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Honey-Bee - Anatole France · Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

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Speaker 1: Section zero of Honeybee by Anatole France. 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 Kate Follis Honeybee by Anatole France, translated by
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Speaker 1: Missus John Lane. Introduction. It is an honor, but also
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Speaker 1: a great responsibility, to introduce, through the dangerous medium of
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Speaker 1: a translation, one of the most distinguished writers of our time,
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Speaker 1: and probably the greatest living master of style, to a
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Speaker 1: new world, the world of childhood. One is conscious that
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Speaker 1: it is as impossible to translate the charm and art
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Speaker 1: of Anatole France as it is to describe in dull,
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Speaker 1: colorless words the exquisite perfume of the rose, such as
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Speaker 1: this translation is. I offer it with dividence, realizing that
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Speaker 1: I have undertaken a difficult task, and yet I venture
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Speaker 1: to do so, for I long to make known to
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Speaker 1: English and American children one of the loveliest and noblest
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Speaker 1: of stories, a story overflowing with poetic imagination, wisdom, and humor,
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Speaker 1: divine qualities to which the heart of the child is
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Speaker 1: always open, as the flower to the dew. I want
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Speaker 1: young children as well as others older only by accident
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Speaker 1: of years, but whose hearts are always young, which is
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Speaker 1: the eternal youth, to know the greatest French writer of
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Speaker 1: his day, when, by the magic of his pen, he
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Speaker 1: like that becomes young, gentle and charming. I want them
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Speaker 1: to learn to love his Honeybee, newest and sweetest of
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Speaker 1: those darlings of childhood who have come down to us
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Speaker 1: from bygone ages, distant lands, and half forgotten races, but who,
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Speaker 1: in their eternal charm, appeal to all children since children
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Speaker 1: first heard those wonderful stories or pored over treasured books
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Speaker 1: that awaken the ardent young imagination to love beauty, romance
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Speaker 1: and goodness. So too, some day will honey Bee, the
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Speaker 1: golden haired princess of the dear good Dwarfs, join her
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Speaker 1: enchanting companions Sinfrella, Beauty on the Beast, read riding Hood,
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Speaker 1: the Sleeping Beauty, the Frog, Prince Puss and Boots, Aladdin,
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Speaker 1: and all the others of that immortal galaxy whose glorious
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Speaker 1: destiny it has been to be beloved by childhood. May
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Speaker 1: they welcome Honeybee, youngest of all, And so the Master
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Speaker 1: Supreme when he writes for men and women will find
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Speaker 1: open to him a new world, purer and more beautiful.
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Speaker 1: In the Hearts of English and American Children, Annie E. Lane,
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Speaker 1: and of section zero Section one of Honeybee by Anatole, France.
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Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Kate Fallis Honeybee by
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Speaker 1: by Anatole, France, translated by Missus John Lane. Chapter one,
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Speaker 1: which treats of the appearance of the country and serves
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Speaker 1: as introduction. The sea covers today what was once the
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Speaker 1: Duchy of Clarid's. No trace of the town or the
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Speaker 1: castle remains, but when it is calm, there can be seen.
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Speaker 1: It is said, within the circumference of a mile huge
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Speaker 1: trunks of trees standing on the bottom of the sea.
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Speaker 1: A spot on the banks, which now serves as a
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Speaker 1: station for the custom house officers, is still called the
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Speaker 1: tailor's booth, and it is quite probable that this name
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Speaker 1: is in memory of a certain Master Jean, who is
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Speaker 1: mentioned in this story. The sea, which encroaches year by year,
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Speaker 1: will soon cover this spot so curiously named. Such changes
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Speaker 1: are in the nature of things. The mountains sink in
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Speaker 1: the course of ages, and the depths of the seas,
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Speaker 1: on the contrary, rise, until their shells and corals are
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Speaker 1: carried to the regions of clouds and ice. Nothing endures.
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Speaker 1: The face of land and sea is forever changing. Tradition
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Speaker 1: alone preserves the memory of men and places across the ages,
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Speaker 1: and renders real to us what has long ceased to exist.
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Speaker 1: In telling you of creeds, I wish to take you
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Speaker 1: back to times that have long since vanished. Thus I
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Speaker 1: begin the Countess of Blanchelon, having placed on her golden
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Speaker 1: hair a little black hood embroidered with pearls. But before
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Speaker 1: proceeding I must beg very serious persons not to read this.
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Speaker 1: It is not written for them. It is not written
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Speaker 1: for grave people who despise trifles and who always require
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Speaker 1: to be instructed. I only venture to offer this to
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Speaker 1: those who like to be entertained, and whose minds are
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Speaker 1: both young and gay. Only those who are amused by
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Speaker 1: innocent pleasures will read this. To the end of these,
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Speaker 1: I beg, should they have little children, that they will
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Speaker 1: tell them about my honey bee. I wish this story
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Speaker 1: to please both boys and girls, and yet I hardly
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Speaker 1: dare to hope it will. It is too frivolous for them,
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Speaker 1: and really only suitable for old fashioned children. I have
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Speaker 1: a pretty little neighbor of nine, whose library I examined
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Speaker 1: the other day. I found many books on the microscope
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Speaker 1: and the zoophytes, as well as several scientific story books.
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Speaker 1: One of these I opened at the following lines. The
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Speaker 1: cuttlefish Scipia offishinalis is a cephalopodic mollusk whose body includes
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Speaker 1: a spongy organ containing a colloquious fluid saturated with carbonate
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Speaker 1: of lime. My pretty little neighbor finds this story very interesting.
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Speaker 1: I beg of her, unless she wishes me to die
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Speaker 1: of mortification, never to read the story of Honeybee, Chapter two,
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Speaker 1: in which we learn what the white rose meant to
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Speaker 1: the Countess of Blanchelande. Having placed on her golden hair
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Speaker 1: a little black hood embroidered with pearls, and bound about
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Speaker 1: her waist a widow's girdle, the Countess of Blanchelande entered
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Speaker 1: the chapel, where it was her daily custom to pray
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Speaker 1: for the soul of her husband, who had been killed
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Speaker 1: in single handed combat with a giant from Ireland. That day,
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Speaker 1: she saw a white rose lying on the cushion of
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Speaker 1: her pride. At sight of this, she turned pale, her
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Speaker 1: eyes grew dim. She bowed her head and wrung her hand,
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Speaker 1: for she knew that when a Countess of Blanchelande is
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Speaker 1: about to die, she always finds a white rose on
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Speaker 1: her pre Deeu warned by this that her time had
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Speaker 1: come to leave a world in which, in so short
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Speaker 1: a time she had been wife, mother, and widow. She
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Speaker 1: entered the chamber where her son George slept in the
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Speaker 1: care of the nurses. He was three years old. His
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Speaker 1: long eyelashes threw a lovely shadow on his cheeks, and
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Speaker 1: his mouth looked like a flower. At sight of him,
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Speaker 1: so helpless and so beautiful, she began to weep. My
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Speaker 1: little child, she cried in anguish, My dear little child,
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Speaker 1: you still never have known me, and my image will
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Speaker 1: fade forever from your dear eyes. And yet to be
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Speaker 1: truly your mother, I nourished you with my own milk,
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Speaker 1: and for love of you I refused the hand of
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Speaker 1: the noblest cavaliers. So speaking, she kissed medallion in which
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Speaker 1: was her own portrait and a lock of her hair,
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Speaker 1: and this she hung about the neck of her son.
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Speaker 1: A mother's tear fell on the little one's cheek as
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Speaker 1: he stirred in his cradle and rubbed his eyes with
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Speaker 1: his little hands. But the Countess turned her head away
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Speaker 1: and fled out of the room. How could eyes about
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Speaker 1: to be extinguished forever bear the light of two dear
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Speaker 1: eyes in which the soul was only beginning to dawn.
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Speaker 1: She ordered a steed to be saddled, and followed by
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Speaker 1: her squire Francore, she rode to the castle of Clarides.
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Speaker 1: The Dutchess have clarades embraced the Countess of Blanchelande, loveliest,
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Speaker 1: What good fortune brings you here? The fortune that brings
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Speaker 1: me here is not good. Listen, my friend, we were
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Speaker 1: married within a few years of each other, and similar
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Speaker 1: fates have made us widows. For in these times of chivalry,
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Speaker 1: the best perish first, and in order to live long,
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Speaker 1: one must be a monk. When you became a mother,
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Speaker 1: I had already been one for two years. Your daughter,
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Speaker 1: honey bee as lovely as the day, and my little
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Speaker 1: George is good. I love you and you love me.
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Speaker 1: Know then that I have found a white rose on
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Speaker 1: the cushion of my pree to. I am about to die.
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Speaker 1: I leave you, my son. The duchess knew what the
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Speaker 1: white rest meant to the ladies of Blanchelande. She began
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Speaker 1: to weep, and in the midst of her tears, she
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Speaker 1: promised to bring up honey Bee and George as brother
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Speaker 1: and sister, and to give nothing to one which the
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Speaker 1: other did not share. Still in each other's arms, the
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Speaker 1: two women approached the cradle where little honey Bee slept
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Speaker 1: under light curtains blew as the sky, and without opening
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Speaker 1: her eyes, she moved her little arms, and as she
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Speaker 1: spread her fingers, five little rosy rays came out of
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Speaker 1: each sleeve. He will defend her, said the mother of George,
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Speaker 1: and she will love him. The mother of honey Bee replied,
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Speaker 1: she will love him. A clear little voice repeated, which
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Speaker 1: the duchess recognized as that of a spirit which for
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Speaker 1: a long time had lived under the hearthstone. On her
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Speaker 1: return to her manner, the lady of Blanchelon divided her
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Speaker 1: jewels among her women, and, having had herself anointed with
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Speaker 1: perfumed ointments and robed in her richest raiment. In order
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Speaker 1: to honor the body destined to rise again at the
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Speaker 1: day of judgment, she lay down on her bed and
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Speaker 1: fell asleep, never again to awaken. Chapter three, wherein begins
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Speaker 1: the love of George of Blancheland and Honeybee of Cleride.
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Speaker 1: Contrary to the common destiny, which is to have more
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Speaker 1: goodness than beauty, or more beauty than goodness, the Duchess
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Speaker 1: of Cleride's was as good as she was beautiful. And
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Speaker 1: she was so beautiful that many princes, though they had
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Speaker 1: only seen her portrait, demanded her hand in marriage. But
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Speaker 1: to all their pleadings, she replied, I shall have but
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Speaker 1: one husband, as I have but one's. However, after five
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Speaker 1: years of mourning, she left off her long veil and
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Speaker 1: her black robes, so as not to spoil the happiness
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Speaker 1: of those about her, and in order that all should
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Speaker 1: smile and be free to enjoy themselves. In her presence,
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Speaker 1: her duchy comprised a great extent of country, moorlands overgrown
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Speaker 1: by heather, covered the desolate expanse, lakes in which fishermen
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Speaker 1: sometimes caught magic fish, and mountains which rose in fearful
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Speaker 1: solitudes over subterraneous regions inhabited by dwarfs. She governed Clereedes
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Speaker 1: with the help of an old monk, who, having escaped
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Speaker 1: from Constantinople and seen much violence and treachery, had but
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Speaker 1: little faith in human goodness. He lived in a tower,
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Speaker 1: in the company of birds and books, and from this
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Speaker 1: place he filled his position as counselor by the aid
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Speaker 1: of a number of little maxims. His rules were these,
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Speaker 1: Never revive a law once fallen into disuse. Always accede
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Speaker 1: to the demands of a people for fear of revolt,
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Speaker 1: but a seed as slowly as possible, because no sooner
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Speaker 1: is one reform granted than the public demands another. And
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Speaker 1: you can be turned out for acceding too quickly, as
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Speaker 1: well as for resisting too long. The duchess let him
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Speaker 1: have his own way, for she understood nothing about politics.
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Speaker 1: She was compassionate, and as she was unable to respect
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Speaker 1: all men, she pitied those who were unfortunate enough to
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Speaker 1: be wicked. She helped the suffering in every possible way,
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Speaker 1: visited the sick, comforted the widows, and took the poor
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Speaker 1: orphans under her protection. She educated her daughter, Honeybee, with
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Speaker 1: a charming wisdom, having brought the child up only to
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Speaker 1: do good. She never denied her any pleasure. This good
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Speaker 1: woman kept the promise she had made to the poor
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Speaker 1: Countess of Blanchelande. She was like a mother to George,
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Speaker 1: and she made no difference between him and honey Bee.
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Speaker 1: They grew up together, and George approved of Honeybee, though
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Speaker 1: he thought her rather small. Once, when they were very little,
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Speaker 1: he went up to her and asked, will you play
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Speaker 1: with me? I should like to, said Honeybee. We will
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Speaker 1: make mud pies, said George, which they proceeded to do.
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Speaker 1: But as Honeybee made hers very badly, George struck her
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Speaker 1: fingers with his spade, whereupon Honeybee set up a most
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Speaker 1: awful roar, and the Squire frank Or, who was strolling
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Speaker 1: about in the garden, said to his young master, it
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Speaker 1: is not worthy of a count of Blanchelande to strike
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Speaker 1: young ladies, your lordship, whereupon George was seized with an
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Speaker 1: ardent desire to hit Francor also with his spade, But
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Speaker 1: as this presented insurmountable difficulties, he resigned himself to do
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Speaker 1: what was easier, and that was to stand with his
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Speaker 1: nose against the trunk of a big tree and weep torrents.
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Speaker 1: In the meantime, Honeybee took care to encourage her own
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Speaker 1: tears by digging her fists into her eyes, and in
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Speaker 1: her despair she rubbed her nose against the trunk of
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Speaker 1: a neighboring tree. When night came and softly covered the earth,
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Speaker 1: Honeybee and George were still weeping, each in front of
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Speaker 1: a tree. The Duchess of Clarts was obliged to come
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Speaker 1: and take her daughter by one hand and George by
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Speaker 1: the other, and lead them back to the castle. Their
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Speaker 1: eyes were red, and their noses were red. In their cheeks,
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Speaker 1: they sighed and sobbed enough to break one's heart. But
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Speaker 1: they ate a good supper, after which they were both
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Speaker 1: put to bed. As soon as the candle was blown out,
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Speaker 1: they reappeared like two little ghosts and two little nightgowns,
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Speaker 1: and they hugged each other and laughed at the top
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Speaker 1: of their voices. And thus began the love of Honeybee
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Speaker 1: of Claride's and George of Blanchelande Chapter four, which treats
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Speaker 1: of education in general and George of Blanchelande in particular.
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Speaker 1: So George grew up in the castle side by side
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Speaker 1: with honeybee, whom he affectionately called his sister, though he
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Speaker 1: knew she was not. He had masters in fencing, riding, swimming, gymnastics, dancing, hunting, falconry, tennis,
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Speaker 1: and indeed in all the arts. He even had a
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Speaker 1: writing master. This was an old cleric, humble of manner,
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Speaker 1: but very proud within, who taught him all manner of penmanship.
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Speaker 1: And the more beautiful this was, the less decipherable. It
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Speaker 1: became very little pleasure or prophet did George get out
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Speaker 1: of the old cleric's lessons, as little as out of
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Speaker 1: those of an old monk who taught him grammar in
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Speaker 1: barbarous terms. George could not understand the sense of learning
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Speaker 1: a language which one knows as a matter of course,
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Speaker 1: and which is called one's mother tongue. He only enjoyed
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Speaker 1: himself with frankcore the squire, who, having knocked about the world,
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Speaker 1: understood the ways of men and beasts, could describe all
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Speaker 1: sorts of countries and compose songs which he could not write.
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Speaker 1: Francor was the only one of his masters who taught
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Speaker 1: George anything, for he was the only one who really
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Speaker 1: loved him. And the only good lessons are those which
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Speaker 1: are given with love. The two old goggleyes, the writing
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Speaker 1: Master and the grammar Master, who hated each other with
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Speaker 1: all their hearts, were however united in a common hatred
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Speaker 1: of the old squire, whom they accused of being a drunkard.
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Speaker 1: It is true that Francore frequented the tavern the pewter
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Speaker 1: pot somewhat too zealously. It was here that he forgot
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Speaker 1: his sorrows and composed his songs. But of course it
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Speaker 1: was very wrong of him. Homer made better verses than Francore,
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Speaker 1: and Homer only drank the water of the springs. As
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Speaker 1: for sorrows. The whole world has sorrows, and the thing
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Speaker 1: to make one forget them is not the wine one drinks,
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Speaker 1: but the good one does. But Francor was an old man,
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Speaker 1: grown gray in harness, faithful and trustworthy, and the two
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Speaker 1: masters of writing and grammar should have hidden his failings
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Speaker 1: from the Duchess instead of giving her an exaggerated account
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Speaker 1: of them. Francor is a drunkard, said the writing Master,
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Speaker 1: And when he comes back from the pewterpot, he makes
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Speaker 1: a letter s as he walks. Moreover, it is the
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Speaker 1: only letter he has ever made, because if it please
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Speaker 1: your grace, this drunkard is an ass the grammar master added,
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Speaker 1: and the songs Francor sings as he staggers about er
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Speaker 1: against all rules, and are constructed on no model at all.
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Speaker 1: He ignores all the rules of rhetoric, please your grace.
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Speaker 1: The duchess had a natural distaste for pedance and tale bearers.
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Speaker 1: She did what we all would have done in her place.
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Speaker 1: At first she did not listen to them, but as
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Speaker 1: they again began to repeat their tittle tattle, she ended
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Speaker 1: by believing them and decided to send Francore away. However,
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Speaker 1: to give him an honorable exile, she sent him to
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Speaker 1: Rome to obtain the blessing of the Pope. This journey
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Speaker 1: was all the longer for Francore the Squire, because a
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Speaker 1: great many taverns, much frequented by musicians, separated the Duchy
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Speaker 1: of Clereid's from the holy Apostolic seat. In the course
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Speaker 1: of this story, we shall see how soon the duchess regretted,
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Speaker 1: having deprived the two children of their most faithful guardian.
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Speaker 1: End of section one Section two of Honeybee by Anatole France,
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Speaker 1: translated by Missus John Lane. This LibriVox recording is in
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Speaker 1: the public domain. Recording by Kate Follis Chapter five, which
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Speaker 1: tells how the duchess took Honeybee and George to the
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Speaker 1: hermitage and of their encounter with a hideous old woman.
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Speaker 1: That morning. It was the first Sunday after Easter. The
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Speaker 1: Duchess rode out of the castle on her great sorrel horse,
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Speaker 1: while on her left George of Blanchelande was mounted on
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Speaker 1: a dark horse with a white star on his black forehead,
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Speaker 1: and on her right honey Beee guided her milk white
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Speaker 1: steed with rose colored reins. They were on their way
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Speaker 1: to the hermitage to hear mass. Soldiers armed with lances
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Speaker 1: formed their escort, and as they passed, the people crowded
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Speaker 1: forward to admire them. And indeed all three were very
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Speaker 1: fair to see. Under a veil of silver flowers and
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Speaker 1: with flowing mantle, the Duchess had an air of lovely majesty,
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Speaker 1: while the pearls with which her coife was embroidered shone
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Speaker 1: with a soft radiance that suited the face and soul
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Speaker 1: of this beautiful lady. George by her side, with flowing
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Speaker 1: hair and sparkling eyes, was good to see and on
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Speaker 1: the other side, wrote Honeybee. The tender and pure color
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Speaker 1: of her face, like a caress for the eyes, but
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Speaker 1: most glorious of all, her fair tresses, flowing over her shoulders,
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Speaker 1: held by a circlet of gold surmounted by three gold flowers,
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Speaker 1: seemed the shining mantle of her youth and beauty. The
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Speaker 1: good people said, on seeing her, what a lovely young damsel.
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Speaker 1: The master Taylor, Old Jean, took his grants and Peter
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Speaker 1: in his arms to point out Honeybee to him, and
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Speaker 1: Peter asked, was she alive? Or was she an image
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Speaker 1: of wax? For he could not understand how anyone could
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Speaker 1: be so white and so lovely, and yet belonged to
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Speaker 1: the same race as himself. Little Peter, with his good,
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Speaker 1: big weather beaten cheeks and his little homespun shirt, laced
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Speaker 1: behind in country fashion. While the Duchess accepted the people's
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Speaker 1: homage with gracious kindness, the two children showed how it
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Speaker 1: gratified their pride, George by his blushes, Honeybee by her smiles.
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Speaker 1: And for this reason the Duchess said to them, how
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Speaker 1: kindly these good people greet us? For what reason, George?
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Speaker 1: And what is the reason honey Bee, So they should,
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Speaker 1: said Honeybee. It's their duty. George added, But why should
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Speaker 1: it be their duty, asked the duchess, And as neither replied,
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Speaker 1: she continued, I will tell you, for more than three
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Speaker 1: hundred years, the dupes of Cleryades, from father to son,
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Speaker 1: have lance in hand protected these poor people so that
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Speaker 1: they could gather the harvests of the fields they had sown.
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Speaker 1: For more than three hundred years, all the duchesses of
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Speaker 1: Clred's have spun the cloth for the poor, have visited
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Speaker 1: the sick, and have held the new born at the
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Speaker 1: baptismal font. That is the reason they greet you, my children.
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Speaker 1: George was lost in deep thought. We must protect those
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Speaker 1: who toil on the land, and Honeybee said one should
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Speaker 1: spin for the poor. And thus, chatting and meditating, they
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Speaker 1: went on their way through meadows starred with flowers. A
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Speaker 1: fringe of blue mountains lay against the distant horizon. George
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Speaker 1: pointed towards the east. Is that a great steel shield
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Speaker 1: I see over there? Oh? No, said Honeybee, it's a
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Speaker 1: round silver clasp as big as the moon. It is
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Speaker 1: neither a steel shield nor a silver clasp. My children,
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Speaker 1: replied the Duchess. But a lake glittering in the sunshine.
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Speaker 1: The surface of this lake, which seen from here, is
25:57
Speaker 1: as smooth as a mere, is stirred by an innumerable ripples.
26:01
Speaker 1: Its borders, which appear as distinct as if cut in metal,
26:05
Speaker 1: are really covered by reeds with feathery plumes, and irises,
26:10
Speaker 1: whose flower is like a human glance between the blades
26:13
Speaker 1: of swords. Every morning, a white mist rises over the lake,
26:18
Speaker 1: which shines like armor under the midday sun. But none
26:22
Speaker 1: must approach it, for in it dwell the nit sees,
26:26
Speaker 1: who lure passers by into their crystal abodes. At this
26:31
Speaker 1: moment the bell of the hermitage was heard. Let us dismount,
26:36
Speaker 1: said the Duchess, and walk to the chapel. It was
26:40
Speaker 1: neither on elephants nor camels that the wise men of
26:43
Speaker 1: the east approached the manger. They heard the hermit's mass.
26:48
Speaker 1: A hideous old crone covered with rags, knelt beside the Duchess, who,
26:53
Speaker 1: on leaving the church, offered her holy water. Accept it,
26:58
Speaker 1: good mother, she said, George was amazed. Do you not know,
27:04
Speaker 1: said the Duchess, that in the poor you honor the
27:08
Speaker 1: chosen of our Lord? Jesus Christ. A beggar such as this,
27:11
Speaker 1: as well as the good Duke of roche Noirs held
27:15
Speaker 1: you at the font when you were baptized, And your
27:18
Speaker 1: little sister Honeybee also had one of these poor creatures
27:22
Speaker 1: as godmother. The old crone, who seemed to have guessed
27:26
Speaker 1: the boy's thoughts, leaned towards him, fair prince, She cried, mockingly,
27:33
Speaker 1: May you conquer as many kingdoms as I have lost.
27:37
Speaker 1: I was the queen of the island of pearls and
27:40
Speaker 1: the mountains of gold. Each day my table was served
27:44
Speaker 1: with fourteen different kinds of fish, and a negropade bore
27:49
Speaker 1: my train. And by what misfortune have you lost your
27:54
Speaker 1: islands and your mountains? Good woman, asked the Duchess. I
27:59
Speaker 1: vexed the dwarfs, and they carried me far away from
28:02
Speaker 1: my dominions. Are the dwarfs so powerful? George asked, as
28:09
Speaker 1: they live in the earth? The old woman answered, they
28:14
Speaker 1: know the virtue of precious stones. They work in metals,
28:18
Speaker 1: and they unseal the hidden sources of the springs. And
28:23
Speaker 1: what did you do to vex them? Asked the Duchess.
28:28
Speaker 1: On a December night, said the old woman. One of
28:32
Speaker 1: them came to ask permission to prepare a great midnight
28:36
Speaker 1: banquet in the kitchen of the castle, which a vaster
28:39
Speaker 1: than a chapter house, was furnished with casseroles, frying pans,
28:44
Speaker 1: ear thin saucepans, kettles, pans, boardable ovens, gridirons, boilers, dripping pans,
28:49
Speaker 1: Dutch ovens, fish kettles, copper pans, pastry molds, copper jugs,
28:54
Speaker 1: goblets of gold and silver, and mottled wood, not to
28:59
Speaker 1: mention iron roasting jacks artistically forged, and the huge black
29:04
Speaker 1: caldron who hung from the pot hook. He promised neither
29:08
Speaker 1: to disturb nor to damage anything. I refused his request,
29:13
Speaker 1: and he disappeared, muttering vague threats. The third night, at
29:17
Speaker 1: being Christmas, this same dwarf returned to the chamber where
29:21
Speaker 1: I slept. He was accompanied by innumerable others, who pulled
29:26
Speaker 1: me out of bed and carried me to an unknown
29:31
Speaker 1: land in my nightgown. Such they said as they left me,
29:37
Speaker 1: Such as the punishment of the rich who refuse even
29:41
Speaker 1: a part of their treasure, to the industrious and kindly
29:45
Speaker 1: dwarf folk who work in gold and caused the springs
29:49
Speaker 1: to flow. Thus said the toothless old woman, and the duchess.
29:55
Speaker 1: Having comforted her with words and money, she and the
30:00
Speaker 1: two children retraced their way to the castle. Chapter six,
30:06
Speaker 1: which tells of what can be seen from the keep
30:09
Speaker 1: of Clarides. It was one day shortly after this that
30:14
Speaker 1: Honeybee and George, without being observed, climbed the steps of
30:19
Speaker 1: the watch tower, which stands in the middle of the
30:22
Speaker 1: Castle of Clareds. Having reached the platform, they shouted at
30:27
Speaker 1: the top of their voices and clapped their hands. Their
30:31
Speaker 1: view extended down the hillside, divided into brown and green
30:35
Speaker 1: squares of cultivated fields, woods and mountains lay dimly blue
30:41
Speaker 1: against the distant horizon. Little sister, cried George. Little sister,
30:48
Speaker 1: look at the whole wide world. The world is very big,
30:54
Speaker 1: said Honeybee. My teachers, said George, have taught me that
30:59
Speaker 1: it is very big. But as Gertrude, our housekeeper, says,
31:04
Speaker 1: one must see to believe. They went the round of
31:08
Speaker 1: the platform. Here's something wonderful, little brother, cried Honeybee. The
31:15
Speaker 1: castle stands in the middle of the earth, and we
31:18
Speaker 1: are on the watch tower in the middle of the castle.
31:21
Speaker 1: And so we are standing in the middle of the earth.
31:25
Speaker 1: Ha ha ha. And indeed the horizon formed a circle
31:30
Speaker 1: about the children, of which the watch tower was the center.
31:36
Speaker 1: We are in the middle of the earth. Ha ha ha,
31:41
Speaker 1: George repeated, whereupon they both started a thinking. What a
31:47
Speaker 1: pity that the world is so big, said honey Bee,
31:53
Speaker 1: one might get lost and be separated from one's friends.
31:58
Speaker 1: George shrugged shoulders. How lucky that the world is so
32:03
Speaker 1: big one can go in search of adventures. When I
32:07
Speaker 1: am grown up, I mean to conquer the mountains that
32:11
Speaker 1: stand at the ends of the earth. That is where
32:15
Speaker 1: the moon rises. I shall seize her as she passes,
32:18
Speaker 1: and I will give her to you, honey Bee. Yes,
32:22
Speaker 1: said Honeybee, give it to me, and I will put
32:25
Speaker 1: her in my hair. Then they busied themselves searching for
32:30
Speaker 1: the places they knew as on a map. I recognize everything,
32:35
Speaker 1: said Honeybee. Who've recognized nothing? But what are those little
32:41
Speaker 1: square stones scattered over the hillside? Houses? George replied, those
32:48
Speaker 1: are houses. Don't you recognize the capital of the Duchy
32:52
Speaker 1: of Claride's little sister. After all, it is a great city.
32:57
Speaker 1: It has three streets, and one can drive through one
33:01
Speaker 1: of them. Don't you remember that we passed through it
33:04
Speaker 1: last week when we went to the hermitage. And what
33:08
Speaker 1: is that winding brook? That is the river. See the
33:12
Speaker 1: old stone bridge down there, the bridge under which we
33:17
Speaker 1: fished for crayfish. That's the one. And in one of
33:22
Speaker 1: the niches stands the statue of the woman without a head.
33:27
Speaker 1: One cannot see her from her because she is too small.
33:30
Speaker 1: I remember, But why hasn't she got a head? Probably
33:35
Speaker 1: because she has lost it. Without saying if this explanation
33:40
Speaker 1: was satisfactory, Honeybee gazed at the horizon. Little brother, Little brother,
33:47
Speaker 1: Just see what sparkles by the side of the blue mountains.
33:52
Speaker 1: It is the lake. It is the lake. They then
33:57
Speaker 1: remembered what the Duchess had told them of these beautiful
34:01
Speaker 1: and dangerous waters where the nick seas dwell. We will
34:06
Speaker 1: go there, said Honeybee. George was aghast. He stared at
34:11
Speaker 1: her with his mouth wide open. But the Duchess has
34:15
Speaker 1: forbidden us to go out alone. So how can we
34:19
Speaker 1: go to this lake which is at the end of
34:21
Speaker 1: the earth. How can we go? I don't know. It's
34:26
Speaker 1: you who ought to know, for you are a man
34:29
Speaker 1: and you have a grammar master. This pequked George, who
34:33
Speaker 1: replied that one might be a man, and even a
34:36
Speaker 1: very brave man, and yet not know all the roads
34:40
Speaker 1: on earth. Whereupon Honeybee said, drily, with a little air
34:45
Speaker 1: of scorn, which made him blush to his ears. I
34:50
Speaker 1: never said I would conquer the blue mountains or take
34:54
Speaker 1: down the moon. I don't know the way to the lake,
34:58
Speaker 1: but I mean to find it. George pretended to laugh.
35:03
Speaker 1: You laugh like a cucumber. Cucumbers neither laugh nor cry.
35:08
Speaker 1: If they did laugh, they would laugh like you. I
35:12
Speaker 1: shall go along to the lake, and while I search
35:15
Speaker 1: for the beautiful waters in which the Nixes live, you
35:18
Speaker 1: shall stay alone at home, like a good girl. I
35:22
Speaker 1: will leave you my needlework and my doll. Take care
35:25
Speaker 1: of them, George, take good care of them. George was proud,
35:31
Speaker 1: and he was conscious of the humiliation with which Honeybee
35:36
Speaker 1: covered him. Gloomily, and with head bowed, he cried, in
35:41
Speaker 1: a hollow voice, very well, then we will go to
35:46
Speaker 1: the lake. Chapter seven, in which is described how George
35:52
Speaker 1: and Honeybee went to the lake the next day after
35:57
Speaker 1: the midday meal, the Duchess having gone to her own room,
36:01
Speaker 1: George took Honeybee by the hand. Now come, he said,
36:06
Speaker 1: where hush. They crept downstairs and crossed the courtyard. After
36:13
Speaker 1: they had passed the postern, Honeybee again asked where they
36:18
Speaker 1: were going to the lake. George said resolutely. Honeybee opened
36:24
Speaker 1: her mouth wide, but remained speechless. To go so far
36:28
Speaker 1: without permission, and in satin shoes, for her shoes were
36:33
Speaker 1: of satin. There was no sense in it. We must go,
36:38
Speaker 1: and there is no need to be sensible. Such was
36:42
Speaker 1: George's proud reply. She had once humiliated him, and now
36:48
Speaker 1: she pretended to be astonished. This time it was he
36:52
Speaker 1: who disdainfully sent her back to her dolls. Girls always
36:56
Speaker 1: tempt one on to adventures and then run away. So
37:00
Speaker 1: mean she could remain He'd go alone. She clung to
37:05
Speaker 1: his arm. He pushed her away. She hung about his neck.
37:09
Speaker 1: Little brother, she's sobbed. I will follow you. He allowed
37:14
Speaker 1: himself to be moved by such touching repentance. Come then,
37:18
Speaker 1: but not through the town we may be seen. We
37:21
Speaker 1: will follow the ramparts, and then we can reach the
37:25
Speaker 1: highway by a cross road. And so they went hand
37:30
Speaker 1: in hand while George explained his plans. We will follow
37:35
Speaker 1: the road. We took to the hermitage, and then we
37:38
Speaker 1: shall be sure to see the lake just as we
37:41
Speaker 1: did the other day, and then we can cross the
37:44
Speaker 1: fields in a bee line. A bee line is a
37:47
Speaker 1: pretty rustic way of saying a straight line, and they
37:51
Speaker 1: both laughed because of the young girl's name, which fitted
37:54
Speaker 1: in so oddly. Honey Beee picked flowers along the ditches.
37:59
Speaker 1: She made posy of marshmallows, white moline asters, and chrysanthemums.
38:06
Speaker 1: The flowers faded in her little hands, and it was
38:09
Speaker 1: pitiful to see them when Honeybee crossed the old stone bridge.
38:14
Speaker 1: As she did not know what to do with them.
38:16
Speaker 1: She decided to throw them into the water to refresh them,
38:21
Speaker 1: but finally she preferred to give them to the woman
38:25
Speaker 1: without a head. She begged George to lift her in
38:29
Speaker 1: his arms so as to make her tall enough, and
38:32
Speaker 1: she placed her armful of wild flowers between the folded
38:36
Speaker 1: hands of the old stone figure. After she was far away,
38:41
Speaker 1: she looked back and saw a pigeon resting on the
38:44
Speaker 1: shoulder of the statue. When they had been walking, sometimes
38:49
Speaker 1: said Honeybee, I'm thirsty, so am I, George replied, but
38:55
Speaker 1: the river is far behind us. And I see neither
38:59
Speaker 1: brook nor the sun is so hot that he has
39:04
Speaker 1: drunk them all up? What shall we do? So they
39:08
Speaker 1: talked and lamented. When they saw a peasant woman approach
39:13
Speaker 1: who carried a basket of fruit cherries. Cried, George, how unlucky.
39:19
Speaker 1: I have no money to buy any I have money,
39:23
Speaker 1: said honey Bee. She pulled out of her pocket a
39:27
Speaker 1: little purse, in which were five pieces of gold. Good woman,
39:32
Speaker 1: she said to the peasant, will you give me as
39:35
Speaker 1: many cherries as my frock will hold? And she raised
39:39
Speaker 1: her little skirt with her two hands. The woman threw
39:43
Speaker 1: in two or three handfuls of cherries. With one hand,
39:47
Speaker 1: honey be held the uplifted skirt, and with the other
39:51
Speaker 1: she offered the woman a gold piece. Is that enough?
39:55
Speaker 1: The woman clutched the gold piece, which would amply have
39:59
Speaker 1: paid not only for the cherries in the basket, but
40:02
Speaker 1: for the tree on which they grew, and the plot
40:06
Speaker 1: of land on which the trees stood. The artful one replied,
40:12
Speaker 1: I'm satisfied, if only to oblige you, little princess. Well,
40:17
Speaker 1: then put some more cherries in my brother's cap, said
40:21
Speaker 1: honey Bee, and you shall have another gold piece this
40:25
Speaker 1: was done, the peasant woman went on her way, meditating
40:30
Speaker 1: in what old stocking or under what mattress she should
40:34
Speaker 1: hide her two gold pieces. And the two children followed
40:39
Speaker 1: the road, eating the cherries and throwing the stones to
40:42
Speaker 1: the right and the left. George chose the cherries that
40:46
Speaker 1: hung two by two on one stem, and made ear
40:49
Speaker 1: rings for his little sister. And he laughed to see
40:53
Speaker 1: the lovely twin fruit dangle its vermilion beauty against her cheeks.
40:59
Speaker 1: A pebblestock their joyous progress, and it got into honeypiece
41:03
Speaker 1: little shoe, and she began to limp at every step
41:07
Speaker 1: she took. Her golden curls bobbed against her cheek, and
41:10
Speaker 1: so limping, she sat down on a bank by the roadside.
41:15
Speaker 1: Her brother knelt down and took off the satin shoe.
41:19
Speaker 1: He shook it and out dropped a little white pebble.
41:23
Speaker 1: Little brother, she said, as she looked at her feet,
41:27
Speaker 1: the next time we go to the lake, we'll put
41:30
Speaker 1: on boots. The sun was already sinking against the radiant sky.
41:36
Speaker 1: A soft breeze caressed their cheeks and necks, and so
41:41
Speaker 1: cheered and refreshed the two little travelers proceeded on their way.
41:46
Speaker 1: To make walking easier. They went hand in hand, and
41:49
Speaker 1: they laughed to see their moving shadows melt together before them.
41:54
Speaker 1: They sang made Marian setting forth to find the mill
41:59
Speaker 1: with sacks of corn to grind her donkey Jan best road,
42:03
Speaker 1: my dainty maiden, Marian. She mounted on her donkey Jan
42:08
Speaker 1: and took the millward road, But Honeybee stopped. I've lost
42:13
Speaker 1: my shoe, my satin shoe, she cried, And so it was.
42:19
Speaker 1: The little shoe whose silken laces had become loose in walking,
42:24
Speaker 1: lay in the road, covered with dust. Then as she
42:27
Speaker 1: looked back and saw the towers of the Castle of
42:31
Speaker 1: Clarades fade into the distant twilight, her heart sank and
42:37
Speaker 1: the tears came to her eyes. The wolves will eat us,
42:41
Speaker 1: she cried, and her mother will never see us again,
42:45
Speaker 1: and she will die of grief. But George comforted her
42:50
Speaker 1: as he put on her shoe. When the castle bell
42:53
Speaker 1: rings for supper, we shall have returned home to Clarade's come.
42:58
Speaker 1: The miller saw her nigh and could not well forbear
43:02
Speaker 1: to cry. Your donkey, you must tether, my dainty maiden, Marryan,
43:08
Speaker 1: tether you hear your donkey, jan who brought a strain
43:11
Speaker 1: together the lake, Honeybee, say the lake, the lake, the lake, Yes, George,
43:17
Speaker 1: the lake. George shouted Hurrah and flung his hat in
43:23
Speaker 1: the air. Honeybee was too proper to fling hers up also,
43:27
Speaker 1: so taking off the shoe that wouldn't stay on, she
43:30
Speaker 1: threw it joyfully over her head. There lay the lake
43:35
Speaker 1: in the depths of the valley, and its curved and
43:37
Speaker 1: sloping banks made a framework of foliage and flowers about
43:42
Speaker 1: its silver waves. It lay there, clear and tranquil, and
43:47
Speaker 1: one could see the swaying of the indistinct green of
43:51
Speaker 1: its banks. But the children could find no path through
43:54
Speaker 1: the underbrush that would lead to its beautiful waters. While
43:59
Speaker 1: they were searching for one, their legs were nipped by
44:02
Speaker 1: some geese driven by a little girl dressed in a
44:05
Speaker 1: sheepskin and carrying a switch. George just her name GILBERTA. Well, then, GILBERTA,
44:14
Speaker 1: how can one go to the lake? Folks doesn't go? Why?
44:20
Speaker 1: Because but supposing folks did. If folks did, there'd be
44:25
Speaker 1: a path, and one would take that path. George could
44:30
Speaker 1: think of no adequate reply to this guardian of the geese.
44:35
Speaker 1: Let's go, he said, farther on, we shall be sure
44:38
Speaker 1: to find a way through the woods, and we will
44:42
Speaker 1: pick nuts and eat them, said Honeybee, for I am hungry.
44:47
Speaker 1: The next time we go to the lake, we must
44:49
Speaker 1: bring a satchel full of good things to eat. That
44:52
Speaker 1: we will little sister, said George. And I quite agree
44:57
Speaker 1: with Francour, our squire, who, when he he went to Rome,
45:01
Speaker 1: took a ham with him in case he should hunger,
45:04
Speaker 1: and a flask lest he should be thirsty. But hurry,
45:08
Speaker 1: for it is growing late, though I don't know the
45:10
Speaker 1: time the shepherdess is now. By looking at the sun,
45:15
Speaker 1: said Honeybee. But I'm not a shepherdess yet. It seems
45:19
Speaker 1: to me that when we left, the sun was over
45:22
Speaker 1: our head, and now it is down there far behind,
45:26
Speaker 1: at the town and castle of Claredes. I wonder if
45:30
Speaker 1: this happens every day, and what it means. While they
45:34
Speaker 1: looked at the sun, a cloud of dust rose up
45:37
Speaker 1: from the high road, and they saw some cavaliers with
45:41
Speaker 1: glittering weapons ride past at full speed. The children hid
45:46
Speaker 1: in the underbrush in great terror. They are thieves, or
45:51
Speaker 1: probably ogres. They thought they were really guards sent by
45:57
Speaker 1: the Duchess of Clarides, in search of the little truants.
46:02
Speaker 1: The two little adventurers found a footpath in the underbrush,
46:06
Speaker 1: not a lover's lane, for it was impossible to walk
46:09
Speaker 1: side by side holding hands, as is the fashion of lovers.
46:14
Speaker 1: Nor could the print of human footsteps be seen, but
46:17
Speaker 1: only indentations left by innumerable tiny cloven feet. Those are
46:23
Speaker 1: the feet of little devils, said Honeybee, Or dear, suggested George.
46:32
Speaker 1: The matter was never explained, but what is certain is
46:35
Speaker 1: that the footpath descended in a gentle slope towards the
46:40
Speaker 1: edge of the lake, which lay before the two children
46:43
Speaker 1: in all its languorous and silent beauty. The willows surrounded
46:48
Speaker 1: its banks with their tender foliage. The slender blades of
46:52
Speaker 1: the reeds, with their delicate plumes, swayed lightly over the water.
46:57
Speaker 1: They formed tremulous islands about which the water lily spread
47:02
Speaker 1: their great heart shaped leaves and snow white flowers. Over
47:07
Speaker 1: these blossoming islands, dragon flies, all emerald or azure, with
47:13
Speaker 1: wings of flame, sped their shrill flight in suddenly altered curves.
47:19
Speaker 1: The children plunged their burning feet with joy in the
47:23
Speaker 1: damp sand, overgrown with tufted horse tails, and the reed
47:29
Speaker 1: mace with its slender lance, the sweet flag wafted towards
47:33
Speaker 1: them its humble fragrance, and the water plantain unrolled about them,
47:39
Speaker 1: its filaments of lace, on the margin of the sleeping waters,
47:43
Speaker 1: which the willow herbs starred with its purple flowers. End
47:50
Speaker 1: of section two Section three of Honeybee by Anatole Franz,
48:01
Speaker 1: translated by Missus John Lane. This LibriVox recording is in
48:05
Speaker 1: the public domain recording by Kate Fowllis, Chapter eight, wherein
48:12
Speaker 1: we shall see what happened to George of Blanchelande, because
48:15
Speaker 1: he approached the lake in which the Nixes dwell. Honeybee
48:21
Speaker 1: crossed the sand between two clumps of willows, and the
48:25
Speaker 1: little spirit of the place leaped into the water in
48:28
Speaker 1: front of her, leaving circles that grew greater and greater,
48:32
Speaker 1: and finally vanished. This spirit was a little green frog
48:37
Speaker 1: with a white belly. All was silent. A fresh breeze
48:42
Speaker 1: swept over the clear lake, whose every ripple had the
48:45
Speaker 1: gracious curve of a smile. This lake is pretty, said Honeybee,
48:51
Speaker 1: but my feet are bleeding in my little torn shoes.
48:55
Speaker 1: And I am very hungry. I wish I were back
48:58
Speaker 1: in the castle, little sister, said George. Sit down on
49:03
Speaker 1: the grass. I will wrap your feet in the leaves
49:06
Speaker 1: to cool them. Then I will go in search of
49:09
Speaker 1: supper for you. High up along the road I saw
49:12
Speaker 1: some ripe blackberries. I will fetch you the sweetest and
49:16
Speaker 1: best in my hat. Give me your handkerchief. I will
49:20
Speaker 1: fill it with strawberries, for there are strawberries near here
49:23
Speaker 1: along the footpath, under the shade of the trees, and
49:27
Speaker 1: I will fill my pockets with nuts. He made a
49:30
Speaker 1: bed of moss for Honeybee under a willow on the
49:33
Speaker 1: edge of the lake, and then he left her. Honey
49:37
Speaker 1: Bee lay with folded hands on her little mossy bed
49:40
Speaker 1: and watched the light of the first stars tremble in
49:44
Speaker 1: the pale sky. Then her eyes half closed, and yet
49:48
Speaker 1: it seemed to her as if overhead she saw a
49:52
Speaker 1: little dwarf mounted on a raven. It was not fancy,
49:56
Speaker 1: for having reined in the black bird, who was not
50:00
Speaker 1: sawing at the bridle, the dwarf stopped just above the
50:04
Speaker 1: young girl and stared down at her with his round eyes,
50:08
Speaker 1: whereupon he disappeared at full gallop all the honey bee
50:13
Speaker 1: saw vaguely, and then she fell asleep. She was still
50:17
Speaker 1: asleep when George returned with the fruit he had gathered,
50:20
Speaker 1: which he placed at her side. Then he climbed down
50:24
Speaker 1: to the lake. While he waited for her to awaken,
50:27
Speaker 1: the lake slept under its delicate crown of verdure. A
50:32
Speaker 1: light mist swept softly over the waters. Suddenly the moon
50:36
Speaker 1: appeared between the branches, and then the waves were strewn
50:41
Speaker 1: as if with countless stars. But George could see that
50:45
Speaker 1: the lights which irradiated the waters were not all the
50:49
Speaker 1: broken reflections of the moon, for blue flames advanced in circles,
50:54
Speaker 1: swaying and undulating, as if in a dance. Soon he
50:59
Speaker 1: saw that the blue flames flickered over the white faces
51:03
Speaker 1: of women, beautiful faces rising on the crests of the waves,
51:07
Speaker 1: and crowned with sea weeds and sea shells, with sea
51:11
Speaker 1: green tresses floating over their shoulders, and veils flowing from
51:17
Speaker 1: under their breasts that shimmered with pearls. The child recognized
51:22
Speaker 1: the nxes and tried to flee, but already their cold
51:26
Speaker 1: white arms had seized him, and in spite of his
51:29
Speaker 1: struggles and cries. He was borne across the waters along
51:34
Speaker 1: the galleries of porphyry and crystal. Chapter nine, wherein we
51:40
Speaker 1: shall see how Honeybee was taken to the dwarfs. The
51:44
Speaker 1: moon had risen over the lake, and the water now
51:47
Speaker 1: only showed broken reflections of its disk. Honeybee still slept.
51:53
Speaker 1: The dwarf who had watched her, came back again on
51:55
Speaker 1: his raven, followed this time by a crowd of little men.
52:00
Speaker 1: They were very little men. Their white beards hung down
52:04
Speaker 1: to their knees. They looked like old men with the
52:07
Speaker 1: figures of children. By their leathern aprons and the hammers
52:11
Speaker 1: which hung from their belts, one could see that they
52:14
Speaker 1: were workers in metals. They had a curious gait, for
52:18
Speaker 1: they leaped to amazing heights, and turned the most extraordinary somersaults,
52:25
Speaker 1: and showed the most inconceivable agility that made them seem
52:29
Speaker 1: more like spirits than human beings. Yet while cutting their
52:34
Speaker 1: most foolhardy capers, they preserved an unalterable gravity of demeanor,
52:39
Speaker 1: to such a degree that it was quite impossible to
52:42
Speaker 1: make out their real characters. They placed themselves in a
52:47
Speaker 1: circle about the sleeping child. Now, then said the smallest
52:52
Speaker 1: of the dwarfs from the heights of his plumed charger. Now, then,
52:57
Speaker 1: did I deceive you when I said that the loveliest
53:00
Speaker 1: of princesses was lying asleep on the borders of the lake.
53:03
Speaker 1: And do you not thank me for bringing you here?
53:06
Speaker 1: We thank you, Bob, replied one of the dwarfs, who
53:09
Speaker 1: looked like an elderly poet. Indeed, there is nothing lovelier
53:14
Speaker 1: in the world than this young damsel. She is more
53:17
Speaker 1: rosy than the dawn which rises on the mountains, and
53:20
Speaker 1: the gold we forge is not so bright as the
53:23
Speaker 1: gold of her tresses. Very good, Pick, nothing can be truer,
53:29
Speaker 1: cried the dwarfs. But what shall we do with this
53:32
Speaker 1: lovely little lady? Pick, who looked like a very elderly poet,
53:39
Speaker 1: did not reply to this question, probably because he knew
53:42
Speaker 1: no better than they what to do with this pretty lady.
53:46
Speaker 1: Let us build a large cage and put her in.
53:50
Speaker 1: A dwarf by the name of Rugg suggested against this.
53:55
Speaker 1: Another dwarf called Dick vehement. They protested it was Dig's
54:00
Speaker 1: opinion that only wild beasts were ever put into cages,
54:04
Speaker 1: and there was nothing yet to prove that the pretty
54:06
Speaker 1: lady was one of these, but Rugg clung to his
54:09
Speaker 1: idea for the reason possibly that he had no other.
54:13
Speaker 1: He defended it with much subtlety, said he, if this
54:17
Speaker 1: person is not servage, she will certainly become so as
54:20
Speaker 1: a result of the cage, which will be therefore not
54:23
Speaker 1: only useful, but indispensable. This reasoning displeased the Dwarfs, and
54:29
Speaker 1: one of them, named Tad, denounced it with much indignation.
54:33
Speaker 1: He was such a good dwarf. He promised to take
54:36
Speaker 1: the beautiful child back to her kindred, who must be
54:40
Speaker 1: great nobles. But this advice was rejected as being contrary
54:45
Speaker 1: to the custom of the dwarfs. We ought to follow
54:48
Speaker 1: the ways of justice, not custom, said Tad, But no
54:54
Speaker 1: one paid any further attention to him, and the assembly
54:57
Speaker 1: broke into a tumult as Kwarph named Pow a simple soul,
55:02
Speaker 1: but just gave his advice in these terms. We must
55:07
Speaker 1: begin by awakening this young lady, seeing she declines to
55:11
Speaker 1: awake of herself. If she spends the night here, her
55:14
Speaker 1: eyelids will be swollen tomorrow, and her beauty will be
55:17
Speaker 1: much impaired, for it is very unhealthy to sleep in
55:21
Speaker 1: a wood on the porters of a lake. This opinion
55:25
Speaker 1: met with general approval, as it did not clash with
55:28
Speaker 1: any other. Pick, who looked like an elderly poet burdened
55:33
Speaker 1: with care, approached the young girl and looked at her
55:37
Speaker 1: very intently, under the impression that a single one of
55:41
Speaker 1: his glances would be quite sufficient to rouse the dreamer
55:46
Speaker 1: out of the deepest sleep. But Pick was quite mistaken
55:50
Speaker 1: as to the power of his glance, for Honeybee continued
55:54
Speaker 1: to sleep with folded hands. Seeing this, the good tad
55:59
Speaker 1: pulled her chair they buy her sleeve. Thereupon she partly
56:03
Speaker 1: opened her eyes and raised herself on her elbow. When
56:07
Speaker 1: she found herself lying on a bed of moss, surrounded
56:10
Speaker 1: by dwarfs, she thought what she saw was nothing but
56:14
Speaker 1: a dream, and she rubbed her eyes to open them,
56:17
Speaker 1: so that instead of this fantastic vision, she should see
56:21
Speaker 1: the pure light of mourning as it entered her little
56:24
Speaker 1: blue room in which she thought she was. For her mind,
56:29
Speaker 1: heavy with sleep, did not recall to her the adventure
56:33
Speaker 1: of the lake. But indeed it was useless to rub
56:37
Speaker 1: her eyes. The dwarfs did not vanish, and so she
56:41
Speaker 1: was obliged to believe that they were real. Then she
56:46
Speaker 1: looked about with frightened eyes and saw the forest and
56:49
Speaker 1: remembered George, my brother George. She cried in anguish. The
56:56
Speaker 1: dwarfs crowded about her, and for fear of seeing them,
56:59
Speaker 1: she hid her face in her hands. George, George, Where
57:04
Speaker 1: is my brother George? She sobbed. The dwarfs could not
57:09
Speaker 1: tell her, for the good reason that they did not know,
57:13
Speaker 1: And she wept hot tears and cried aloud for her
57:17
Speaker 1: mother and brother. Pow longed to weep with her, and
57:21
Speaker 1: in his efforts to console, he addressed her with rather
57:25
Speaker 1: vague remarks, Do not distress yourself so much, he urged,
57:31
Speaker 1: it would be a pity for so lovely a young
57:33
Speaker 1: damsel to spoil her eyes with weeping. Rather, tell us
57:37
Speaker 1: your story, which cannot fail to be very amusing. We
57:41
Speaker 1: should be so pleased. She did not listen. She rose
57:46
Speaker 1: and tried to escape, but her barren swollen feet caused
57:50
Speaker 1: her such pain that she fell on her knees, sobbing
57:54
Speaker 1: most pitifully. Tad held her in his arms, and Pow
57:59
Speaker 1: tenderly kissed her hand. It was this that gave her
58:02
Speaker 1: the courage to look at them, and she saw that
58:06
Speaker 1: they seemed full of compassion. Pick looked to her like
58:10
Speaker 1: one inspired and yet very innocent and perceiving that all
58:14
Speaker 1: these little men were full of compassion for her. She said,
58:18
Speaker 1: little men, it is a pity you are so ugly,
58:22
Speaker 1: but I will love you all the same if you
58:24
Speaker 1: will only give me something to eat, for I am
58:27
Speaker 1: so hungry. Bob all the dwarfs cried at once, go
58:33
Speaker 1: and fetch some supper, and Bob flew off on his raven.
58:38
Speaker 1: All the same. The dwarfs resented this small girl's injustice
58:42
Speaker 1: in finding them ugly. Rugg was very angry. Pick said
58:46
Speaker 1: to himself, She's only a child, and she does not
58:50
Speaker 1: see the light of genius which shines in my eyes,
58:54
Speaker 1: and which gives them the power which crushes, as well
58:57
Speaker 1: as the grace which charms. As for Pow, he thought
59:01
Speaker 1: to himself, perhaps it would have been better if I
59:05
Speaker 1: had not awakened this young lady who finds us ugly.
59:09
Speaker 1: But Tad said, smiling, you will find us less ugly,
59:13
Speaker 1: dear young lady, when you love us more. As he spoke,
59:18
Speaker 1: Bob reappeared on his raven. He held a dish of gold,
59:22
Speaker 1: on which were a roast pheasant, an oatmeal cake, and
59:27
Speaker 1: a bottle of claret. He cut innumerable capers as he
59:31
Speaker 1: laid at this supper at the feet of honey Bee.
59:34
Speaker 1: Little men, Honeybee said, as she ate, your supper is
59:39
Speaker 1: very good. My name is Honeybee. Let us go in
59:43
Speaker 1: search of my brother, and then we will all go
59:46
Speaker 1: together to Clarede's, where Mamma is waiting for us in
59:50
Speaker 1: great anxiety. But dig, who was a kind dwarf, represented
59:56
Speaker 1: to Honeybee that she was not able to walk the
1:00:00
Speaker 1: Her brother was big enough to find itst own way,
1:00:03
Speaker 1: that no misfortune could come to him in a country
1:00:05
Speaker 1: in which all the wild beasts had been destroyed. We
1:00:09
Speaker 1: will make a litter, he said, and cover it with
1:00:12
Speaker 1: leaves and moss, and we will put you on it.
1:00:15
Speaker 1: And in this way we will carry you to the
1:00:17
Speaker 1: mountain and present you to the king of the dwarfs,
1:00:21
Speaker 1: according to the custom of our people. All the dwarfs applauded.
1:00:25
Speaker 1: Honeybee looked at her aching feet and remained silent. She
1:00:30
Speaker 1: was glad to learn that there were no wild beasts
1:00:33
Speaker 1: in the country, and on the whole she was willing
1:00:37
Speaker 1: to trust herself to the kindness of the dwarfs. They
1:00:41
Speaker 1: were already busy constructing the litter. Those with hatchets were
1:00:45
Speaker 1: felling two young fir trees with resounding blows. This brought
1:00:49
Speaker 1: back to Rugg his original suggestion, if instead of a
1:00:54
Speaker 1: litter we made a cage, he urged, but he aroused
1:00:58
Speaker 1: a unanimous protest. Tad looked at him scornfully. You are
1:01:03
Speaker 1: more like a human being than a dwarf frog, he said,
1:01:07
Speaker 1: But at least it is to the honor of our
1:01:09
Speaker 1: race that the most wicked dwarf is also the most stupid.
1:01:14
Speaker 1: In the meantime, the task had been accomplished, the dwarfs
1:01:18
Speaker 1: leaped into the air, and in a bound seized and
1:01:22
Speaker 1: cut the branches out of which they deftly wove a
1:01:25
Speaker 1: basket chair. Having covered it with moss and leaves, they
1:01:30
Speaker 1: placed honeybee upon it. Then they seized the two poles,
1:01:35
Speaker 1: placed them on their shoulders, and then off they went
1:01:39
Speaker 1: to the mountain. Chapter ten, in which we are faithfully
1:01:44
Speaker 1: told how King Locke received honey bee of Clarides. They
1:01:50
Speaker 1: climbed a winding path along the wooded slope of the hill.
1:01:54
Speaker 1: Here and there granite boulders bare and blasted broke through
1:01:59
Speaker 1: the gray air of the dwarf oaks, and the somber
1:02:03
Speaker 1: purple mountain, with its bluish ravines, formed an impassable barrier
1:02:07
Speaker 1: about the desolate landscape. The procession, preceded by Bob on
1:02:12
Speaker 1: his feathered steed, passed through a chasm overgrown with brambles. Honeybee,
1:02:18
Speaker 1: with her golden hair flowing over her shoulders, looked like
1:02:22
Speaker 1: the dawn breaking on the mountains, supposing of course, that
1:02:25
Speaker 1: the dawn was ever frightened, and called her mother and
1:02:28
Speaker 1: tried to escape. For all these things she did as
1:02:32
Speaker 1: she caught a confused glimpse of dwarfs armed to the teeth,
1:02:37
Speaker 1: lying in ambush along the windings of the rocks, with
1:02:41
Speaker 1: bows bent or lance at rest. They stood immovable. Their
1:02:46
Speaker 1: tunics of wild beast skins, and their long knives that
1:02:50
Speaker 1: hung from their belts gave them a most terrible appearance.
1:02:55
Speaker 1: Game furred and feathered lay beside them. And yet these
1:02:59
Speaker 1: huns esmen, to judge only by their faces, did not
1:03:03
Speaker 1: seem very grim. On the contrary, they appeared gentle and grave,
1:03:08
Speaker 1: like the dwarfs of the forest, whom they greatly resembled
1:03:13
Speaker 1: in their midst stood a dwarf full of majesty. He
1:03:17
Speaker 1: wore a cock feather over his ear, and on his
1:03:20
Speaker 1: head a diadem set with enormous gems. His mantle, raised
1:03:25
Speaker 1: at the shoulder, disclosed a muscular arm covered with circlets
1:03:30
Speaker 1: of gold. A horn of ivory and chased silver hung
1:03:35
Speaker 1: from his belt. His left hand rested on his lance
1:03:40
Speaker 1: in an attitude of quiet strength, and his right he
1:03:44
Speaker 1: held over his eyes so as to look towards Honeybee
1:03:47
Speaker 1: and the light. King Locke said, the forest dwarfs, we
1:03:53
Speaker 1: have brought you the beautiful child we have found. Her
1:03:56
Speaker 1: name is Honeybee. You have done well, said King loc
1:04:01
Speaker 1: She shall live amongst us according to the custom of
1:04:04
Speaker 1: the dwarfs. Honey Bee, he said, approaching her, You are welcome.
1:04:10
Speaker 1: He spoke very gently, for he already felt very kindly
1:04:14
Speaker 1: towards her. He lifted himself on the tips of his
1:04:18
Speaker 1: toes to kiss her hand that hung at her side,
1:04:22
Speaker 1: and he assured her not only that he would do
1:04:24
Speaker 1: her no harm, but that he would try to gratify
1:04:27
Speaker 1: all her wishes, even should she long for necklaces, mirrors,
1:04:33
Speaker 1: stuffs from cashmere, and silks from China. I wish I
1:04:37
Speaker 1: had some shoes, replied Honeybee, upon which King Lock struck
1:04:43
Speaker 1: his lance against a bronze disk that hung on the
1:04:46
Speaker 1: surface of the rock, and instantly something bounded like a
1:04:51
Speaker 1: ball out of the depths of the cavern. Increasing in size,
1:04:55
Speaker 1: it disclosed the face of a dwarf, with features such
1:04:59
Speaker 1: as painters give to the illustrious Belisarius. But his leather
1:05:03
Speaker 1: apron proclaimed that he was a shoemaker. He was, indeed
1:05:07
Speaker 1: the chief of the shoemakers, True, said the king. Choose
1:05:12
Speaker 1: the softest leather out of our storehouses. Take a cloth
1:05:16
Speaker 1: of gold and silver, asked the guardian of my treasures
1:05:18
Speaker 1: for a thousand pearls of the finest water. And with
1:05:21
Speaker 1: this leather, these fabrics, and these pearls, create pair of
1:05:25
Speaker 1: shoes for the lady Honeybee. At these words, Truth threw
1:05:30
Speaker 1: himself at the feet of honey Bee and measured them
1:05:33
Speaker 1: with great care. Little King loc said, Honeybee, and want
1:05:39
Speaker 1: the pretty shoes you promised at once, because as soon
1:05:42
Speaker 1: as I have them, I must return to Clareed's to
1:05:46
Speaker 1: my mother. You shall have the shoes, King Locke replied,
1:05:51
Speaker 1: you shall have them to walk about the mountains not
1:05:54
Speaker 1: to return to Clreed's, for never again shall you leave
1:05:58
Speaker 1: this kingdom, where we will teach you wonderful secrets still
1:06:02
Speaker 1: unknown on earth. The dwarfs are superior to men, and
1:06:06
Speaker 1: it is your good fortune that you are made welcome
1:06:09
Speaker 1: amongst them. It is my misfortune, replied Honeybee, little King Lock,
1:06:16
Speaker 1: give me a pair of wooden shoes, such as the
1:06:19
Speaker 1: peasants wear, and let me return to Clarid's. But King
1:06:24
Speaker 1: Loc made a sign with his head to signify that
1:06:27
Speaker 1: this was impossible. Then Honeybee clasped her hands and said, coaxingly,
1:06:33
Speaker 1: little King Log, let me go, and I will love
1:06:37
Speaker 1: you very much. You will forget me in your shining world,
1:06:42
Speaker 1: Little King Log, I will never forget you, and I
1:06:46
Speaker 1: will love you as much as I love Flying Wind.
1:06:50
Speaker 1: And who is Flying Wind? It is my milk white steed,
1:06:55
Speaker 1: and he has rose colored reins, and he eats out
1:06:58
Speaker 1: of my hand. When he was very little, Francore the
1:07:01
Speaker 1: squire used to bring him to my room every morning,
1:07:04
Speaker 1: and I kissed him. But now Frankcor is in Rome,
1:07:09
Speaker 1: and Flying Wind is too big to mount the stairs.
1:07:13
Speaker 1: King Lock smiled, will you love me more than Flying Wind? Indeed?
1:07:19
Speaker 1: I would, said Honeybee, well, said, cried the king. Indeed
1:07:26
Speaker 1: I would, but I cannot. I hate you, little King Loc,
1:07:30
Speaker 1: because you will not let me see my mother and
1:07:32
Speaker 1: George again. Who is George? George is George, and I
1:07:37
Speaker 1: love him. The friendship of King Loc for Honeybee had
1:07:41
Speaker 1: increased prodigiously in a few minutes, and as he had
1:07:45
Speaker 1: already made up his mind to marry her as soon
1:07:48
Speaker 1: as she was of age, and hoped it through her
1:07:51
Speaker 1: to reconcile men and dwarfs, he feared that later on
1:07:56
Speaker 1: George might become his rival and wreck his plans. It
1:08:00
Speaker 1: was because of this that he turned away, frowning. His
1:08:03
Speaker 1: head bowed as if with care. Honey Bee, seeing that
1:08:08
Speaker 1: she had offended him, pulled him gently by his mantle.
1:08:13
Speaker 1: Little King Loc, She said, in a voice both tender
1:08:17
Speaker 1: and sad. Why should we make each other unhappy? You
1:08:22
Speaker 1: and I? It is in the nature of things, replied
1:08:27
Speaker 1: King Loc. I cannot take you back to your mother,
1:08:31
Speaker 1: but I will send her a dream which will tell
1:08:34
Speaker 1: her your fate, dear honey Bee, and that will comfort her,
1:08:38
Speaker 1: Little King Loc, and Honeybee smiled through her tears. What
1:08:43
Speaker 1: a good idea. But I will tell you just what
1:08:46
Speaker 1: you ought to do. You must send my mother a
1:08:49
Speaker 1: dream every night in which she will see me. And
1:08:53
Speaker 1: every night you must send me a dream in which
1:08:56
Speaker 1: I shall see her. And King loc promised, and so said,
1:09:01
Speaker 1: so done, every night Honeybee saw her mother, and every
1:09:06
Speaker 1: night the Duchess saw her daughter. And that satisfied their love.
1:09:12
Speaker 1: Just a little end of section three Section four of
1:09:24
Speaker 1: Honeybee by Anatole France, translated by Missus John Lane. This
1:09:29
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Kate
1:09:33
Speaker 1: Fawllis Chapter eleven, in which the marvels of the Kingdom
1:09:38
Speaker 1: of the Dwarfs are accurately described, as well as the
1:09:42
Speaker 1: dolls that were given to Honeybee. The Kingdom of the
1:09:47
Speaker 1: Dwarfs was very deep and extended under the greater part
1:09:51
Speaker 1: of the earth, though one only caught a glimpse of
1:09:54
Speaker 1: the sky here and there through the clefts in the rocks.
1:09:58
Speaker 1: The roads, the avenue, news, the palaces, and the galleries
1:10:02
Speaker 1: of this subterraneous region were not plunged in absolute darkness.
1:10:09
Speaker 1: Only a few spaces and caverns were lost in obscurity.
1:10:13
Speaker 1: The rest was illumined, not by lamps or torches, but
1:10:17
Speaker 1: by stars or meteors, which diffused a strange and fantastic light,
1:10:23
Speaker 1: and this light revealed the most astonishing marvels. One saw
1:10:29
Speaker 1: stupendous edifices hewn out of the solid rocks, and in
1:10:33
Speaker 1: some places palaces cut out of granite, of such height
1:10:39
Speaker 1: that their tracery of stone was lost under the arches
1:10:43
Speaker 1: of this gigantic cavern, in a haze, across which fell
1:10:47
Speaker 1: the orange glimmer of little stars, less lustrous than the moon.
1:10:53
Speaker 1: There were fortresses in this kingdom of the most crushing
1:10:57
Speaker 1: and formidable dimensions, and a theater in which the stone
1:11:01
Speaker 1: seats formed a half circle whose extent it was impossible
1:11:06
Speaker 1: to measure at a single glance. And vast wells with
1:11:11
Speaker 1: sculptured sides in which one could descend forever and yet
1:11:17
Speaker 1: never reach the bottom. All these structures, so out of
1:11:22
Speaker 1: proportion it would seem to the size of the inhabitants,
1:11:26
Speaker 1: were quite in keeping with their curious and fantastic genius.
1:11:32
Speaker 1: Dwarfs and pointed hoods pricked with fern leaves whirled about
1:11:37
Speaker 1: these edifices in the aeriest fashion. It was common to
1:11:41
Speaker 1: see them leap up to the height of two or
1:11:43
Speaker 1: three stories from the lava pavement, and rebound like balls,
1:11:49
Speaker 1: their faces, meanwhile preserving that impressive dignity with which sculptors
1:11:55
Speaker 1: endow the great men of antiquity. No one was idle,
1:11:59
Speaker 1: and all worked zealously. Entire districts echoed to the sound
1:12:04
Speaker 1: of hammers. The shrill discord of machinery broke against the
1:12:10
Speaker 1: arches of the cavern, and it was a curious sight
1:12:13
Speaker 1: to see the crowds of miners, blacksmiths, gold beaters, jewelers,
1:12:18
Speaker 1: diamond polishers handle pickaxes, hammers, pincers, and files with the
1:12:25
Speaker 1: dexterity of monkeys. However, there was a more peaceful region here,
1:12:32
Speaker 1: coarse and powerful figures and shapeless columns loomed in chaotic confusion,
1:12:39
Speaker 1: hewn out of the virgin rock, and seemed to date
1:12:43
Speaker 1: back to an immemorial antiquity. Here a palace with low
1:12:48
Speaker 1: portals extended its ponderous expense. It was the palace of
1:12:53
Speaker 1: King Lock. Directly opposite was the House of Honeybee, a house,
1:12:59
Speaker 1: or rather a cottage, of one room, all hung with
1:13:03
Speaker 1: white muslin. The furniture of pinewood perfumed the room a
1:13:08
Speaker 1: glimpse of daylight penetrated through a crevice in the rock,
1:13:13
Speaker 1: and on fine nights one could see the stars. Honeybee
1:13:17
Speaker 1: had no special attendance, for all the dwarf people were
1:13:21
Speaker 1: eager to serve her and to anticipate all her wishes,
1:13:26
Speaker 1: except the single one to return to Earth. The most
1:13:30
Speaker 1: erudite dwarfs, familiar with the profoundest secrets, were glad to
1:13:36
Speaker 1: teach her, not from books, for dwarfs do not write,
1:13:40
Speaker 1: but by showing her all the plants of mountains and plains,
1:13:44
Speaker 1: all the diverse species of animals, and all the varied
1:13:49
Speaker 1: gems that are extracted from the bosom of the earth.
1:13:52
Speaker 1: And it was by means of such sights and marvels
1:13:55
Speaker 1: that they taught her with an innocent gaiety, the wonders
1:13:59
Speaker 1: of nature and the processes of the arts. They made
1:14:04
Speaker 1: her playthings such as the richest children on earth never have,
1:14:09
Speaker 1: for these dwarfs were always industrious and invented wonderful machinery.
1:14:15
Speaker 1: In this way they produced for her dolls that could
1:14:19
Speaker 1: move with exquisite grace and express themselves according to the
1:14:25
Speaker 1: strictest rules of poetry placed on the state of a
1:14:29
Speaker 1: little theater the scenery, of which represented the shores of
1:14:33
Speaker 1: the sea, the blue sky, palaces and temples. They would
1:14:38
Speaker 1: portray the most interesting events, though no taller than a
1:14:42
Speaker 1: man's arm. Some of them represented respectable old men, others
1:14:47
Speaker 1: men in the prime of life, and others still beautiful
1:14:52
Speaker 1: young girls dressed in white. Among them also were mothers,
1:14:57
Speaker 1: pressing their innocent children to their heart. And these eloquent
1:15:02
Speaker 1: dolls acted as if they were really moved by hate, love,
1:15:06
Speaker 1: and ambition. They passed with the greatest skill from joy
1:15:10
Speaker 1: to sorrow, and they imitated nature so well that they
1:15:15
Speaker 1: could move one to laughter or to tears. Honeybee clapped
1:15:19
Speaker 1: her hands at the sight. She had a horror of
1:15:22
Speaker 1: the dolls who tried to be tyrants. On the other hand,
1:15:26
Speaker 1: she felt a boundless compassion for a doll who had
1:15:29
Speaker 1: once been a princess, and who now a captive widow,
1:15:34
Speaker 1: had no other resource alas by which to save her
1:15:38
Speaker 1: child than to marry the barbarian who had made her
1:15:41
Speaker 1: a widow. Honeybee never tired of this game, which the
1:15:45
Speaker 1: dolls could vary indefinitely. The dwarfs also gave concerts and
1:15:51
Speaker 1: taught her to play the lute. The viola, the theorbo,
1:15:56
Speaker 1: the lyre, and various other instruments. In short, she became
1:16:01
Speaker 1: an excellent musician, and the dramas acted in the theater
1:16:06
Speaker 1: by the dolls taught her a knowledge of men and life.
1:16:10
Speaker 1: King loc was always present at the plays and the concerts,
1:16:14
Speaker 1: but he neither saw nor heard anything but honey Bee.
1:16:19
Speaker 1: Little by little he had set his whole heart upon her.
1:16:24
Speaker 1: In the meantime, months passed and even years sped by,
1:16:29
Speaker 1: and Honeybee was still among the dwarfs, always amused and
1:16:34
Speaker 1: yet always longing for Earth. She grew to be a
1:16:38
Speaker 1: beautiful girl. Her singular destiny had imparted something strange to
1:16:43
Speaker 1: her appearance, which gave her, however, only an added charm.
1:16:52
Speaker 1: Chapter twelve, in which the treasures of King Locke are
1:16:56
Speaker 1: described as well as the writer, is able. Six years
1:17:01
Speaker 1: to a day had passed since Honeybee had come to
1:17:05
Speaker 1: live with the Dwarfs. King loc called her into his
1:17:08
Speaker 1: palace and commanded his treasurer to displace a huge stone,
1:17:14
Speaker 1: which seemed cemented into the wall, but which in reality
1:17:18
Speaker 1: was only lightly placed there. All three passed through the
1:17:23
Speaker 1: opening left by the great stone, and found themselves in
1:17:27
Speaker 1: a fissure of rock, too narrow for two persons to
1:17:31
Speaker 1: stand abreast. King Loc preceded the others along the dim path,
1:17:37
Speaker 1: and Honeybee followed him, holding to a tip of the
1:17:40
Speaker 1: royal mantle. They walked on for a long time, and
1:17:44
Speaker 1: at intervals the sides of the rocks came so close
1:17:48
Speaker 1: together that the young girl was seized with terror, lest
1:17:53
Speaker 1: she should be unable to advance or recede, and so
1:17:57
Speaker 1: would die. There Before her along the dark and narrow
1:18:01
Speaker 1: road floated the mantle of King Loc. At last, Kingloc
1:18:07
Speaker 1: came to a bronze door, which he opened, and out
1:18:10
Speaker 1: of which poured a blaze of light. Little King Loc said, Honeybee,
1:18:18
Speaker 1: I had no idea that light could be so beautiful.
1:18:23
Speaker 1: And Kingloc, taking her by the hand, led her into
1:18:26
Speaker 1: the hall, out of which the light shone. See, he cried. Honeybee, dazzled,
1:18:34
Speaker 1: could see nothing, for this immense hull, supported by high
1:18:39
Speaker 1: marble columns, was a glitter of gold from floor to roof.
1:18:45
Speaker 1: At the end, on a daze made of glittering gems
1:18:48
Speaker 1: set in gold and silver, the steps of which were
1:18:52
Speaker 1: covered by a carpet of marvelous embroidery, stood a throne
1:18:57
Speaker 1: of ivory and gold, under a canopy of translucent enamel,
1:19:03
Speaker 1: and on each side two palm trees three thousand years
1:19:08
Speaker 1: old in gigantic vases carved in some by gone time
1:19:13
Speaker 1: by the greatest artists among the dwarfs. King Loc mounted
1:19:18
Speaker 1: his throne and commanded the young girl to stand at
1:19:22
Speaker 1: his right hand. Honey Bee, said King Loc, these are
1:19:28
Speaker 1: my treasures. Choose all that will give you pleasure. Immense
1:19:34
Speaker 1: gold shields hung from the columns and reflected the sunlight
1:19:39
Speaker 1: and sent it back in glittering rays. Swords and lances
1:19:44
Speaker 1: crossed had each a flame at their point. Tables along
1:19:49
Speaker 1: the walls were laden with tankards, flagons, ooers, chalices, pixes, pattens, goblets,
1:19:57
Speaker 1: gold cups, drinking horns of ivory with silver rings, enormous
1:20:03
Speaker 1: bottles of rock, crystal chased gold and silver dishes, coffers,
1:20:09
Speaker 1: reliquaries in the form of churches, scent boxes, mirrors, candelabra
1:20:16
Speaker 1: and torchholders, equally beautiful immaterial and workmanship, and incense burners
1:20:23
Speaker 1: in the shape of monsters. And on one table stood
1:20:28
Speaker 1: a chessboard with chessmen carved out of moonstones. Jews. King
1:20:36
Speaker 1: Locke repeated, but lifting her eyes above these treasures, Honeyby
1:20:42
Speaker 1: saw the blue sky through an opening in the roof,
1:20:45
Speaker 1: and as if she had comprehended that the light of
1:20:48
Speaker 1: day could alone give all these things their splendor, she said, simply,
1:20:55
Speaker 1: little King Lock, I want to return to earth. Whereupon
1:21:00
Speaker 1: King Lock made a sign to his treasurer, who, raising
1:21:04
Speaker 1: heavy tapestries, disclosed an enormous iron bound coffer covered with
1:21:11
Speaker 1: plates of open ironwork. This coffer, being opened, poured thousands
1:21:17
Speaker 1: of rays of different and lovely tints, and each ray
1:21:21
Speaker 1: seemed to leap out of a precious stone, most artistically cut.
1:21:26
Speaker 1: King Lock dipped in his hands, and there flowed, in
1:21:31
Speaker 1: glittering confusion, violet amethysts and virgins stones emeralds of three kinds,
1:21:39
Speaker 1: one dark green, another called the honey emerald because of
1:21:43
Speaker 1: its color, and the third a bluish green also called beryl,
1:21:48
Speaker 1: which gives happy dreams. Oriental topazes, rubies beautiful as the
1:21:54
Speaker 1: blood of heroes, Dark blue sapphires called the male sapphire,
1:22:00
Speaker 1: and the pale blue ones called the female sapphire. The simophanes, hyacinths, eucleases, turquoises,
1:22:09
Speaker 1: opals whose light is softer than the dawn. The aquamarine
1:22:14
Speaker 1: and the Syrian garnet. All these gems were of the
1:22:19
Speaker 1: purest and most luminous water. And in the midst of
1:22:24
Speaker 1: these colored fires, great diamonds flashed their rays of dazzling
1:22:30
Speaker 1: white choose, honey Bee, said King Lock. But Honeybee shook
1:22:36
Speaker 1: her head, little King Loc, she said, I would rather
1:22:41
Speaker 1: have a single beam of sunlight that falls on the
1:22:44
Speaker 1: roof of Clarides than all these gems. Then King Lock
1:22:50
Speaker 1: ordered another coffer to be opened, in which were only pearls.
1:22:56
Speaker 1: But these pearls were round and pure, Their changing light
1:23:01
Speaker 1: reflected all the colors of sea and sky, and their
1:23:05
Speaker 1: radiance was so tender that they seemed to express a
1:23:09
Speaker 1: thought of love. Except these, said King Loc, Little King Loc,
1:23:16
Speaker 1: Honeybee replied, these pearls are like the glance of George
1:23:21
Speaker 1: of Blanchelande. I love these pearls, but I love his
1:23:25
Speaker 1: eyes even more. Hearing these words, King Lock turned his
1:23:31
Speaker 1: head away. However, he opened a third coffer and showed
1:23:36
Speaker 1: the young girl a crystal in which a drop of
1:23:39
Speaker 1: water had been imprisoned since the beginning of time, And
1:23:45
Speaker 1: when the crystal was moved the drop of water could
1:23:48
Speaker 1: be seen to stir. He also showed her pieces of
1:23:52
Speaker 1: yellow amber, in which insects more brilliant than jewels had
1:23:56
Speaker 1: been imprisoned for thousands of years. One could DECI distinguished
1:24:00
Speaker 1: their delicate feet and their fine antennae, and they would
1:24:04
Speaker 1: have resumed their flight had some power, but shattered like
1:24:08
Speaker 1: glass their perfumed prison. These are the great marvels of nature.
1:24:14
Speaker 1: I give them to you, honey Bee, little King Lock.
1:24:19
Speaker 1: Honey Bee replied, keep your amber and your crystal, for
1:24:24
Speaker 1: I should not know how to give their freedom, either
1:24:26
Speaker 1: to the fly or the drop of water. King Lock
1:24:30
Speaker 1: watched her in silence for some time. Then he said,
1:24:35
Speaker 1: honey Bee, the most beautiful treasures will be safe in
1:24:39
Speaker 1: your keeping. You will possess them, and they will not
1:24:42
Speaker 1: possess you the miser as the prey of his gold.
1:24:46
Speaker 1: Only those who despise wealth can be rich without danger.
1:24:51
Speaker 1: Their souls will always be greater than their riches. Having
1:24:56
Speaker 1: uttered these words, he made a sign to his treasurer,
1:25:00
Speaker 1: who presented on a cushion a crown of gold to
1:25:04
Speaker 1: the young girl. Except this jewel, as a sign of
1:25:08
Speaker 1: our regard for you, said King Lock, henceforth you shall
1:25:14
Speaker 1: be called the princess of the Dwarfs, And he himself
1:25:19
Speaker 1: placed the crown on the head of honey Bee. Chapter thirteen,
1:25:27
Speaker 1: in which King Locke declares himself The Dwarfs celebrated the
1:25:33
Speaker 1: crowning of their first princess by joyous revels. Harmless and
1:25:39
Speaker 1: innocent games succeeded each other in the huge amphitheater, and
1:25:44
Speaker 1: the little men, with cockades of fern or two oak
1:25:47
Speaker 1: leaves fastened coquettishly to their hoods, bounded gaily across the
1:25:52
Speaker 1: subterranean streets. The rejoicings lasted thirty days. During the universal excits,
1:26:01
Speaker 1: Pick looked like a mortal inspired tad. The kind hearted
1:26:06
Speaker 1: was intoxicated by the universal joy. Dig the tender gave
1:26:11
Speaker 1: expression to his delight in tears. Rugg, in his ecstasy,
1:26:17
Speaker 1: again demanded that Honeybee should be put in a cage,
1:26:21
Speaker 1: but this time so that the Dwarfs need not be
1:26:23
Speaker 1: afraid to lose so charming a princess bob mounted on
1:26:28
Speaker 1: his raven, filled the air with such cries of rapture
1:26:32
Speaker 1: that the sable bird, infected by the gaiety, gave vent
1:26:37
Speaker 1: to innumerable playful little croaks only. King Locke was sad
1:26:44
Speaker 1: on the thirtieth day, having given the princess and the
1:26:47
Speaker 1: Dwarf people a festival of unparalleled magnificence, he mounted his
1:26:53
Speaker 1: throne and so stood that his kind face just reached
1:26:59
Speaker 1: her ear My Princess Honeybee. He said, I am about
1:27:04
Speaker 1: to make a request which you are at liberty, either
1:27:08
Speaker 1: to accept or to refuse. Honeybee of Clarides, Princess of
1:27:13
Speaker 1: the Dwarfs, will you be my wife? As he spoke,
1:27:19
Speaker 1: King Loc grave and tender had something of the gentle
1:27:23
Speaker 1: beauty of a majestic poodle. Little King Loc, Honeybee replied,
1:27:30
Speaker 1: as she pulled his beard, I am willing to become
1:27:33
Speaker 1: your wife for fun, but never your wife for good.
1:27:37
Speaker 1: The moment you asked me to marry you, I was
1:27:40
Speaker 1: reminded of Francore, who, when I was on earth, used
1:27:44
Speaker 1: to amuse me by telling me the most ridiculous stories.
1:27:49
Speaker 1: At these words, King loc turned his head away, but
1:27:53
Speaker 1: not so soon, but that Honeybee saw the tears in
1:27:56
Speaker 1: his eyes. Then Honeybee was grieved because you had pained
1:28:01
Speaker 1: Little King Loc. She said to him, I love you
1:28:05
Speaker 1: for the little king lock you are, and if you
1:28:08
Speaker 1: make me laugh, as Frankcor did, there is nothing in
1:28:12
Speaker 1: that to vex you. For Frankcor sang well, and he
1:28:16
Speaker 1: would have been very handsome if it had not been
1:28:19
Speaker 1: for his gray hair and his red nose. Honey Pee
1:28:24
Speaker 1: of Cleryds, Princess of the Dwarfs, The king replied, I
1:28:29
Speaker 1: love you in the hope that some day you will
1:28:33
Speaker 1: love me, And yet without that hope, I should love
1:28:37
Speaker 1: you just the same. The only return I ask for
1:28:42
Speaker 1: my friendship is that you will always be honest with me.
1:28:47
Speaker 1: Little King Lock, I promise, well, then tell me truly, Honeybee,
1:28:54
Speaker 1: do you love some one else enough to marry him?
1:28:57
Speaker 1: Little King Loc, I love no one enough for that.
1:29:02
Speaker 1: Whereupon King Loc smiled, and, seizing his golden cup, he
1:29:06
Speaker 1: proposed with a resounding voice, the health of the Princess
1:29:11
Speaker 1: of the Dwarfs. An immense uproar rose from the depths
1:29:15
Speaker 1: of the earth, for the banquet table reached from one
1:29:19
Speaker 1: end to the other of the Empire of the Dwarfs.
1:29:26
Speaker 1: End of section four Section five of Honeybee by Anatole, France,
1:29:37
Speaker 1: translated by Missus John Lane. This LibriVox recording is in
1:29:42
Speaker 1: the public domain. Recording by Kate Follis, Chapter fourteen, in
1:29:50
Speaker 1: which we are told how Honeybee saw her mother again
1:29:53
Speaker 1: but could not embrace her. Honeybee, a crown on her head,
1:30:00
Speaker 1: was now more often sad and lost in thought than
1:30:03
Speaker 1: when her hair flowed loose over her shoulders. And when
1:30:07
Speaker 1: she went laughing to the forge and pulled the beards
1:30:10
Speaker 1: of her good friend's pick Tad and Dig, whose faces
1:30:15
Speaker 1: red from the reflected flames, gave her a gay welcome.
1:30:19
Speaker 1: But now these good Dwarfs, who had once danced her
1:30:23
Speaker 1: on their knees and called her honey Beee, bowed as
1:30:26
Speaker 1: she passed and maintained a respectful silence. She grieved because
1:30:32
Speaker 1: she was no longer a child, and she suffered because
1:30:36
Speaker 1: she was the princess of the Dwarfs. It was no
1:30:40
Speaker 1: longer a pleasure for her to see King Loc, since
1:30:44
Speaker 1: she had seen him weep because of her, But she
1:30:47
Speaker 1: loved him, for he was good and unhappy. One day,
1:30:51
Speaker 1: if one may say that there are days in the
1:30:54
Speaker 1: Empire of the Dwarfs, she took King Loc by the
1:30:57
Speaker 1: hand and drew him under the cleft in the rock,
1:31:01
Speaker 1: through which a sunbeam shone along whose raised their danced
1:31:05
Speaker 1: a haze of golden dust. Little King Loc, she said,
1:31:11
Speaker 1: I suffer. You are a king, and you love me,
1:31:15
Speaker 1: and I suffer hearing these words from the pretty damsel.
1:31:20
Speaker 1: King Loc replied, I love you, Honeybee of Clarides, princess
1:31:25
Speaker 1: of the Dwarfs, and that is why I have held
1:31:27
Speaker 1: you captive in our world, in order to teach you
1:31:30
Speaker 1: our secrets, which are greater and more wonderful than all
1:31:34
Speaker 1: those you could learn on earth amongst men. For men
1:31:38
Speaker 1: are less skillful and less learned than the dwarfs, yes,
1:31:44
Speaker 1: said honey Bee. But they are more like me than
1:31:48
Speaker 1: the dwarfs, and for that reason I love them better.
1:31:52
Speaker 1: Little King Loc, let me see my mother again, if
1:31:56
Speaker 1: you do not wish me to die. Without replying, King
1:32:01
Speaker 1: Loc went away. Honey Bee, desolate and alone, watched the
1:32:06
Speaker 1: ray of light which bathes the whole face of nature,
1:32:10
Speaker 1: and which unfolds all the living, even to the beggars
1:32:14
Speaker 1: by the wayside, in its resplendent waves. Slowly this ray paled,
1:32:21
Speaker 1: and its golden radiance faded to a pale blue light.
1:32:25
Speaker 1: Night had come upon earth. A star twinkled over the
1:32:30
Speaker 1: cleft in the rock. Then some one gently touched her
1:32:34
Speaker 1: on the shoulder, and she saw King Locke wrapped in
1:32:37
Speaker 1: a black cloak. He had another cloak on his arm
1:32:41
Speaker 1: with which he covered the young girl. Come, said he,
1:32:46
Speaker 1: and he led her out of the underworld. When she
1:32:49
Speaker 1: saw again the trees stirred by the wind, the clouds
1:32:54
Speaker 1: that floated across the moon, the splendor of the night,
1:32:58
Speaker 1: so fresh and blue when she breathed again, the fragrance
1:33:02
Speaker 1: of the herbage, And when the air she breathed in
1:33:05
Speaker 1: childhood again entered her breast in floods. She gave a
1:33:10
Speaker 1: great sigh and thought to die of joy. King loc
1:33:15
Speaker 1: had taken her in his arms. Small though he was,
1:33:18
Speaker 1: he carried her as lightly as a feather, and they
1:33:21
Speaker 1: glided over the ground like the shadows of two birds.
1:33:26
Speaker 1: You shall see your mother again, honeybee. But listen. You
1:33:30
Speaker 1: know that every night I sent her your image. Every
1:33:34
Speaker 1: night she sees your dear phantom. She smiles upon it,
1:33:39
Speaker 1: she talks to it, and she caresses it. To night.
1:33:44
Speaker 1: She shall instead see you yourself. You will see her,
1:33:50
Speaker 1: but you must not touch her. You must not speak
1:33:54
Speaker 1: to her, or the charm will be broken, and she
1:33:58
Speaker 1: will never again see you nor your image, which she
1:34:02
Speaker 1: does not distinguish from you, then I will be prudent
1:34:07
Speaker 1: alas little king Lock. See see sure enough, the watch
1:34:14
Speaker 1: tower of Clereides rose black on the hill. Honeybee had
1:34:18
Speaker 1: hardly time to throw a kiss to the beloved old
1:34:21
Speaker 1: stone walls when the ramparts of the town of Clereids,
1:34:26
Speaker 1: overgrown with gilly flowers, already flew past. Already she was
1:34:31
Speaker 1: ascending the terrace, where the glow worms glimmer in the grass,
1:34:36
Speaker 1: to the postern, which king Lock easily opened. For the
1:34:40
Speaker 1: dwarfs are masters of meadows. Nor can locks, padlocks, bolts,
1:34:45
Speaker 1: chains or bars ever stop them. She climbed the winding
1:34:49
Speaker 1: stairs that led to her mother's room, and she paused
1:34:52
Speaker 1: to clasp her beating heart with both her hands softly.
1:34:56
Speaker 1: The door opened, and by the light of a night
1:34:59
Speaker 1: lamp that hung from the ceiling, she saw her mother
1:35:03
Speaker 1: in the holy silence that reigned. Her mother frailer and paler,
1:35:09
Speaker 1: with hair gray at the temples, but in the eyes
1:35:12
Speaker 1: of her daughter, more beautiful even than in the past days,
1:35:16
Speaker 1: as she remembered her riding fearlessly in magnificent attire. As usual,
1:35:22
Speaker 1: the mother beheld her daughter as in a dream, and
1:35:25
Speaker 1: she opened her arms as if to caress her, and
1:35:29
Speaker 1: the child, laughing and sobbing, was about to throw herself
1:35:33
Speaker 1: into those open arms, but King look tore her away,
1:35:38
Speaker 1: and like a wisp of straw, he bore her through
1:35:41
Speaker 1: the blue landscape to the Kingdom of the Dwarfs. Chapter fifteen,
1:35:47
Speaker 1: in which we shall see how King Locke suffered. Seated
1:35:53
Speaker 1: on the granite step of the underground palace, honey Bee
1:35:57
Speaker 1: watched the blue sky through the cleft in the rocks,
1:36:00
Speaker 1: and saw the elder trees turn their spreading white parasols
1:36:04
Speaker 1: to the light. She began to weep, Honeybee, said King
1:36:10
Speaker 1: loc as he took her hand in his Why do
1:36:13
Speaker 1: you weep? And what is it you desire? And as
1:36:16
Speaker 1: she had been grieving these many days, the dwarfs at
1:36:20
Speaker 1: her feet tried to cheer her with simple airs on
1:36:24
Speaker 1: the flute, the flagelette, the reeback and the cymbals, and
1:36:29
Speaker 1: other dwarfs to amuse her turned such somersaults one after
1:36:33
Speaker 1: the other, that they pricked the grass with the points
1:36:37
Speaker 1: of their hoods, with their cockades of leaves. And nothing
1:36:40
Speaker 1: could be more charming than to watch the capers of
1:36:43
Speaker 1: these tiny men with their venerable beards, Tad so kind
1:36:49
Speaker 1: and Digs so wise, who had loved her since the
1:36:52
Speaker 1: day they had found her asleep on the shore of
1:36:55
Speaker 1: the lake, and Pick, the elderly poet, gently took her
1:37:00
Speaker 1: arm and implored her to tell them the cause of
1:37:03
Speaker 1: her grief. Pow, a simple just soul, offered her a
1:37:09
Speaker 1: basket of grapes, and all of them gently pulled the
1:37:13
Speaker 1: edge of her skirt and said, with King Loc Honeybee,
1:37:18
Speaker 1: princess of the Dwarfs, why do you weep? Little King Loc,
1:37:24
Speaker 1: Honeybee replied, and you little men, my grief only increases
1:37:31
Speaker 1: your love because you are good. You weep with me.
1:37:35
Speaker 1: Know that I weep when I think of George of Blanchelande,
1:37:40
Speaker 1: who should now be a cavalier, but whom I shall
1:37:43
Speaker 1: never see again. I love him, and I wish to
1:37:47
Speaker 1: be his wife. King Loc took his hand away from
1:37:52
Speaker 1: the hand he had pressed Honeybee. He said, why did
1:37:57
Speaker 1: you deceive me when you told me at the bank
1:38:00
Speaker 1: that you loved no one else? Little King Locke, honey
1:38:04
Speaker 1: Beee replied, I did not deceive you at the banquet.
1:38:09
Speaker 1: At that time I had no desire to marry George
1:38:12
Speaker 1: of Blanchelande. But to day it is my dearest wish
1:38:17
Speaker 1: that he should ask me to marry him. But he
1:38:19
Speaker 1: will never ask me, as I do not know where
1:38:23
Speaker 1: he is now, nor does he know where I am.
1:38:26
Speaker 1: And this is the reason I weep at these words.
1:38:31
Speaker 1: The musicians ceased playing. The acrobats interrupted their tumbling and
1:38:37
Speaker 1: stood immovable, some on their heads and some on their haunches.
1:38:43
Speaker 1: Tad and Dag shed silent tears on the sleeve of
1:38:47
Speaker 1: honey Bee. Pow simple soul dropped his basket of grapes,
1:38:53
Speaker 1: and all the little men gave vent to the most
1:38:56
Speaker 1: fearful groans. But King, more unhappy than all, under his
1:39:02
Speaker 1: splendid jeweled crown, silently withdrew his mantle, trailing behind him
1:39:09
Speaker 1: like a purple torrent. Chapter sixteen, in which an account
1:39:15
Speaker 1: is given of the learned Nur who was the cause
1:39:19
Speaker 1: of such extraordinary joy to King Locke. King Locke did
1:39:25
Speaker 1: not permit the young girl to observe his weakness, but
1:39:29
Speaker 1: when he was alone, he sat on the ground, and,
1:39:31
Speaker 1: with his feet in his hands, gave way to grief.
1:39:35
Speaker 1: He was jealous. She loves him, he said to himself,
1:39:41
Speaker 1: And she does not love me, and yet I am
1:39:44
Speaker 1: a king and very wise. Great treasures are mine, and
1:39:49
Speaker 1: I know the most marvelous secrets. I am superior to
1:39:54
Speaker 1: all other dwarfs, who are in turn superior to all men.
1:39:58
Speaker 1: She does not love me me, but she loves a
1:40:02
Speaker 1: young man who not only is not the learning of
1:40:05
Speaker 1: the dwarfs, but no other learning either. It must be
1:40:09
Speaker 1: acknowledged that she does not appreciate merit, nor has she
1:40:14
Speaker 1: much sense. I ought to laugh at her want of judgment,
1:40:18
Speaker 1: but I love her, and I care for nothing in
1:40:21
Speaker 1: the world because she does not love me. For many
1:40:26
Speaker 1: long days, kingloc roamed alone through the most desolate mountain passes,
1:40:32
Speaker 1: turning over in his mind thoughts both sad and sometimes wicked.
1:40:39
Speaker 1: He even thought of trying, by imprisonment and starvation, to
1:40:43
Speaker 1: force Honeybee to become his wife, but rejecting this plan
1:40:47
Speaker 1: as soon as formed, he decided to go in search
1:40:50
Speaker 1: of her and throw himself at her feet. But he
1:40:54
Speaker 1: could come to no decision, and at last he was
1:40:57
Speaker 1: quite at a loss what to do, the truth being
1:41:01
Speaker 1: that whether Honeybee would love him did not depend upon him.
1:41:06
Speaker 1: Suddenly his anger turned against George of Blanchelande and He
1:41:10
Speaker 1: hoped that the young man had been carried far away
1:41:13
Speaker 1: by some enchanter, and that at any rate, should he
1:41:17
Speaker 1: ever hear of Honeybee's love, he would disdain it without
1:41:22
Speaker 1: being old. The king meditated, I have already lived too
1:41:28
Speaker 1: long not to have suffered sometimes. And yet my sufferings,
1:41:33
Speaker 1: intense though they were, were less painful than those of
1:41:37
Speaker 1: which I am conscious to day. With the tenderness and
1:41:41
Speaker 1: pity which caused them was mingled to something of their
1:41:45
Speaker 1: own divine sweetness. Now, on the contrary, my grief has
1:41:50
Speaker 1: the baseness and bitterness of an evil desire. My soul
1:41:54
Speaker 1: is desolate, and the tears in my eyes are like
1:41:57
Speaker 1: an acid that burns them. So thought King loc and,
1:42:03
Speaker 1: fearing that jealousy might make him unjust and wicked, he
1:42:07
Speaker 1: avoided meeting the young girl for fear that, in spite
1:42:11
Speaker 1: of himself, he might use towards her the language of
1:42:16
Speaker 1: a man either weak or brutal. One day, when he
1:42:21
Speaker 1: was more than ever tormented by the thought that honey
1:42:25
Speaker 1: Bee loved George, he decided to consult Ner, the most
1:42:31
Speaker 1: learned of all the dwarfs, who lived at the bottom
1:42:34
Speaker 1: of a well deep down in the bowels of the earth.
1:42:39
Speaker 1: This well had the advantage of an even and soft temperature.
1:42:44
Speaker 1: It was not dark, for two little stars, a pale
1:42:47
Speaker 1: sun and a red moon, alternately illumined all parts. King
1:42:53
Speaker 1: loc descended into the well and found Ner in his laboratory.
1:42:58
Speaker 1: Nor looked like a kind that old man, and he
1:43:01
Speaker 1: wore a spreak of wild time in his hood. In
1:43:05
Speaker 1: spite of his learning, he had the innocent and candor
1:43:09
Speaker 1: characteristic of his race.
1:43:12
Speaker 2: Nr.
1:43:13
Speaker 1: Said the king as he embraced him. I have come
1:43:16
Speaker 1: to consult you because you know many things. King Locke
1:43:21
Speaker 1: replied Ner. I might know a good deal and yet
1:43:25
Speaker 1: be an idiot. But I possess the knowledge of how
1:43:28
Speaker 1: to learn some of the innumerable things I do not know,
1:43:32
Speaker 1: and that is the reason I am so justly famous
1:43:36
Speaker 1: for my learning. Well, then, said King Locke, can you
1:43:41
Speaker 1: tell me the whereabouts at present of a young man
1:43:44
Speaker 1: by the name of George of Blanchelande. I do not know,
1:43:50
Speaker 1: and I never cared to know, replied Ner, knowing as
1:43:55
Speaker 1: I do the ignorance, stupidity, and wickedness of mankind. I
1:44:00
Speaker 1: don't trouble myself as to what they say or do humanity.
1:44:05
Speaker 1: King Locke would be entirely deplorable and ridiculous if it
1:44:09
Speaker 1: were not that something of value is given to this
1:44:12
Speaker 1: proud and miserable race. Inasmuch as the men are endowed
1:44:17
Speaker 1: with courage, the women with beauty, and the little children
1:44:21
Speaker 1: with innocence, obliged by necessity, as are also the dwarfs
1:44:26
Speaker 1: to toil. Mankind has rebelled against this divine law, and
1:44:32
Speaker 1: instead of being like ourselves willing and cheerful toilers, they
1:44:38
Speaker 1: prefer war to work, and they would rather kill each
1:44:41
Speaker 1: other than help each other. But to be just, one
1:44:45
Speaker 1: must admit that their shortness of life is the principal
1:44:49
Speaker 1: cause of their ignorance and cruelty. Their life is too
1:44:53
Speaker 1: short for them to learn how to live. The race
1:44:56
Speaker 1: of the dwarfs who dwell under the earth is happier
1:44:59
Speaker 1: and better. If we are not immortal, we shall at
1:45:03
Speaker 1: least last as long as the earth, which bears us
1:45:06
Speaker 1: in her bosom, and which permeates us with her intimate
1:45:10
Speaker 1: and fruitful warmth. While for the race is borne on
1:45:15
Speaker 1: her rugged surface, she has only the turbulent winds, which
1:45:20
Speaker 1: sometimes scorch and sometimes freeze, and whose breath is at
1:45:24
Speaker 1: once the bearer of death and of life. And yet
1:45:29
Speaker 1: men owe to their overwhelming miseries and wickedness of virtue,
1:45:33
Speaker 1: which makes the souls of some amongst them more beautiful
1:45:38
Speaker 1: than the souls of dwarfs. And this virtue, o, King Locke,
1:45:43
Speaker 1: which for the mind is what the soft radiance of
1:45:47
Speaker 1: pearls is for the eyes, is pity. It is taught
1:45:51
Speaker 1: by suffering, and the dwarfs know it but little, because
1:45:55
Speaker 1: being wiser than men, they escape much anguish. Yet sometimes
1:46:01
Speaker 1: the dwarfs leave their deep grottoes and seek the pitiless
1:46:05
Speaker 1: surface of the earth to mingle with men, so as
1:46:08
Speaker 1: to love them, to suffer with them and through them,
1:46:12
Speaker 1: and thus to feel this pity which refreshes the soul
1:46:17
Speaker 1: like a heavenly do. This is the truth concerning men,
1:46:21
Speaker 1: King Locke. But did you not ask me as to
1:46:24
Speaker 1: the exact fate of some one amongst them? King loc
1:46:29
Speaker 1: having repeated his question, nor looked into one of the
1:46:33
Speaker 1: many telescopes which filled the room. For the dwarfs have
1:46:37
Speaker 1: no books. Those which are found amongst them have come
1:46:40
Speaker 1: from men, and are only used as playthings. They do
1:46:44
Speaker 1: not learn as we do, by consulting marks on paper,
1:46:48
Speaker 1: but they look through telescopes and see the subject itself
1:46:53
Speaker 1: of their inquiry. The only difficulty is to choose the
1:46:57
Speaker 1: right telescope and get the right focus. There are telescopes
1:47:02
Speaker 1: of crystal, of topaz, and of opal, but those whose
1:47:07
Speaker 1: lens is a great polished diamond are more powerful and
1:47:11
Speaker 1: permit them to see the most distant objects. The dwarfs
1:47:16
Speaker 1: also have lenses of a translucent substance unknown to men.
1:47:21
Speaker 1: These enable the sight to pass through rocks and walls
1:47:25
Speaker 1: as if there were glass. Others, more remarkable still reconstruct
1:47:30
Speaker 1: as accurately as a mirror, all that has vanished with
1:47:34
Speaker 1: the flight of time. For the dwarfs, in the depths
1:47:38
Speaker 1: of their caverns have the power to recall from the
1:47:41
Speaker 1: infinite surface of the ether the light of immemorial days
1:47:47
Speaker 1: and the forms and colors of vanished times. They can
1:47:51
Speaker 1: create for themselves a phantasm of the past by rearranging
1:47:56
Speaker 1: the splinters of light which were once shattered against the
1:47:59
Speaker 1: fore forms of men, animals, plants, and rocks, so that
1:48:04
Speaker 1: they again flash across the centuries through the unfathomable ether.
1:48:11
Speaker 1: The venerable Nur excelled in discovering figures of antiquity and
1:48:16
Speaker 1: even such inconceivable, though it may seem has lived before
1:48:20
Speaker 1: the earth had assumed the shape with which we are familiar.
1:48:24
Speaker 1: So it was really no trouble at all for him
1:48:27
Speaker 1: to find George of Blanchelande, having looked for a moment
1:48:32
Speaker 1: through a very ordinary telescope. Indeed, he said to kingloc
1:48:36
Speaker 1: kinglock he for whom you search, as with the Nixes,
1:48:40
Speaker 1: in their palace of crystal, from which none ever return,
1:48:45
Speaker 1: and whose iridescent walls adjoin your kingdom? Is he there?
1:48:51
Speaker 1: Cried the king. Let him stay, and he rubbed his hands.
1:48:55
Speaker 1: I wish him joy, And having embraced the venerable Dwarf,
1:49:00
Speaker 1: he emerged out of the well, roaring with laughter. The
1:49:05
Speaker 1: whole length of the road. He held his sides so
1:49:08
Speaker 1: as to laugh at his ease. His head shook, and
1:49:12
Speaker 1: his beard swung backwards and forwards on his stomach. How
1:49:16
Speaker 1: he laughed. The little men who met him laughed out
1:49:20
Speaker 1: of sheer sympathy. Seeing them laugh made others laugh. A
1:49:25
Speaker 1: contagion of laughter spread from place to place, until the
1:49:29
Speaker 1: whole interior of the earth was shaken, as if with
1:49:34
Speaker 1: a mighty and jovial hiccough. Ha ha, ha, end of
1:49:42
Speaker 1: section five section six of Honeybee by Anatole Franz, translated
1:49:54
Speaker 1: by Missus John Lane. This sliprivox recording is in the
1:49:58
Speaker 1: public domain recording by Kate Fowllis Chapter seventeen, which tells
1:50:06
Speaker 1: of the wonderful adventure of George of Blanchelande. King Loc
1:50:11
Speaker 1: did not laugh long. Indeed he hid the face of
1:50:15
Speaker 1: a very unhappy little man under the bedclothes. He lay
1:50:19
Speaker 1: awake all night long thinking of George of Blanchelande, prisoner
1:50:24
Speaker 1: of the Nixies. So about the hour when such of
1:50:28
Speaker 1: the Dwarfs as have a dairy maid for sweetheart, go
1:50:31
Speaker 1: in her stead to milk the cows while she sleeps
1:50:34
Speaker 1: in her white bed with folded hands, little King Loc
1:50:38
Speaker 1: again sought the astute Nur in the depths of his well.
1:50:44
Speaker 1: You did not tell me, Ner, what he is doing
1:50:47
Speaker 1: down there with the nex seys. The venerable Ner was
1:50:51
Speaker 1: quite convinced that the king was mad, though that did
1:50:55
Speaker 1: not alarm him, because he knew if King Loc should
1:50:58
Speaker 1: lose his reason, he would be a most gracious, charming, amiable,
1:51:03
Speaker 1: and kindly lunatic. The madness of the Dwarfs is gentle
1:51:07
Speaker 1: like their reason and full of the most delicious fancies.
1:51:12
Speaker 1: But King loc was not mad, at least, not more
1:51:15
Speaker 1: so than lovers usually are. I wish to speak of
1:51:20
Speaker 1: George of Blanchond, he said to the venerable Nur, who
1:51:25
Speaker 1: had forgotten all about this young man, as soon as possible. Thereupon,
1:51:30
Speaker 1: nertherwise placed a series of lenses and mirrors before the King,
1:51:35
Speaker 1: in an order so exact that it looked like disorder,
1:51:40
Speaker 1: but which enabled him to show the King in a
1:51:42
Speaker 1: mirror the form of George of Blanchelande as he was
1:51:47
Speaker 1: when the nixies carried him away. By a lucky choice
1:51:51
Speaker 1: and a skillful adjustment of instruments, the dwarf was able
1:51:54
Speaker 1: to reproduce for the love sick King all the adventures
1:51:58
Speaker 1: of the son of that countess to whom a white
1:52:01
Speaker 1: rose announced her end. And the following, expressed in words,
1:52:07
Speaker 1: is what the little man saw in all the reality
1:52:11
Speaker 1: of form and color. When George was borne away in
1:52:15
Speaker 1: the icy arms of the daughters of the lake, the
1:52:18
Speaker 1: water pressed upon his eyes and his breast, and he
1:52:22
Speaker 1: felt that he was about to die. And yet he
1:52:25
Speaker 1: heard songs that sounded like a caress, and his whole
1:52:30
Speaker 1: being was permeated by a sense of delicious freshness. When
1:52:34
Speaker 1: he opened his eyes, he saw himself in a grotto
1:52:37
Speaker 1: whose crystal columns reflected the delicate tints of the rainbow.
1:52:42
Speaker 1: At the end of the grotto was a great seashell
1:52:45
Speaker 1: of mother of Pearl, iridescent with the tenderest colors. And
1:52:50
Speaker 1: this served as a daze to the throne of coral
1:52:54
Speaker 1: and seaweed of the Queen of the Nixies. But the
1:52:58
Speaker 1: face of the Sovereign of the Water shone with a
1:53:01
Speaker 1: light more tender than either the Mother of Pearl or
1:53:04
Speaker 1: the crystal. She smiled at the child which her women
1:53:08
Speaker 1: brought her, and her green eyes lingered long upon him. Friend,
1:53:14
Speaker 1: She said, at last, be welcome into our world, in
1:53:18
Speaker 1: which you shall be spared all sorrow. For you, neither
1:53:23
Speaker 1: dry lessons nor rough sports, nothing coarse shall remind you
1:53:28
Speaker 1: of earth and its toil. For you only the songs
1:53:32
Speaker 1: and the dances, and the love of the nexies. And
1:53:36
Speaker 1: indeed the women of the Green Hair taught the child
1:53:40
Speaker 1: music and dancing and a thousand graces. They loved to
1:53:46
Speaker 1: bind his forehead with the cockle shells that decked their
1:53:49
Speaker 1: own tresses. But he remembering his country, gnawed his clenched
1:53:55
Speaker 1: hands with impatience. Years passed, and George longed with a passion,
1:54:01
Speaker 1: unceasing to see the earth again, the rude earth, where
1:54:07
Speaker 1: the sun burns and where the snow hardens, the mother earth,
1:54:11
Speaker 1: where one suffers, where one loves, the earth, where he
1:54:16
Speaker 1: had seen Honeybee, and where he longed to see her again.
1:54:21
Speaker 1: He had, in the meantime grown to be a tall
1:54:25
Speaker 1: lad with a fine golden down on his upper lip.
1:54:29
Speaker 1: Courage came with the beard, and so one day he
1:54:33
Speaker 1: presented himself before the Queen of the Nixies, and, bowing low,
1:54:38
Speaker 1: said Madam, I have come with your gracious permission to
1:54:44
Speaker 1: take leave of you. I am about to return to
1:54:47
Speaker 1: Clard's fair youth. The queen replied, smiling, I cannot grant
1:54:54
Speaker 1: you the leave you ask for. I guard you in
1:54:57
Speaker 1: my crystal palace to make of you my lover. Madam,
1:55:03
Speaker 1: he replied, I am not worthy of so great an honor,
1:55:08
Speaker 1: that is, but your courtesy. What gallant cavalier ever believes
1:55:13
Speaker 1: that he has sufficiently deserved his lady's favor. Besides, you
1:55:18
Speaker 1: are still too young to know your own worth. Let
1:55:22
Speaker 1: me tell you fair youth, that we do but desire
1:55:25
Speaker 1: your welfare. Obey your lady and her alone. Madam, I
1:55:32
Speaker 1: love Honeybee of Clreedes. I will have no other lady
1:55:36
Speaker 1: but her, A mortal maid, the queen cried, turning pale
1:55:43
Speaker 1: but more beautiful, still a coarse daughter of men, this
1:55:47
Speaker 1: honey bee. How can you love such a thing? I
1:55:52
Speaker 1: do not know, but I know that I love her.
1:55:56
Speaker 1: Never mind, it will pass, and she still old the
1:56:00
Speaker 1: young man captive by means of the allurements of her
1:56:04
Speaker 1: crystal abode. He did not comprehend the devious thing called
1:56:09
Speaker 1: a woman. He was more like Achilles among the daughters
1:56:12
Speaker 1: of Lycomedes than Tannhauser in the enchanted castle. And that
1:56:17
Speaker 1: is why he wandered sadly along the walls of the
1:56:21
Speaker 1: mighty palace, searching for an outlet through which to escape.
1:56:26
Speaker 1: But he only saw the splendid and silent empire of
1:56:29
Speaker 1: the waves, sealing his shining prison. Through the transparent walls,
1:56:35
Speaker 1: he watched the blooming sea anemones and the spreading coral,
1:56:40
Speaker 1: while over the delicate streams of the madropores and the
1:56:43
Speaker 1: sparkling shells purple blue and gold fishes made a glitter
1:56:49
Speaker 1: of stars with a stroke of their tails. These marvels
1:56:53
Speaker 1: he left unheeded, for lulled by the delicious songs of
1:56:58
Speaker 1: the nexies, he fell little by little, his will broken,
1:57:04
Speaker 1: and his soul grow weak. He was all indolence and
1:57:09
Speaker 1: indifference when one day he found by chance in a
1:57:12
Speaker 1: gallery of the palace an ancient, well worn book, bound
1:57:17
Speaker 1: in pigskin and studed with great copper nail heads. The book,
1:57:22
Speaker 1: saved from some wreck in mid ocean, treated of chivalry
1:57:27
Speaker 1: and fair ladies, and related at great length the adventures
1:57:31
Speaker 1: of heroes who went about the world redressing wrongs, protecting widows,
1:57:37
Speaker 1: and succoring orphans for the love of justice and in
1:57:41
Speaker 1: honor of beauty. George flushed and paled with wonders, shame,
1:57:47
Speaker 1: and anger as he read these tales of splendid adventures.
1:57:52
Speaker 1: He could not contain himself. I also, he cried, will
1:57:58
Speaker 1: be a gallant knight. I also will go about the world,
1:58:03
Speaker 1: punishing the wicked and succoring the unfortunate, for the good
1:58:08
Speaker 1: of mankind. And in the name of my lady Honeybee.
1:58:13
Speaker 1: With sword drawn and his heart big with valor, he
1:58:17
Speaker 1: dashed across the crystal dwellings. The white ladies fled and
1:58:23
Speaker 1: swooned before him, like the silver ripples of a lake.
1:58:27
Speaker 1: The queen alone beheld his approach without a tremor. She
1:58:32
Speaker 1: turned on him. The icy glance of her green eyes.
1:58:37
Speaker 1: Break the enchantment which binds me, he cried, running towards her.
1:58:44
Speaker 1: Open to me the road to earth. I wish to
1:58:47
Speaker 1: fight in the light of the sun like a cavalier.
1:58:50
Speaker 1: I wish to return to where one loves, to where
1:58:54
Speaker 1: one suffers to wear one's struggles. Give back to me
1:58:58
Speaker 1: the life that is reel in the light that is real.
1:59:02
Speaker 1: Give me back my prowess. If not, I will kill you,
1:59:07
Speaker 1: you wicked woman. With a smile, she shook her head
1:59:11
Speaker 1: as if to refuse. Beautiful she was, and serene. With
1:59:16
Speaker 1: all the strength that was in him, George struck her,
1:59:19
Speaker 1: but his sword broke against her glittering breast child, she said,
1:59:27
Speaker 1: and she commanded that he be cast into a dungeon,
1:59:31
Speaker 1: which formed a kind of crystal tunnel under her palace,
1:59:34
Speaker 1: and about which sharks roamed with white, stretched, monstrous jaws,
1:59:40
Speaker 1: armed with triple rows of pointed teeth. At every touch,
1:59:45
Speaker 1: it seemed as if they must crush the frail glass wall,
1:59:50
Speaker 1: which made it impossible to sleep in the strange prison.
1:59:54
Speaker 1: The extremity of this undersea tunnel rested on a bed
1:59:58
Speaker 1: of rock, which formed the vaulting of the most distant
2:00:02
Speaker 1: and unexplored cavern in the Empire of the Dwarfs. And
2:00:07
Speaker 1: this is what the two little men saw in a
2:00:10
Speaker 1: single hour, and quite as accurately as if they had
2:00:14
Speaker 1: followed George all the days of his life. The venerable Nur,
2:00:19
Speaker 1: having described the dungeon scene in all its tragic gloom,
2:00:23
Speaker 1: addressed the king in much the same way as the
2:00:27
Speaker 1: Savoyards speak to the little children when they show their
2:00:31
Speaker 1: magic lanterns. King Locke, he said, I have shown you
2:00:37
Speaker 1: all you wish to see, and now that you know all,
2:00:41
Speaker 1: I can add nothing more. It's nothing to me whether
2:00:44
Speaker 1: you liked what you saw. It is enough to know
2:00:48
Speaker 1: that what you saw was the truth. Science neither cares
2:00:53
Speaker 1: to please nor to displease. She is a human. It
2:00:57
Speaker 1: is not science but poetry that charms and consoles, and
2:01:03
Speaker 1: that is why poetry is more necessary than science. Go,
2:01:08
Speaker 1: King loc and get them to sing you a song.
2:01:12
Speaker 1: And without uttering a word, King loc left the well.
2:01:18
Speaker 1: Chapter eighteen in which King Loc undertakes a terrible journey.
2:01:25
Speaker 1: Having left the well of Wisdom, King Loc went to
2:01:28
Speaker 1: his treasure house, and out of a casket, of which
2:01:32
Speaker 1: he alone had the key, he took a ring, which
2:01:35
Speaker 1: he placed on his finger. The stone set in the
2:01:39
Speaker 1: ring emitted a brilliant light, for it was a magic stone,
2:01:44
Speaker 1: of whose power we shall learn more further on. Thereupon,
2:01:49
Speaker 1: King Loc went to his palace, put on a traveling
2:01:53
Speaker 1: cloak and thick boots, and took a stick. Then he
2:01:58
Speaker 1: started on a journey. A cross crowded streets, great highways, villages,
2:02:04
Speaker 1: galleries of porphyry, torrents of rock, oil, and crystal grottoes,
2:02:10
Speaker 1: all of which communicated with each other through narrow openings.
2:02:14
Speaker 1: He seemed lost in deep meditation, and he uttered words
2:02:18
Speaker 1: that had no meaning. But he trudged on doggedly. Mountains
2:02:23
Speaker 1: obstructed his path, and he climbed the mountains. Precipices opened
2:02:28
Speaker 1: under his feet, and he descended into the precipices. He
2:02:32
Speaker 1: forded streams, He crossed horrible regions black with the fumes
2:02:37
Speaker 1: of sulfur. He trudged to cross burning lava, on which
2:02:42
Speaker 1: his feet left their imprint. He had the appearance of
2:02:46
Speaker 1: a desperately dogged traveler. He penetrated into gloomy caverns into
2:02:51
Speaker 1: which the water of the ocean oozed drop by drop
2:02:56
Speaker 1: and flowed like tiers along the sea rack forming pools.
2:03:00
Speaker 1: On the uneven ground were countless crustaceans increased and multiplied
2:03:05
Speaker 1: into hideous shapes. Enormous crabs, crayfish, giant lobsters, and sea
2:03:11
Speaker 1: spiders crackled under the dwarf's feet, then crawled away, leaving
2:03:17
Speaker 1: some of their claws behind, and in their flight rousing
2:03:21
Speaker 1: horrible mollusks and octopuses centuries old that suddenly writhed their
2:03:28
Speaker 1: hundred arms and spat feeted poison out of their bird beaks.
2:03:34
Speaker 1: And yet King Locke went on undaunted. He made his
2:03:38
Speaker 1: way to the ends of these caverns through the midst
2:03:42
Speaker 1: of a heaped up chaos of shelled monsters armed with spikes,
2:03:48
Speaker 1: with double saw edged nippers, with claws that crept stealthily
2:03:54
Speaker 1: up to his neck and bleared eyes on swaying tentacles.
2:03:59
Speaker 1: He crept up the sides of the cavern by clinging
2:04:03
Speaker 1: to the rough surface of the rocks, and the mailed
2:04:06
Speaker 1: monsters crept with him, but he never faltered until he
2:04:11
Speaker 1: recognized by touch a stone that projected from the center
2:04:16
Speaker 1: of the natural arch. He touched the stone with his
2:04:20
Speaker 1: magic ring, and suddenly it rolled away with a horrible crash,
2:04:25
Speaker 1: and at once a glory of light flooded the cavern
2:04:30
Speaker 1: with its beautiful waves and put to flight at the
2:04:34
Speaker 1: swarming monster's bread in its gloom. As King Loc thrust
2:04:39
Speaker 1: his head into the opening through which daylight poured, he
2:04:44
Speaker 1: saw George of Blanchelande in his glass dungeon, where he
2:04:49
Speaker 1: was lamenting grievously as he thought of a honey bee
2:04:53
Speaker 1: and of earth. For King Loc had undertaken this subterranean
2:04:58
Speaker 1: journey only only to deliver the captive of the Nixes.
2:05:04
Speaker 1: But seeing this huge, disheveled head, frowning and bearded, watching
2:05:09
Speaker 1: him from under his tunnel, George believed himself to be
2:05:12
Speaker 1: menaced by a mighty danger, and he felt for the
2:05:15
Speaker 1: sword at his side, forgetting that he had broken it
2:05:19
Speaker 1: against the breast of the woman with the green eyes.
2:05:22
Speaker 1: In the meantime, King Loc examined him curiously. Pah, said
2:05:28
Speaker 1: he to himself, It's only a child, And indeed he
2:05:33
Speaker 1: was only an ignorant child. And it was because of
2:05:37
Speaker 1: his great ignorance that he had escaped from the deadly
2:05:40
Speaker 1: and delicious kisses of the Queen of the Nixes. Aristotle,
2:05:45
Speaker 1: with all his wisdom, might not have done so well.
2:05:49
Speaker 1: What do you want, fat head, George cried, seeing himself defenseless.
2:05:55
Speaker 1: Why harm me? If I have never harmed you? Little one?
2:05:59
Speaker 1: King Lord replied, in a voice at once jovial and testy,
2:06:04
Speaker 1: you do not know whether or not you have harmed me,
2:06:08
Speaker 1: for you are ignorant of effects and causes and reflections
2:06:12
Speaker 1: and all philosophy in general. But will not talk of
2:06:16
Speaker 1: that if you don't mind leaving your tunnel, come this way.
2:06:21
Speaker 1: George at once crept into the cavern, slipped down the
2:06:25
Speaker 1: length of the wall, and as soon as he had
2:06:27
Speaker 1: reached the bottom, he said to his deliverer, you are
2:06:31
Speaker 1: a good little man. I shall love you forever. But
2:06:35
Speaker 1: do you know where honeybee of Clreeds is? I know
2:06:39
Speaker 1: a great many things, retorted the dwarf, and especially that
2:06:45
Speaker 1: I don't like people who ask questions. Hearing this, George
2:06:50
Speaker 1: paused in great confusion and followed his guide in silence
2:06:55
Speaker 1: through the dense black air, where the octopuses and crustaceans,
2:07:00
Speaker 1: writhed King Loc said, mockingly, this is not a carriage road,
2:07:05
Speaker 1: young Prince, Sir George replied, the road to liberty is
2:07:11
Speaker 1: always beautiful, and I fear not to be led astray
2:07:15
Speaker 1: when I follow my benefactor. Little King Loc bit his lips.
2:07:20
Speaker 1: On reaching the gallery of Porphyry, he pointed out to
2:07:24
Speaker 1: the youth a flight of steps cut in the rock
2:07:27
Speaker 1: by the dwarfs by which they ascend to Earth. This
2:07:32
Speaker 1: is your way, he said, Farewell, do not bid me farewell.
2:07:38
Speaker 1: George replied, say I shall see you again after what
2:07:42
Speaker 1: you have done. My life is yours. What I have done,
2:07:48
Speaker 1: King Lock replied, I have not done for your sake,
2:07:52
Speaker 1: but for another's. It will be better for us never
2:07:55
Speaker 1: to meet again, for we can never be friends. I
2:08:00
Speaker 1: would not have believed that my deliverance could have caused
2:08:03
Speaker 1: me such pain, George said, simply and gravely. And yet
2:08:08
Speaker 1: it does. Farewell. A pleasant journey, cried King Loc in
2:08:14
Speaker 1: a gruff voice. Now it happened that these steps of
2:08:19
Speaker 1: the dwarfs adjoined a deserted stone quarry less than a
2:08:24
Speaker 1: mile from the Castle of Clarad's. This young lad King
2:08:29
Speaker 1: Locke murmured as he went on his way, has neither
2:08:32
Speaker 1: the wisdom nor the wealth. Truly, I cannot imagine why
2:08:37
Speaker 1: honey Bee loves him, unless it is because he is young, handsome,
2:08:41
Speaker 1: faithful and brave. As he went back to the town,
2:08:45
Speaker 1: he laughed to himself, as a man does who has
2:08:49
Speaker 1: done some one a good turn. As he passed Honeybee's cottage,
2:08:53
Speaker 1: he thrust his big head into the open window, just
2:08:57
Speaker 1: as he had thrust it into the crystal tunnel, and
2:09:00
Speaker 1: he saw the young girl who was embroidering a veil
2:09:04
Speaker 1: with silver flowers. I wish you joy, Honeybee, he cried.
2:09:10
Speaker 1: And you owso little, King loc seeing you have nothing
2:09:13
Speaker 1: to wish for and nothing to regret. He had much
2:09:17
Speaker 1: to wish for, but indeed he had nothing to regret,
2:09:21
Speaker 1: and it was probably this which gave him such a
2:09:25
Speaker 1: good appetite for supper. Having eaten a huge number of
2:09:29
Speaker 1: truffled pheasants, he called Bob. Bob said, he mountche Raven,
2:09:36
Speaker 1: go to the Princess of the Dwarfs and tell her
2:09:39
Speaker 1: that George of Blanchelande Long, a captive of the Nixes,
2:09:44
Speaker 1: has this day returned to Cleryd's. Thus he spoke, and
2:09:50
Speaker 1: Bob flew off on his raven Chapter nineteen, which tells
2:09:56
Speaker 1: of the extraordinary encounter of Jean the mass Taylor, and
2:10:01
Speaker 1: of the blessed song the birds and the Grobe sang
2:10:04
Speaker 1: to the Duchess. When George again found himself on the
2:10:09
Speaker 1: earth on which he was born, the very first person
2:10:12
Speaker 1: he met was Jean the Master Taylor, with a red
2:10:16
Speaker 1: suit of clothes on his arm for the steward of
2:10:19
Speaker 1: the castle. The good Man shrieked at sight of his
2:10:22
Speaker 1: young master, Holy Saint James. He cried, if you are
2:10:27
Speaker 1: not his lordship George of Blanchelon, who was drowned in
2:10:31
Speaker 1: the lake seven years ago, you are either his ghost
2:10:34
Speaker 1: or the devil in person. I am neither ghost nor devil,
2:10:38
Speaker 1: Good Jean, but I am truly that same George of Blanchelande,
2:10:42
Speaker 1: who used to creep to your shop and beg bits
2:10:45
Speaker 1: of stuff out of which to make dresses for the
2:10:48
Speaker 1: dolls of my sister Honeybee. Then you were not drowned,
2:10:52
Speaker 1: your lordship, the good Man exclaimed, I am so glad,
2:10:57
Speaker 1: and how well you look my little Peter, who climbed
2:11:00
Speaker 1: into my arms to see you bas on horseback by
2:11:02
Speaker 1: the side of the Duchess that Sunday morning has become
2:11:05
Speaker 1: a good workman and a fine fellow. He is all
2:11:08
Speaker 1: of that. God be praised, your lordship. He will be
2:11:11
Speaker 1: glad to hear that you are not at the bottom
2:11:13
Speaker 1: of the sea, and that the fish have not eaten you.
2:11:16
Speaker 1: As he has always declared, he was in the habit
2:11:19
Speaker 1: of saying many pleasant things about at your lordship for
2:11:22
Speaker 1: his very amusing And it is a fact that you
2:11:25
Speaker 1: are much mourned in Claredes. You are such a promising child.
2:11:30
Speaker 1: I shall remember to my dying day how you once
2:11:32
Speaker 1: asked me for a needle to sew with, and as
2:11:35
Speaker 1: I refused, for you were not of an age to
2:11:38
Speaker 1: use it without danger, you replied you would go to
2:11:41
Speaker 1: the woods and pick beautiful green pine needles. That is
2:11:45
Speaker 1: what you said, and it still makes me laugh upon
2:11:48
Speaker 1: my soul. You said that our little Peter also used
2:11:52
Speaker 1: to say clever things. Now he is a cooper and
2:11:55
Speaker 1: at your service, your lordship, I shall employ no one
2:11:59
Speaker 1: else but give me news of honey Bee and the Duchess.
2:12:03
Speaker 1: Master Jean her Lack. Where do you come from, your lordship,
2:12:08
Speaker 1: Seeing that you do not know that it is now
2:12:10
Speaker 1: seven years since the Princess Honeybee was stolen by the
2:12:15
Speaker 1: dwarfs of the mountain. She disappeared the very day you
2:12:18
Speaker 1: were drowned, and one can truly say that on that
2:12:21
Speaker 1: day clare Reed's lost its sweetest flowers. The Duchess is
2:12:26
Speaker 1: in deep mourning. And it's that which makes me say
2:12:30
Speaker 1: that the great of the earth have their sorrows just
2:12:33
Speaker 1: as well as the humblest artisans, if only to prove
2:12:36
Speaker 1: that we are all the sons of Adam. And because
2:12:39
Speaker 1: of this a cat may well look at a king,
2:12:41
Speaker 1: as the saying is. And by the same token, the
2:12:44
Speaker 1: good Duchess has seen her hair grow white and her
2:12:48
Speaker 1: gayety vanish. And when in the springtime she walks in
2:12:52
Speaker 1: her black robes along the hedge row where the birds sing,
2:12:55
Speaker 1: the smallest of these is more to be envied than
2:12:58
Speaker 1: the sovereign Lady Clare's. And yet her grief is not
2:13:02
Speaker 1: quite without hope, your lordship, for though she had no
2:13:06
Speaker 1: tidings of you, she at least knows by dreams that
2:13:10
Speaker 1: her daughter Honeybee is alive. This and much house, said
2:13:14
Speaker 1: good Man Joan, But George listened no longer. After he
2:13:18
Speaker 1: heard that Honeybee was a captive among the dwarfs. The
2:13:24
Speaker 1: dwarfs hold Honeybee captive under the earth. He pondered, a
2:13:29
Speaker 1: dwarf for rescued me from my crystal dungeon. These little
2:13:34
Speaker 1: men have not all the same customs. My deliverer cannot
2:13:38
Speaker 1: be of the same race as those who stole my sister.
2:13:42
Speaker 1: He knew not what to think, except that he must
2:13:48
Speaker 1: rescue Honeybee. In the meantime, they crossed the town, and
2:13:53
Speaker 1: on their way the gossips, standing on the thresholds of
2:13:56
Speaker 1: their houses, asked each other who was this young stranger,
2:14:01
Speaker 1: But they all agreed that he was very handsome. The
2:14:04
Speaker 1: better informed amongst them, having recognized the young lord of Blanchelon,
2:14:09
Speaker 1: decided that it must be his ghost. Wherefore they fled,
2:14:13
Speaker 1: making great signs of the cross. He must be sprinkled
2:14:18
Speaker 1: with holy water, said one old crone, and he will vanish,
2:14:22
Speaker 1: leaving a disgusting smell of sulver. He will carry away
2:14:26
Speaker 1: Master Jean, and he will of course plunge him alive
2:14:30
Speaker 1: into the fire of hell. Softly, old woman, a citizen replied,
2:14:35
Speaker 1: his lordship is alive and much more alive than you
2:14:39
Speaker 1: or I. He is as fresh as a rose, and
2:14:41
Speaker 1: he looks as if he had come from some noble court,
2:14:45
Speaker 1: rather than from the other world. One does return from
2:14:49
Speaker 1: a far good dame, as witness Vancourt, the squire, who
2:14:52
Speaker 1: came back from Rome last Midsummer day, and Margaret the
2:14:57
Speaker 1: helmet maker, having greatly admired George, mounted to her maiden chamber, and,
2:15:03
Speaker 1: kneeling before the image of the Holy Virgin, prayed, Holy Virgin,
2:15:08
Speaker 1: grant me a husband who shall look precisely like this
2:15:12
Speaker 1: young lord. So each in his way talked of George's return,
2:15:18
Speaker 1: until the news spread from mouth to mouth, and finally
2:15:22
Speaker 1: reached the ears of the Duchess, who was walking in
2:15:26
Speaker 1: the orchard. Her heart beat violently, and she heard all
2:15:30
Speaker 1: the birds in the hedge rows sing.
2:15:33
Speaker 2: Gueiquiqui wi oi oi George de Blanchelon cui weiqui dont
2:15:42
Speaker 2: lu a ven nourie Laurence.
2:15:44
Speaker 1: Cuiquiqui s d g s d g s dchi wei
2:15:49
Speaker 1: wei wei. Francour approached her respectfully and said, your grace,
2:15:56
Speaker 1: George de Blanchelande, whom you thought dead, has reached her
2:16:00
Speaker 1: earned I shall make it into a song. In the meantime,
2:16:03
Speaker 1: the birds sang cu.
2:16:05
Speaker 2: Qui queique Greek queen, o o o o wee wee
2:16:11
Speaker 2: illstichi ichi ichi Ichi ichi Ichi.
2:16:15
Speaker 1: And when she saw the child who had been to
2:16:17
Speaker 1: her as a son, she opened her arms and fell
2:16:22
Speaker 1: senseless at his feet. End of section six Section seven
2:16:34
Speaker 1: of Honeybee by Anatole, France, translated by Missus John Lane.
2:16:40
Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by
2:16:44
Speaker 1: Kate Follis, Chapter twenty, which treats of a little satin shoe.
2:16:51
Speaker 1: Everybody in Clary's was quite convinced that Honeybee had been
2:16:55
Speaker 1: stolen by the dwarfs. Even the Duchess believed it, though
2:16:59
Speaker 1: her dreams did not tell her precisely. We will find
2:17:03
Speaker 1: her again, said George. We will find her again, replied Francoor.
2:17:10
Speaker 1: And we will bring her back to her mother, said George.
2:17:14
Speaker 1: And we will bring her back, replied Francoor. And we
2:17:18
Speaker 1: will marry her, said George. And we will marry her,
2:17:23
Speaker 1: replied Francor. And they inquired among the inhabitants as to
2:17:28
Speaker 1: the habits of the dwarfs and the mysterious circumstances of
2:17:32
Speaker 1: honey bee's disappearance, and so it happened that they questioned
2:17:37
Speaker 1: nurse Moriel, who had once been the nurse of the
2:17:40
Speaker 1: Duchess of Clarides. But now as she had no more
2:17:43
Speaker 1: milk for babies, Moriel instead nursed the chickens in the
2:17:48
Speaker 1: poultry yard. It was there that the master and squire
2:17:52
Speaker 1: found her. She cried psp PEPs li le le le
2:17:57
Speaker 1: pipeppeps as she threw grain to the chicks. Pips, pips.
2:18:03
Speaker 1: Is that you, your lordship, pip pieps? Is it possible
2:18:08
Speaker 1: that you have grown so tall? Ps and so handsome? Pips?
2:18:13
Speaker 1: Shoe shoe shoe? Just look at that fat one there
2:18:17
Speaker 1: eating the little one's portion. Shoe, shoe, shoe. The way
2:18:21
Speaker 1: of the world, your lordship, riches go to the rich.
2:18:25
Speaker 1: Lean ones grow leaner, while the fat ones grow fatter.
2:18:28
Speaker 1: There's no justice on earth. What can I do for you,
2:18:32
Speaker 1: my lord? May I offer you each a glass of beer?
2:18:37
Speaker 1: We will accept it gladly, Moril, But I must embrace
2:18:40
Speaker 1: you because you nursed the mother of her whom I
2:18:43
Speaker 1: love best on earth. That's true, my lord. My foster
2:18:48
Speaker 1: child cut her first tooth at the age of six
2:18:51
Speaker 1: months and fourteen days on which occasion the deceased duchess
2:18:56
Speaker 1: made me a present. She did. Indeed, now, Moriel, tell
2:19:02
Speaker 1: us all you know about the dwarfs who carried away
2:19:04
Speaker 1: honey Bee. Alas, my lord, I know nothing of the
2:19:09
Speaker 1: dwarfs who carried her away. And how can you expect
2:19:13
Speaker 1: an old woman like me to know anything. It's ages
2:19:17
Speaker 1: a go since I forgot the little I ever knew,
2:19:21
Speaker 1: and I haven't even enough memory left to remember where
2:19:24
Speaker 1: I put my spectacles. Sometimes I look for them when
2:19:28
Speaker 1: they're aunt my nose. Try this drink, it's fresh. Here's
2:19:34
Speaker 1: to your health, Mariel. But I was told that your
2:19:37
Speaker 1: husband knew something about the disappearance of honey Bee. That's true,
2:19:42
Speaker 1: your lordship. Though he never was taught anything, he learned
2:19:45
Speaker 1: a great deal in the po houses and the taverns,
2:19:49
Speaker 1: and he never forgot anything. Why if he were alive
2:19:52
Speaker 1: now in sitting at this table, he could tell you
2:19:55
Speaker 1: stories until to morrow. He used to tell me so
2:19:59
Speaker 1: many that they quite muddled my head. And even now
2:20:02
Speaker 1: I can't tell the tale of one from the head
2:20:04
Speaker 1: of the other. That's true, your lordship. Indeed it was true,
2:20:10
Speaker 1: for the head of the old nurse could only be
2:20:12
Speaker 1: compared to a cracked soup pot. It was with the
2:20:16
Speaker 1: greatest difficulty that George and Francore got anything good out
2:20:21
Speaker 1: of it. Finally, however, by means of much repetition, they
2:20:26
Speaker 1: did extract a tail, which began somewhat as follows. It's
2:20:33
Speaker 1: seven years ago, your lordship, the very day you and
2:20:36
Speaker 1: Honeybee went on that frolic from which neither of you
2:20:40
Speaker 1: ever returned. My deceased husband went up the mountain to
2:20:44
Speaker 1: sell a horse, That's the truth. He fed the beast
2:20:49
Speaker 1: with a good peck of oats soaked in cider to
2:20:52
Speaker 1: give him a firm leg and a brilliant eye. He
2:20:55
Speaker 1: took him to market near the mountain. He had no
2:20:58
Speaker 1: cause to regret to his oats or his cider, for
2:21:02
Speaker 1: he sold his horse for a much better price. Beats
2:21:06
Speaker 1: are like human beings. One judges them by their appearance.
2:21:10
Speaker 1: My deceased husband was so rejoiced at his good stroke
2:21:14
Speaker 1: of business that he invited his friends to drink with him,
2:21:18
Speaker 1: and glass in hand he drank to their health. You
2:21:23
Speaker 1: must know, your Lordship, that there wasn't men in all
2:21:26
Speaker 1: quare reeds could equal my husband. When glass in hand
2:21:29
Speaker 1: he drank to the health of his friends, so much
2:21:33
Speaker 1: so that on that day, after a number of such compliments,
2:21:38
Speaker 1: when he returned alone at twilight, he took the wrong road,
2:21:42
Speaker 1: for the reason that he could not recognize the right one.
2:21:46
Speaker 1: Finding himself near a cavern, he saw, as distinctly as possible,
2:21:51
Speaker 1: considering his condition in the hour, a crowd of little
2:21:55
Speaker 1: men carrying a girl or a boy on a litter.
2:21:59
Speaker 1: He ran away way for fear of ill luck, for
2:22:02
Speaker 1: the wine had not robbed him of prudence. But at
2:22:06
Speaker 1: some distance from the cavern, he dropped his pipe, and
2:22:10
Speaker 1: on stooping to pick it up, he picked up instead
2:22:14
Speaker 1: a little satin shoe. When he was in a good humor,
2:22:18
Speaker 1: he used to amuse himself by saying, it's the first
2:22:21
Speaker 1: time a pipe has changed into a shoe, And as
2:22:25
Speaker 1: it was the shoe of a little girl, he decided
2:22:28
Speaker 1: that she who had lost it in the forest was
2:22:31
Speaker 1: the one who had been carried away by the dwarfs,
2:22:34
Speaker 1: and that it was this he had seen. He was
2:22:37
Speaker 1: about to put the shoe into his pocket when a
2:22:40
Speaker 1: crowd of little men in hoods pounced down on him
2:22:44
Speaker 1: and gave him such a thrashing that he lay there
2:22:46
Speaker 1: quite stunned, Moriel. Moriel cried, George, it's honeybee's shoe. Give
2:22:54
Speaker 1: it to me, and I will kiss it a thousand times.
2:22:57
Speaker 1: It shall rest forever on my heart, and when I die,
2:23:01
Speaker 1: it shall be buried with me as you please, your lordship.
2:23:06
Speaker 1: But where will you find it? The dwarfs took it
2:23:09
Speaker 1: away from my poor husband, and he always thought that
2:23:12
Speaker 1: they only gave him such a sound thrashing because he
2:23:16
Speaker 1: wanted to put it in his pocket to show to
2:23:19
Speaker 1: the magistrates. He used to say, when he was in
2:23:22
Speaker 1: a good humor, enough enough, only tell me the name
2:23:26
Speaker 1: of the cavern. It is called the cavern of the Dwarfs,
2:23:31
Speaker 1: your lordship, and very well named too, my deceased husband.
2:23:36
Speaker 1: Not another word, Morril. But you, Francor, do you know
2:23:41
Speaker 1: where this cavern is, your lordship, replied Francor, as he
2:23:46
Speaker 1: emptied the pot of bear. You would certainly know it
2:23:50
Speaker 1: if you knew my songs better. I have written at
2:23:54
Speaker 1: least a dozen about this cavern, and I've described it
2:23:57
Speaker 1: without even forgetting a single sprig of my I venture
2:24:01
Speaker 1: to say, your Lordship, that of these dozen songs, six
2:24:05
Speaker 1: are of great merit, and even the other six are
2:24:09
Speaker 1: not to be despised. I will sing you one or two.
2:24:13
Speaker 1: Frankcore cried George, we will take possession of this cavern
2:24:17
Speaker 1: of the dwarfs and rescue Honeybee. Of course we will,
2:24:23
Speaker 1: replied frankcre Chapter twenty one, in which a perilous adventure
2:24:30
Speaker 1: is described. That night, when all were asleep, George and
2:24:35
Speaker 1: Frankcore crept into the lower hall in search of weapons. Lances, swords, dirks,
2:24:42
Speaker 1: broad swords, hunting knives, and daggers glittered under the time
2:24:48
Speaker 1: stained rafters, everything necessary to kill both men and brute.
2:24:56
Speaker 1: A complete suit of armor stood upright under each beam,
2:25:00
Speaker 1: in an attitude as resolute and proud as if it
2:25:04
Speaker 1: were still filled with the soul of the brave man
2:25:07
Speaker 1: it had once decked for mighty adventures. The gauntlet grasped
2:25:13
Speaker 1: the lance in its ten iron fingers, while the shield
2:25:17
Speaker 1: rested against the plates of the greaves, as if to
2:25:21
Speaker 1: prove that prudence is necessary to courage, and that the
2:25:24
Speaker 1: best fighter is armed as well for defense as for attack.
2:25:30
Speaker 1: From among all these suits of armor, George chose the
2:25:33
Speaker 1: one that Honeybee's father had worn as far away as
2:25:37
Speaker 1: the isles of Avalon and Thule, he donned it with
2:25:40
Speaker 1: the aid of Francor, nor did he forget the shield,
2:25:44
Speaker 1: on which was emblazoned the Golden son of Clarides. As
2:25:49
Speaker 1: for Francor, he put on a good old steel coat
2:25:52
Speaker 1: of mail of his grandfather's, and on his head a
2:25:55
Speaker 1: cask of a bygone time, to which he attached a
2:25:59
Speaker 1: ragged and moth eaten tuft or plume. This he chose
2:26:04
Speaker 1: merely as a matter of fancy, and to give himself
2:26:07
Speaker 1: an air of rejoicing, For, as he justly reasoned, gaiety,
2:26:11
Speaker 1: which is good under every circumstance, is especially so in
2:26:16
Speaker 1: the face of great dangers. Having thus armed themselves, they
2:26:21
Speaker 1: passed under the light of the moon into the dark
2:26:24
Speaker 1: open country. Francor had fastened the horses on the edge
2:26:29
Speaker 1: of a little grove near the postern, and there he
2:26:32
Speaker 1: found them nibbling at the bark of the bushes. They
2:26:35
Speaker 1: were swift steeds, and it took them less than an
2:26:39
Speaker 1: hour to reach the mountain of the dwarfs, through a
2:26:42
Speaker 1: crowd of goblins and phantoms. Here's the cave, said Francor.
2:26:49
Speaker 1: Master and man dismounted, and sword in hand, penetrated into
2:26:55
Speaker 1: the cavern. It required great courage to attempt such an
2:26:59
Speaker 1: ad venture. But George was in love and Francore was faithful.
2:27:05
Speaker 1: And this was a case in which one could say,
2:27:07
Speaker 1: with the most delightful of poets, what may not friendship
2:27:12
Speaker 1: do with love? Or guide? Master and man had trudged
2:27:17
Speaker 1: through the gloom for nearly an hour when they were
2:27:20
Speaker 1: astonished to see a brilliant light. It was one of
2:27:24
Speaker 1: the meteors, which we know illumines the kingdom of the Dwarfs.
2:27:29
Speaker 1: By the light of this subterranean luminary, they discovered that
2:27:33
Speaker 1: they were standing at the foot of an ancient castle. This,
2:27:38
Speaker 1: said George, is the castle we must capture, to be sure,
2:27:44
Speaker 1: said Francor. But first permit me to drink a few
2:27:48
Speaker 1: drops of this wine, which I brought with me as
2:27:51
Speaker 1: a precaution, because the better the wine, the better the man,
2:27:55
Speaker 1: and the better the man, the better the lance. The
2:27:57
Speaker 1: better the lance, the less dangerous the enemy. George, seeing
2:28:02
Speaker 1: no living soul, struck the hilt of his sword sharply
2:28:06
Speaker 1: against the door of the castle. He looked up at
2:28:09
Speaker 1: the sound of a little tremulous voice, and he saw
2:28:13
Speaker 1: at one of the windows a little old man with
2:28:16
Speaker 1: a long beard, who asked, who are you, George of Blanchelande,
2:28:23
Speaker 1: and who do you want? I have come to deliver
2:28:26
Speaker 1: Honeybee of Clarede's, whom you unjust the hold captive in
2:28:31
Speaker 1: your mole hill, hideous little moles that you are. The
2:28:36
Speaker 1: dwarf disappeared, and again George was left alone with Francor,
2:28:41
Speaker 1: who said to him, your lordship, possibly I may exaggerate
2:28:45
Speaker 1: if I remark that in your answer to the dwarf,
2:28:48
Speaker 1: you have not quite exhausted all the persuasive powers of eloquence.
2:28:54
Speaker 1: Francor was afraid of nothing, but he was old. His heart,
2:28:58
Speaker 1: like his head, was polished by age, and he disliked
2:29:03
Speaker 1: to offend people. As for George, he stormed and clamored
2:29:07
Speaker 1: at the top of his voice, vild dwellers in the earth, mules, badgers,
2:29:12
Speaker 1: doormiced ferrets and water rats. Opened the door, and I'll
2:29:17
Speaker 1: cut off all your ears. Hardly had he uttered these words.
2:29:22
Speaker 1: When the bronze door of the castle slowly opened of itself,
2:29:26
Speaker 1: for no one could be seen pushing back its enormous wings.
2:29:31
Speaker 1: George was seized with terror, and yet he sprang through
2:29:35
Speaker 1: the mysterious door because his courage was even greater than
2:29:39
Speaker 1: his terror. Entering the courtyard, he saw that all the windows,
2:29:45
Speaker 1: the galleries, the roofs, the gables, the skylights, and even
2:29:49
Speaker 1: the chimney pots were crowded with dwarfs armed with bows
2:29:55
Speaker 1: and crossbows. He heard the bronze door close behind, and
2:30:01
Speaker 1: suddenly a shower of arrows fell thick and fast on
2:30:05
Speaker 1: his head and shoulders. And for the second time he
2:30:08
Speaker 1: was filled with a great fear. And for the second
2:30:11
Speaker 1: time he conquered his fare sword in hand and his
2:30:15
Speaker 1: shield on his arm. He mounted the steps, until suddenly
2:30:19
Speaker 1: he perceived on the very highest a majestic dwarf who
2:30:25
Speaker 1: stood there in serene dignity, gold scepter in hand, and
2:30:30
Speaker 1: wearing the royal crown and the purple mantle. And in
2:30:34
Speaker 1: this dwarf he recognized the little man who had delivered
2:30:38
Speaker 1: him out of his crystal dungeon. Thereupon he threw himself
2:30:43
Speaker 1: at his feet and cried, weeping, Oh, my benefactor, who
2:30:48
Speaker 1: are you? Are you one of those who have robbed
2:30:51
Speaker 1: me of honey Bee, whom I love? I am King
2:30:54
Speaker 1: Locke replied the dwarf. I have kept honey Bee with
2:30:59
Speaker 1: me to teach her the wisdom of the dwarfs. Child,
2:31:03
Speaker 1: you have fallen into my kingdom like a hail's storm
2:31:07
Speaker 1: and a garden of flowers. But the dwarfs, less weak
2:31:11
Speaker 1: than men, are never angered, as are they. My intelligence
2:31:16
Speaker 1: raises me too high above you for me to resent
2:31:20
Speaker 1: your actions, whatever they are. And of all the attributes
2:31:25
Speaker 1: that render me superior to you, that which I guard
2:31:29
Speaker 1: most jealously is justice. Honey Bee shall be brought before me,
2:31:36
Speaker 1: and I will ask her if she wishes to follow you.
2:31:40
Speaker 1: This I do not because you desire it, but because
2:31:44
Speaker 1: I must. A great silence ensued, and honey Bee appeared,
2:31:50
Speaker 1: attired all in white and with flowing golden hair. No
2:31:55
Speaker 1: sooner did she see George than she ran and threw
2:32:00
Speaker 1: herself in his arms, and clasped his iron breast with
2:32:04
Speaker 1: all her strength. Then King loc said to her, honey Bee,
2:32:09
Speaker 1: is it true that this is the man you wish
2:32:11
Speaker 1: to marry? It is true, very true, that this is he.
2:32:16
Speaker 1: Little king Lock replied, Honeybee, see, oh you little men,
2:32:21
Speaker 1: how I love and how happy I am. And she
2:32:25
Speaker 1: began to weep. Her tears fell on her lover's face,
2:32:29
Speaker 1: but they were tears of joy, and with them were
2:32:32
Speaker 1: mingled tiny bursts of laughter, and a thousand endaring words
2:32:37
Speaker 1: without sense, like the lisp of a little child. She
2:32:41
Speaker 1: quite forgot that the sight of her joy might sadden
2:32:44
Speaker 1: the heart of King Lock. My beloved, said, George, I
2:32:50
Speaker 1: find you again, such as I had longed for, the
2:32:54
Speaker 1: fairest and dearest of beings. You love me, Thank Heaven.
2:33:00
Speaker 1: You love me. But honey Bee, do you not also
2:33:04
Speaker 1: love King Lock, a little who delivered me out of
2:33:07
Speaker 1: the glass dungeon in which the nixes held me captive.
2:33:11
Speaker 1: Far away from you. Honeybee turned to King Loc, Little
2:33:17
Speaker 1: King Loc, and did you do this? She cried? You
2:33:22
Speaker 1: loved me, and yet you rescued the one I love
2:33:26
Speaker 1: and who loves me. Words failed her, and she fell
2:33:30
Speaker 1: on her knees, her head in her hands. All the
2:33:34
Speaker 1: little men who witnessed this scene dey loosed their crossbows
2:33:37
Speaker 1: with tears. Only King Loc remained serene, and honey Bee,
2:33:43
Speaker 1: overcome by his magnanimity and his goodness, felt for him
2:33:48
Speaker 1: the love of a daughter for a father. She took
2:33:52
Speaker 1: her lover's hand. George, she said, I love you. God
2:33:58
Speaker 1: knows how much I love you, But how can I
2:34:01
Speaker 1: leave little King Lock? Hello? There King Lock cried in
2:34:07
Speaker 1: a terrible voice, now you are my prisoners. But this
2:34:13
Speaker 1: terrible voice he only used for fun and just as
2:34:17
Speaker 1: a joke, for he really was not at all angry. Here,
2:34:21
Speaker 1: Francor approached and knelt before him. Sire, he cried, may
2:34:26
Speaker 1: it please your majesty to let me share the captivity
2:34:30
Speaker 1: of the masters I serve? Said Honeybee, recognizing him, is
2:34:35
Speaker 1: it you, my good frankcre How glad I am to
2:34:39
Speaker 1: see you again? What a horrid cap you've got on?
2:34:43
Speaker 1: Tell me have you composed any new songs? And King
2:34:47
Speaker 1: Lock took them all three to dinner Chapter twenty two,
2:34:55
Speaker 1: in which all ends well. The next morning, Honeybee, George,
2:35:01
Speaker 1: and Francore again arrayed themselves in the splendid garments prepared
2:35:06
Speaker 1: for them by the dwarfs, and proceeded to the banquet hall,
2:35:10
Speaker 1: where as he had promised, King Lock, in the robes
2:35:14
Speaker 1: of an emperor, soon joined them. He was followed by
2:35:18
Speaker 1: his officers, fully armed and covered with furs of barbarous
2:35:22
Speaker 1: magnificence and in their helmets the wings of swans. Crowds
2:35:28
Speaker 1: of hurrying dwarfs came in through the windows, the airholes
2:35:32
Speaker 1: and the chimneys and rolled under the benches. King loc
2:35:37
Speaker 1: mounted a stone table, one end of which was laden
2:35:40
Speaker 1: with flagons, candelabra tankards, and cups of gold of marvelous workmanship.
2:35:47
Speaker 1: He signed to Honeybee and to George. To approach Honeybee,
2:35:53
Speaker 1: he said, by a law of the nation of the Dwarfs,
2:35:57
Speaker 1: it is decreed that a stranger received in our midst
2:36:01
Speaker 1: shall be free after seven years. You have been with
2:36:06
Speaker 1: us seven years, honey Bee, and I should be a
2:36:08
Speaker 1: disloyal citizen, and to blame where the king should I
2:36:12
Speaker 1: keep you longer? But before permitting you to go, I wish,
2:36:16
Speaker 1: not having been able to wed you myself, to betrothe
2:36:20
Speaker 1: you to the one you have chosen. I do so
2:36:23
Speaker 1: with joy, for I love you more than I love myself,
2:36:27
Speaker 1: and my pain, if such remains, is like a little
2:36:31
Speaker 1: cloud which your happiness will dispel. Honey Bee of Clarades,
2:36:36
Speaker 1: Princess of the Dwarfs, give me your hand, and you,
2:36:41
Speaker 1: George of Blancheland, give me yours. Placing the hand of
2:36:46
Speaker 1: George in the hand of Honeybee, he turned to his
2:36:49
Speaker 1: people and said, with a ringing voice, little men, my children,
2:36:54
Speaker 1: you bear witness that these two pledge themselves to marry
2:36:58
Speaker 1: one another. On earth. They shall go back together, and
2:37:02
Speaker 1: together help courage, modesty and fidelity to blossom as roses, pinks,
2:37:10
Speaker 1: and peonies bloom for good gardeners. At these words, the
2:37:16
Speaker 1: dwarfs burst into a mighty shout, but not knowing if
2:37:20
Speaker 1: they ought to grieve or to rejoice, they were torn
2:37:23
Speaker 1: by conflicting emotions. King Loc again, turning to the lovers, said,
2:37:29
Speaker 1: as he pointed to the flagons, the tankards, all the
2:37:33
Speaker 1: beautiful art of the goldsmith. Behold the gifts of the dwarfs.
2:37:38
Speaker 1: Take them, Honeybee. They will remind you of your little friends.
2:37:42
Speaker 1: It is their gift to you, not mine. What I
2:37:45
Speaker 1: am about to give you you shall know. Before long,
2:37:49
Speaker 1: a lengthy silence ensued with an expression sublime in its tenderness,
2:37:56
Speaker 1: King Lock gazed at Honeybee, whose beautiful and radiant head,
2:38:01
Speaker 1: crowned by roses, rested on her lover's shoulder. Then he continued,
2:38:08
Speaker 1: my children, it is not enough to love passionately. You
2:38:12
Speaker 1: must also love well. A passionate love is good, doubtless,
2:38:17
Speaker 1: but a beautiful love is better. May you have as
2:38:21
Speaker 1: much strength as gentleness, may it lack nothing, not even forbearance,
2:38:26
Speaker 1: and let even a little compassion be mingled with it.
2:38:30
Speaker 1: You are young, fair and good, but you are human,
2:38:35
Speaker 1: and because of this, capable of much suffering. If then
2:38:40
Speaker 1: something of compassion does not enter into the feelings you
2:38:43
Speaker 1: have one for the other, these feelings will not always
2:38:47
Speaker 1: be fit all the circumstances of your life. Together. They
2:38:52
Speaker 1: will be like festive robes that will not shield you
2:38:56
Speaker 1: from wind and rain. We love true only those we love,
2:39:02
Speaker 1: even in their weakness and their poverty, To forbear, to forgive,
2:39:09
Speaker 1: to console. That alone is the science of love. King
2:39:15
Speaker 1: Lock paused, seized by a gentle but strong emotion. My children,
2:39:22
Speaker 1: he then continued, may you be happy. Guard your happiness well,
2:39:29
Speaker 1: Guard it well. While he addressed them, pick Tad, Dag, Bob,
2:39:36
Speaker 1: True and Pow clung to honey Bee's white mantle and
2:39:41
Speaker 1: covered her hands and arms with kisses, and they implored
2:39:46
Speaker 1: her not to leave them. Thereupon, King Lock took from
2:39:50
Speaker 1: his girdle a ring set with a glittering gem. It
2:39:55
Speaker 1: was the magic ring which had unclosed the dungeon of
2:39:59
Speaker 1: the knick sees. He placed it on Honeybee's finger. Honeybee,
2:40:05
Speaker 1: he said, receive from my hand this ring which will
2:40:10
Speaker 1: permit you, you and your husband to enter at any
2:40:15
Speaker 1: hour the kingdom of the Dwarfs. You will be welcomed
2:40:19
Speaker 1: with joy and succored at need. In return, teach the
2:40:24
Speaker 1: children that will be yours not to despise the little men,
2:40:29
Speaker 1: so innocent and industrious who dwell under the earth. End
2:40:36
Speaker 1: of section seven. End of Honeybee by Anatole, France, translated
2:40:43
Speaker 1: by Missus John Lane.