of doves, so kind and
59:28
Speaker 1: tender that the woman, discovering his presence, wasn't a bit frightened.
59:33
Speaker 1: Sweeping the hair back from her eyes. She nodded to
59:36
Speaker 1: him in the old friendly fashion in which she had
59:39
Speaker 1: been used to greet him in Eden. Can you make
59:42
Speaker 1: him do it again, God asked. He came nearer and
59:46
Speaker 1: leant above her shoulder, so she made the baby laugh again.
59:50
Speaker 1: Could I make him try, said the woman. So God
59:55
Speaker 1: wiggled the little toes, starting with the tiniest, and the
59:58
Speaker 1: woman whispered the five magic names to him secretly, so
1:00:02
Speaker 1: that he might say them all correctly. P D Pde, Polly, Ludie,
1:00:06
Speaker 1: Lady Thistle, Lolly Vassel, and the great Ormondone. When God
1:00:12
Speaker 1: boomed out the last large sounding name, the baby doubled
1:00:16
Speaker 1: his little fists, crowing and laughing unmistakably. Then God laughed too,
1:00:22
Speaker 1: and the Virgin and all the hosts of heaven, and
1:00:24
Speaker 1: the man and the woman, till at last the dog
1:00:27
Speaker 1: and the robin couldn't restrain themselves any longer and joined
1:00:31
Speaker 1: in his laughter. When once they started laughing, it was
1:00:34
Speaker 1: difficult to stop. Besides, they didn't want to stop. They
1:00:39
Speaker 1: were doing it for the first time, and they liked
1:00:41
Speaker 1: the feeling of it. God laughed till the tears streamed
1:00:44
Speaker 1: down his face. By the time he held up his
1:00:47
Speaker 1: hand for silence. There was scarcely, an angel who wasn't
1:00:50
Speaker 1: wearing his halo, crooked. All that's done us, all good,
1:00:55
Speaker 1: said God. I must have a baby for my very own,
1:00:58
Speaker 1: exactly like him. I almost think that everybody ought to
1:01:02
Speaker 1: have babies. Then, catching sight of the dog in the robin,
1:01:05
Speaker 1: he added, I mean the animals too. He turned to
1:01:09
Speaker 1: the man, What day is this. I've not been counting
1:01:12
Speaker 1: since I ceased to walk in Eden. The man answered humbly,
1:01:17
Speaker 1: Dear God, it is the twenty fifth of December. I
1:01:21
Speaker 1: must remember, that, said God thoughtfully, and then to the Virgin,
1:01:25
Speaker 1: Come it grows late, there is no one to light
1:01:28
Speaker 1: the lamps of heaven. You shall have your desire, for
1:01:31
Speaker 1: you too are a woman. And the robins say that
1:01:34
Speaker 1: God did remember, for it was on the twenty fifth
1:01:37
Speaker 1: of December, centuries later that his own son was born
1:01:41
Speaker 1: into the world. They say that the limestone ridge within
1:01:45
Speaker 1: sight of Eden was the spot where Bethlehem grew up
1:01:49
Speaker 1: after Eden vanished. They even say that the cave to
1:01:53
Speaker 1: which Mary came on another winter's night, when the doors
1:01:56
Speaker 1: of the Inn had been closed against her, was the
1:01:59
Speaker 1: very same there where the world's first baby had been born.
1:02:04
Speaker 1: She wrapped God's son in swaddling clothes and laid him
1:02:08
Speaker 1: in a manger, for the cave had now become a stable.
1:02:12
Speaker 1: Perhaps the heavenly host who sang at peace and good
1:02:15
Speaker 1: will to the shepherds was the same. Though the Robins
1:02:19
Speaker 1: do not assert that of one thing, they are certain
1:02:23
Speaker 1: that every time a baby is born, God laughs again,
1:02:27
Speaker 1: and his laughter travels down the ages. And that is
1:02:30
Speaker 1: why on Christmas Day everyone is especially kind to children,
1:02:35
Speaker 1: because it was a little child who gave the first
1:02:37
Speaker 1: laugh and taught grown people, even God himself, how easy
1:02:42
Speaker 1: it is to love when one is merry. End of
1:02:47
Speaker 1: Part two, End of Christmas Outside of Eden by conningsby
1:02:52
Speaker 1: Dawson