After flying through the sky for a little while, encountering new wonders at every step, the Sylph suddenly folded back its wings and plummeted. I looked down and the objects, which were so small before, grew bigger and bigger. We passed by a great, luminous globe58 that looked three times bigger than the Moon. Then I felt a fierce heat that I would not have been able to bear if the Sylph had not noticed my reaction and started flying at an angle, which thus alleviated most of the heat. I tried to avoid the rest by putting my head in the shade of the huge wing, but this soon became useless because the rays of the sun passed through the feathers like through ice. The wing itself looked like it was made of fumes, like the iris, reflecting a thousand different colors whose brilliance I could not stand.
Then the two Sylphs, Sinouis’ and mine, reached the magnificent, extraordinary palace. It looked like it was built on a still cloud. Its walls were made of ice from which the reflected rays of 20 stars flashed 100 different colors. They were transparent and if it was not for that blinding brightness you could have seen all the way inside. The palace was octagonal and the roof looked like one of our domes. A Sylph was posted at every corner, each one blowing a new fangled trumpet that looked like crystal. A ninth Sylph was flying around the castle and was armed with what looked like a scythe like we picture Time.
The sound of the trumpets was sweet and harmonious, composing a perfect, touching unison that moved the soul with such vivid impressions and such divine ecstasy that it was almost irresistible. As astonished as I was at so many extraordinary things, I was more surprised at what the Sylph told me.
“The time is coming when matter and spirit will battle. This palace you see belongs to divine Scealgalis. His decrees are continually announced. He sees you, reads your heart and weighs your good and bad deeds on the scales of his justice: if you are not saddled with iniquity, you will be initiated in his mysteries. Oh Scealgalis,” the Intelligence cried out putting its two hands together, “take pity on the weakness of mortals, protect the one you have entrusted to me and in the trials that he will undergo don’t let the Black Spirits outweigh the virtuous tendencies that I have inspired in him.”
The Sylph had barely finished his prayer when a ray of light shot out toward us from the palace dome as fast as lightning driven by a falling cloud. I moved and screamed, afraid that the Spirit would drop me. The Sylph started sneezing so loudly that I thought I would go deaf. I later learned that on this island they sneezed instead of laughing.
But I soon had other things to wonder at. Up to this point I had not felt anything touching me, but after circling the building three times I found out that the Sylph had a material body and that its arm was hugging me tightly. Then a jolt in the air brought on by a violent whirlwind made me look up in search of the cause and I saw a very high mountain that looked like crystal a karie59 away. From its summit rose up a bluish, sparkling flame, like saltpeter. The Intelligence that was carrying poor, trembling Sinouis cleaved the air on this side behind us. It took long enough to get there for me to look at the Sylph that was flying in front of us. It looked like it was six feet tall with a head attached directly to its shoulders; instead of arms it had two wings with white feathers. Its body, as I said, was like a bird’s except it had no feathers and its backside ended in a point like a lizard. Under its wings it had strong, hairy arms. Its body and face were milky white with no other color to be seen. Its features were perfect, incomparably beautiful, but what was really amazing was its hair, which was so long that any Sylph could have covered its entire body with it.
All the Sylphs of this great species (because there were two types, as we shall see below) looked the same as this one.
We were close to the crystal mountain when the Sylph looked at me and said, “I am going to leave you here, Lamekis, and you will need all your courage. You skirted the torrid zone without hiding like your shipmates, but you only scraped the fringe. Now you are really going to enter the Ceolbhaume, the mountain you see there, and the 40 days of quarantine60 will go by like a second.”
“Heavens!” I screamed, “What are you telling me. How can I pass through that all-consuming fire without being burned?”
“Well,” the Sylph replied sneezing, “only the spirit, not the body, suffers in this trial. I will tell you something that I probably shouldn’t: if your soul is great enough to speed you through it, the fire will respect you. But if you wait for me to help you escape and you feel the slightest fear, the fire will punish you for your weakness.” While he was speaking we reached the mouth of the burning mountain. I had no time to look at it because I got scared seeing poor Sinouis hurled down by his Sylph. He screamed horribly as he fell into the volcano. Flames shot up and howled, shaking the air. Right then and there I forgot all the advice. I was frozen in fear by what I had just seen and turned to question the Sylph, but it lifted its arms and reminded me of what it had said. I closed my eyes and jumped.
The Ceolbhaume
I cannot remember exactly how I felt just then or what I experienced when I entered the volcano, but what I can remember is that far from being burned by the fire, I felt cool and peaceful. So, I opened my eyes. I was sitting on ground that was white and as soft as down. Sinouis was lying four feet away in a deep sleep.
I looked at my surroundings. The ground was moving and rolling like ocean waves. Many Sylphs of the same species were coming and going and walking on their hands. Hundreds of them passed by others who stopped to looked at us without any of them coming close. I was so preoccupied with watching their movements that I did not even bother to look up.
If I was struck by the things around me, I was even more struck by what was in the air. A great many Spirits of a very different species were flying above my head. In size they looked no bigger than a parrot and they seemed very serious about what they were doing. Many of them were flapping their wings at each other and I saw some plunge down next to me. But wonder of wonders! As soon as they touched the ground they vanished completely, invisible.
I sat watching all these new marvels for a long time after opening my eyes, but I soon felt a gnawing hunger. I got up, went over to Sinouis and had a hard time waking him up. “Oh god!” he cried. “Where am I? Lamekis, is that you? You did say that I was going to share your misfortunes, but I can’t do it. The fire I passed through consumed me. In the name of what is dearest to you, don’t touch me—I’ll crumble to ashes. By what miracle did you escape the burning furnace? I don’t exist anymore.”
“What are you saying?” I was astonished at his mental breakdown. “To say you don’t exist is to exist. You’re still the same, Sinouis! I’m as surprised as you are by everything we’ve been through and I’ve told myself a hundred times that I’m sleeping and dreaming. But whatever it may be, whether we’re asleep or awake, let’s call upon Vilkonhis. His wisdom is always great, his plans are just and his providence is inscrutable. Let’s submit to his will, for the Supreme Being will never abandon us before the day when all our troubles will end.”
After saying this I tried to take Sinouis’ hand and lift him up, but he was still obsessed by the idea that as if he had been branded by irons he would be reduced to ashes if he moved. He begged me not to touch him. I tried the best I could to convince him that the vapors of a dream caused delusions like this and in the end he believed that after such an experience I was probably right.
We were not sure which way we should go, but having glimpsed a building in the distance we decided to try to get there. When we began walking, we were surprised to be going constantly downhill, even though the ground looked very level to us. For me, experienced as I was in the extraordinary and having made it a principle to surrender myself entirely to destiny, I was not surprised by this new wonder. My physical needs preoccupied me completely and we hurried up to get to the building that gradually took form. The houses around looked like black, upside down cones.
It was a clear, bright day, but all of a sudden it became dark and black, which scared Sinouis. “Oh Hea
vens,” he cried, “what does this change mean? What hideous country are we in?” He stopped himself and started screaming. I urged him to tell me what was going on and he stammered, “Lamekis, Lamekis, a beast, a monster, a something is on my shoulder. I can’t get it off. It feels like its mouth is stuck to my ear.”
“Well,” I tried not to laugh, “another scare like you turning to ashes.”
“No, no,” he blurted out, “it’s absolutely true. In the name of Vilkonhis, don’t leave me. I’m scared that we’ll get separated in the darkness and you’re all I have to keep me calm. Try to get this pesky thing off me.” He took my hand and put it on his shoulder.
“Fear has addled your brain. I don’t feel anything.”
“So, I’m becoming mad,” he howled. “Is all this just to make me hopeless?”
At that very moment the sunlight suddenly appeared and naturally we looked up into the sky where we saw three, equally bright suns forming a perfect triangle; in the middle was a star more brilliant than the most perfect diamond. This extraordinary phenomenon was so amazing that I forgot all about my raging hunger. The rest of the sky was poppy red and the horizon looked square instead of round.
My awe was interrupted by another scream from Sinouis. “Ah, Lamekis,” he said stepping back, “look at me and tell me if I’m wrong.”
“Now what’s the matter?”
“Oh, Heavens,” he went on impatiently, “don’t you see the monster I’m talking about? Now it’s on your shoulder.”
“I don’t see or feel anything,” I answered.
“Then your eyes are bewitched.”
“No,” I responded. “And the proof is that the animal that you say is on me is absolutely on your shoulder, but don’t let this scare you since it isn’t doing any harm. Why do you torture yourself? We’re in a world of wonders and we have to let things take their course.”
After walking and talking like this for about two more karies on ground that wrinkled under our feet, we reached the cone house. We went up to the gate guarded by two Sylphs whose faces looked like mirrors in which I was not surprised to see an animal on my shoulder as well as on Sinouis’. But in spite of my courage I flinched when I felt a cold mouth against my ear that told me in my own language, “Lamekis, don’t go through this gate. Here is the dwelling of baleful Intelligences. Go left and you will see the palace of divine Scealgalis in the distance. Hurry up and get there and don’t heed your needs or desires.”
While the Spirit was talking, I stared at Sinouis, who seemed to be concentrating on the whispering of a small black monster whose color I now saw. I wasn’t wrong; it was talking to him, but saying something very different.
“Lamekis,” Sinouis pressed me, “let’s go into this house. When we have gone past the gate all these wonders will stop. We can find there everything we need. The Spirit assures me that we will be kindly welcomed there and we can rest and finally enjoy a charming, peaceful future.”
“Vilkonhis help us, Sinouis,” I interjected, “we have to ignore it. That future is all bad. It’s better to endure a little longer rather than risk the happy fate awaiting us for some frivolous hope. Sinouis tried to battle against my decision. His gnawing hunger (and mine, too) made him so persuasive and decisive that I almost gave in to the burning temptation, which would have spelled our ruin.
But the Spirit spoke to me a second time. “Stop, Lamekis. If you fall into the trap, you’ll be lost. You can only gain happiness by controlling your desires.”
While it was speaking, I saw a huge number of these winged animals flying to the left and right of us. Those that came out of the house to the right were black and those that were on the left were white. Both groups started flying over our heads and came so close that we could easily have reached out and touched them. What was really odd was that the white ones did not mingle with the black ones even though they seemed to be all mixed up together above us.
Sinouis was really begging me to enter the house, but I held firm to my decision to go to the left because of the second advice. A soft murmur started growing louder as we argued, but I only made out the voices of the white Spirits, which were like reeds swaying in the wind while the black Spirits sounded harsh and confused.
In spite of Sinouis’ insistence, I won the day and convinced him that it took a noble and generous soul to sacrifice our needs for the glory of appearing before the divine Scealgalis and that one cannot be great without earning it. The precious partner of my latest adventures finally agreed and followed me to the left. We had barely made up our minds when the black Spirit that was perched on his shoulder flew off and was replaced by one of the opposite color.
The band of whites sliced through the air in total rapture and as we left the house we saw the blacks sink into the roof from where thick black smoke rose up every time one of them went in.
The path became firmer and changed color the farther away we got from the fatal place. The sky seemed endless and the three suns appeared to be following us. A magnificent view rose up in front of us: the same clear palace that we saw before appeared right in the middle of the road we were taking. On our left was a field of blue grass dotted with flowers that were bigger than I had ever seen and that shook as if a raging wind were blowing, even though there was only a gentle breeze that felt nice and fresh. The view on this side got lost in a sea that sunk into the horizon.
The ground we walked on was white as snow. I reached down to touch it, but my fingers went through it so easily that I felt nothing. We could not imagine what it was except maybe a standing cloud and we were amazed that it could support our weight.
On our right was totally black where the night cut through the day as if a fog had been ripped away in a straight line.
However, our pressing hunger no longer devoured us. We were in a state where the tranquil soul played with itself, so to speak, and happy to do so it aroused no cares or desires. The bad luck feeling that had stayed with me, gradually faded away and if the shadow of the past still tinged in my imagination, it was only as an inducement to the future.
Sinouis interrupted the sweet reverie I was sunk in. “Oh Lamekis, the state I’m in is so different from the one before! The new wonders I’m constantly seeing fascinate me instead of scaring me. The needs that usually bother us so much have left not the slightest trace of what we went through. I remember things cheerfully and even catch glimpses of the future, but I care so little that it’s as if I were thinking of nothing, not even myself. Lamekis, are you, too, feeling such divine harmony.”
“Yes,” I replied. “Your situation describes mine exactly, but be careful of getting the causes mixed up: the inner peace that we feel, that makes us so happy, is less the effect of this marvelous environment than the fruit of the good choice we made. If we had surrendered to the wicked advice of the black Spirits, our souls would now, perhaps, be drowned in bitterness and tears—a picture of what happens to us every day when we face two different wills that each pull us in separate directions, one to good and the other to bad. Only the soul decides, determines and designates one or the other that will make it rejoice or regret.”
I was about to move on to other thoughts when the road we were on was suddenly cut off by a cliff. We were astonished to see that we were in a region higher than the ground, giving us a good view of where we were. The Moon was not far from us and looked like it was on the same level. Its dull shine reflected strange rays. The night that cut off the right side looked like it was attached to the ground and it was only broken off on our side by the rays of the shining beacon of the world. What we had thought were three suns were actually three stars, mistaken because of how close together they were. The shiny, transparent palace seemed to float in the air without any kind of support and it was not far from the Moon, which we clearly saw turning like a great wheel on its axis.
We looked toward the right and saw countless white and black Spirits rising and falling toward the ground, forming a cloud that blocked out the light. We were fo
rced to double back. The cloud that was carrying us was disappearing, slowly melting away in front of us.
Oh Vilkonhis, I said to myself, let us share in your heavenly knowledge. Should we wait here for higher orders or go back to where we came from?
Then the Spirit told me not to be afraid and to wait patiently for what would happen. Sinouis and I sat on the road with no fear of anything, contemplating the different things around us in profound silence.
We analyzed everything with that secret satisfaction you feel when your soul expands in the marvelous. All of a sudden a wild wind rose up and scattered the cloud of aerial Spirits that was cawing above our heads, which gave us good reason to start worrying.
Soon we saw two bodies slice through the air. They were too far away to be recognized, but they seemed to be heading for us. A moment later we could tell that they were the same ones that had taken us away from the ship. Their eyes were shining like stars and they left behind long trails in the sky that took a long time to disappear. Their path was silvery and seemed to be directed toward the transparent palace. When the Sylphs were at closer range they did not look like they were flying anymore but rather walking on level ground, which hooked up to ours. When they reached us we stood up.
The one who had spoken to me several times before said, “Lamekis, the time of wonders is coming. Happiness should be a reward for your virtue, but it is a little thing among men! This is the palace of the divine Scealgalis. Your soul, which stammers now, will soon speak, stripped of the carnal flesh that obscures the celestial ray. You will enjoy never dreamed of pleasures, but only acquired on a final condition that is horrifying to mortals—just to hear it can freeze the most hardened will in terror and up until now no one has dared to meet it. That’s final proof of the weakness of men, who prefer cowardly love to the immensity of this reward.
“At the palace gate,” the Sylph continued, “is a material place reserved for the great proof. When you enter it everything that disgusts you now will vanish. Your human functions, which have stopped in our regions, will start up again. You will be able to eat and taste sumptuous delicacies. You will be served like on Earth and exposed to all the fantasies of men. If your will endures and you can resist all the desires that will grip you, you will be considered worthy of initiation in the mysteries of the divine Island of the Sylphs. 30 days of battle against yourself will be enough to put you in this state and prepare you for the removal of materiality. The great operation is done in this way: four half-Sylphs, like my partner and I, will be chosen to skin you alive and at that moment you will feel all the pain that nature can give. Your skin will be completely taken off your body and carried to the storeroom made for this purpose by the admirable, headstrong Dehahal,61 the tenacious philosopher who was so desirous to be one of the inhabitants of this island that by his determination he earned not only admittance here, but even the right to keep his opacity in the empire, which has never been granted to anyone but him. The tree in which your ship is resting is less a monument of his vanity than a witness of his love and kindness for his fellow creatures. One day you will know all the marvelous things that this great man did, but you need pure ears to hear them. I am not allowed to tell you any more at this time, but not to leave you in doubt about your role, I can say that if by cowardly disgust and foolish self-love you refuse the goods that have been prepared for you, you will be cast back down to Earth and you will crawl like a reptile, with the body of a reptile but with your same mind, which will be a never-ending punishment and will make you regret, too late, having chosen cowardly sensuality over manly suffering at the price of happiness and immortality.”
Lamekis Page 7