Twilight Land
Page 9
Empty Bottles.
In the old, old days when men were wiser than they are in thesetimes, there lived a great philosopher and magician, by nameNicholas Flamel. Not only did he know all the actual sciences, butthe black arts as well, and magic, and what not. He conjured demonsso that when a body passed the house of a moonlight night a bodymight see imps, great and small, little and big, sitting on thechimney stacks and the ridge-pole, clattering their heels on thetiles and chatting together.
He could change iron and lead into silver and gold; he discoveredthe elixir of life, and might have been living even to this day hadhe thought it worth while to do so.
There was a student at the university whose name was Gebhart, whowas so well acquainted with algebra and geometry that he could tellat a single glance how many drops of water there were in a bottleof wine. As for Latin and Greek--he could patter them off like hisA B C’s. Nevertheless, he was not satisfied with the things heknew, but was for learning the things that no schools could teachhim. So one day he came knocking at Nicholas Flamel’s door.
“Come in,” said the wise man, and there Gebhart found him sittingin the midst of his books and bottles and diagrams and dust andchemicals and cobwebs, making strange figures upon the table withjackstraws and a piece of chalk--for your true wise man can squeezemore learning out of jackstraws and a piece of chalk than we commonfolk can get out of all the books in the world.
No one else was in the room but the wise man’s servant, whose namewas Babette.
“What is it you want?” said the wise man, looking at Gebhart overthe rim of his spectacles.
“Master,” said Gebhart, “I have studied day after day at theuniversity, and from early in the morning until late at night,so that my head has hummed and my eyes were sore, yet I have notlearned those things that I wish most of all to know--the arts thatno one but you can teach. Will you take me as your pupil?”
The wise man shook his head.
“Many would like to be as wise as that,” said he, “and few there bewho can become so. Now tell me. Suppose all the riches of the worldwere offered to you, would you rather be wise?”
“Yes.”
“Suppose you might have all the rank and power of a king or of anemperor, would you rather be wise?”
“Yes.”
“Suppose I undertook to teach you, would you give up everything ofjoy and of pleasure to follow me?”
“Yes.”
“Perhaps you are hungry,” said the master.
“Yes,” said the student, “I am.”
“Then, Babette, you may bring some bread and cheese.”
It seemed to Gebhart that he had learned all that Nicholas Flamelhad to teach him.
It was in the gray of the dawning, and the master took the pupilby the hand and led him up the rickety stairs to the roof of thehouse, where nothing was to be seen but gray sky, high roofs, andchimney stacks from which the smoke rose straight into the stillair.
“Now,” said the master, “I have taught you nearly all of thescience that I know, and the time has come to show you thewonderful thing that has been waiting for us from the beginningwhen time was. You have given up wealth and the world and pleasureand joy and love for the sake of wisdom. Now, then, comes the lasttest--whether you can remain faithful to me to the end; if you failin it, all is lost that you have gained.”
After he had said that he stripped his cloak away from hisshoulders and laid bare the skin. Then he took a bottle of redliquor and began bathing his shoulder-blades with it; and asGebhart, squatting upon the ridge-pole, looked, he saw two littlelumps bud out upon the smooth skin, and then grow and grow and growuntil they became two great wings as white as snow.
“Now then,” said the master, “take me by the belt and grip fast,for there is a long, long journey before us, and if you shouldlose your head and let go your hold you will fall and be dashed topieces.”
Then he spread the two great wings, and away he flew as fast as thewind, with Gebhart hanging to his belt.
Over hills, over dales, over mountains, over moors he flew, withthe brown earth lying so far below that horses and cows looked likepismires and men like fleas.
Then, by-and-by, it was over the ocean they were crossing, with thegreat ships that pitched and tossed below looking like chips in apuddle in rainy weather.
At last they came to a strange land, far, far away, and there themaster lit upon a sea-shore where the sand was as white as silver.As soon as his feet touched the hard ground the great wings weregone like a puff of smoke, and the wise man walked like any otherbody.
At the edge of the sandy beach was a great, high, naked cliff; andthe only way of reaching the top was by a flight of stone steps, asslippery as glass, cut in the solid rock.
The wise man led the way, and the student followed close at hisheels, every now and then slipping and stumbling so that, had itnot been for the help that the master gave him, he would havefallen more than once and have been dashed to pieces upon therocks below.
At last they reached the top, and there found themselves in adesert, without stick of wood or blade of grass, but only graystones and skulls and bones bleaching in the sun.
In the middle of the plain was a castle such as the eyes of mannever saw before, for it was built all of crystal from roof tocellar. Around it was a high wall of steel, and in the wall wereseven gates of polished brass.
The wise man led the way straight to the middle gate of the seven,where there hung a horn of pure silver, which he set to his lips.He blew a blast so loud and shrill that it made Gebhart’s earstingle. In an instant there sounded a great rumble and grumble likethe noise of loud thunder, and the gates of brass swung slowlyback, as though of themselves.
But when Gebhart saw what he saw within the gates his heartcrumbled away for fear, and his knees knocked together; for there,in the very middle of the way, stood a monstrous, hideous dragon,that blew out flames and clouds of smoke from his gaping mouth likea chimney a-fire.
But the wise master was as cool as smooth water; he thrust his handinto the bosom of his jacket and drew forth a little black box,which he flung straight into the gaping mouth.
Snap!--the dragon swallowed the box.
The next moment it gave a great, loud, terrible cry, and, clappingand rattling its wings, leaped into the air and flew away,bellowing like a bull.
If Gebhart had been wonder-struck at seeing the outside of thecastle, he was ten thousand times more amazed to see the insidethereof. For, as the master led the way and he followed, he passedthrough four-and-twenty rooms, each one more wonderful than theother. Everywhere was gold and silver and dazzling jewels thatglistened so brightly that one had to shut one’s eyes to theirsparkle. Beside all this, there were silks and satins and velvetsand laces and crystal and ebony and sandal-wood that smelledsweeter than musk and rose leaves. All the wealth of the worldbrought together into one place could not make such riches asGebhart saw with his two eyes in these four-and-twenty rooms. Hisheart beat fast within him.
At last they reached a little door of solid iron, beside which hunga sword with a blade that shone like lightning. The master took thesword in one hand and laid the other upon the latch of the door.Then he turned to Gebhart and spoke for the first time since theyhad started upon their long journey.
“In this room,” said he, “you will see a strange thing happen, andin a little while I shall be as one dead. As soon as that comesto pass, go you straightway through to the room beyond, whereyou will find upon a marble table a goblet of water and a silverdagger. Touch nothing else, and look at nothing else, for if you doall will be lost to both of us. Bring the water straightway, andsprinkle my face with it, and when that is done you and I will bethe wisest and greatest men that ever lived, for I will make youequal to myself in all that I know. So now swear to do what I havejust bid you, and not turn aside a hair’s breadth in the going andthe coming.
“I swear,” said Gebhart, and crossed his heart.
Then the master opened th
e door and entered, with Gebhart close athis heels.
In the centre of the room was a great red cock, with eyes thatshone like sparks of fire. So soon as he saw the master he flewat him, screaming fearfully, and spitting out darts of fire thatblazed and sparkled like lightning.
It was a dreadful battle between the master and the cock. Up anddown they fought, and here and there. Sometimes the student couldsee the wise man whirling and striking with his sword; and thenagain he would be hidden in a sheet of flame. But after a while hemade a lucky stroke, and off flew the cock’s head. Then, lo andbehold! instead of a cock it was a great, hairy, black demon thatlay dead on the floor.
But, though the master had conquered, he looked like one sorelysick. He was just able to stagger to a couch that stood by thewall, and there he fell and lay, without breath or motion, like onedead, and as white as wax.
As soon as Gebhart had gathered his wits together he rememberedwhat the master had said about the other room.
The door of it was also of iron. He opened it and passed within,and there saw two great tables or blocks of polished marble. Uponone was the dagger and a goblet of gold brimming with water. Uponthe other lay the figure of a woman, and as Gebhart looked at herhe thought her more beautiful than any thought or dream couldpicture. But her eyes were closed, and she lay like a lifelessfigure of wax.
After Gebhart had gazed at her a long, long time, he took up thegoblet and the dagger from the table and turned towards the door.
Then, before he left that place, he thought that he would havejust one more look at the beautiful figure. So he did, and gazedand gazed until his heart melted away within him like a lump ofbutter; and, hardly knowing what he did, he stooped and kissed thelips.
Instantly he did so a great humming sound filled the whole castle,so sweet and musical that it made him tremble to listen. Thensuddenly the figure opened its eyes and looked straight at him.
“At last!” she said; “have you come at last?”
“Yes,” said Gebhart, “I have come.”
Then the beautiful woman arose and stepped down from the table tothe floor; and if Gebhart thought her beautiful before, he thoughther a thousand times more beautiful now that her eyes looked intohis.
“Listen,” said she. “I have been asleep for hundreds upon hundredsof years, for so it was fated to be until he should come who wasto bring me back to life again. You are he, and now you shall livewith me forever. In this castle is the wealth gathered by theking of the genii, and it is greater than all the riches of theworld. It and the castle likewise shall be yours. I can transporteverything into any part of the world you choose, and can by myarts make you prince or king or emperor. Come.”
“Stop,” said Gebhart. “I must first do as my master bade me.”
He led the way into the other room, the lady following him, and sothey both stood together by the couch where the wise man lay. Whenthe lady saw his face she cried out in a loud voice: “It is thegreat master! What are you going to do?”
“I am going to sprinkle his face with this water,” said Gebhart.
“Stop!” said she. “Listen to what I have to say. In your hand youhold the water of life and the dagger of death. The master isnot dead, but sleeping; if you sprinkle that water upon him hewill awaken, young, handsome and more powerful than the greatestmagician that ever lived. I myself, this castle, and everythingthat is in it will be his, and, instead of your becoming a princeor a king or an emperor, he will be so in your place. That, I say,will happen if he wakens. Now the dagger of death is the only thingin the world that has power to kill him. You have it in your hand.You have but to give him one stroke with it while he sleeps, and hewill never waken again, and then all will be yours--your very own.”
Gebhart neither spoke nor moved, but stood looking down upon hismaster. Then he set down the goblet very softly on the floor, and,shutting his eyes that he might not see the blow, raised the daggerto strike.
“That is all your promises amount to,” said Nicholas Flamel thewise man. “After all, Babette, you need not bring the bread andcheese, for he shall be no pupil of mine.”
Then Gebhart opened his eyes.
There sat the wise man in the midst of his books and bottles anddiagrams and dust and chemicals and cobwebs, making strange figuresupon the table with jackstraws and a piece of chalk.
And Babette, who had just opened the cupboard door for the loaf ofbread and the cheese, shut it again with a bang, and went back toher spinning.
So Gebhart had to go back again to his Greek and Latin and algebraand geometry; for, after all, one cannot pour a gallon of beer intoa quart pot, or the wisdom of a Nicholas Flamel into such an one asGebhart.
As for the name of this story, why, if some promises are notbottles full of nothing but wind, there is little need to have aname for anything.
* * * * *
_“Since we are in the way of talking of fools,” said the Fishermanwho drew the Genie out of the sea--“since we are in the way oftalking of fools, I can tell you a story of the fool of all fools,and how, one after the other, he wasted as good gifts as a man’sears ever heard tell of.”_
_“What was his name?” said the Lad who fiddled for the Jew in thebramble-bush._
_“That,” said the Fisherman, “I do not know.”_
_“And what is this story about?” asked St. George._
_“’Tis,” said the Fisherman, “about a hole in the ground.”_
_“And is that all?” said the Soldier who cheated the Devil._
_“Nay,” said the Fisherman, blowing a whiff from his pipe; “therewere some things in the hole--a bowl of treasure, an earthen-warejar, and a pair of candlesticks.”_
_“And what do you call your story,” said St. George._
_“Why,” said the Fisherman, “for lack of a better name I will callit--”_