“Then I traveled the roads, and I no longer thought…and I also remember this: it as the happiest time of my life.”
“That is the truth that it is necessary not to tell people, in order not to take away the courage from those who do not have much. That time was the one when you applied the theory of the least effort, so dear to Satan, to the brutes and to the generality of humans. You then had nothing good, except your happiness. That is a great deal for a beast; it is nothing for a human being.”
“Yes, I failed.”
“You redeemed yourself. The task was hard, because we have a limit placed on our strength. To do one’s duty with regard to oneself is to do what one can; to do one’s duty with regard to others is to do more than one can.”
“More than one can...”
“That is why, in recompense for long effort accomplished by the race in the course of laborious centuries, we have succeeded in adding to ourselves a faculty that other species do not have. Just now I affirmed to you the supremacy of a twelfth sense, Dolor, which warns all animals of what they ought to dread for themselves. There is a thirteenth, charged with warning you of what you ought to read for others; and that one is the property of humans. You alone possess it. It is your conquest and your nobility; it is your work. It is the spiritual brother of touch; its name is Tact. For Tact is a sense, but a moral sense; it is the gift of perceiving that which would be dolorous to one’s neighbor, with the attention to preserve him from a surplus of misery; it is the antenna of your souls, which warns you of ambient distress, and by which you take care to spare neighboring souls; it is the sense of the other.”
“The Others.”
“You glimpsed that truth in the clearing of the insects, on the day when you said to the beasts: “While each of you only knows his own right, I have invented the right of others, and I call it my duty.”
“The Others...”
“It is from the human brain that that concept was launched across the earth and all the way to the heavens: the Others! And that word is the most beautiful of all those that have vibrated in space. To the immolation of the Others, which the universal law of life preaches to us, we have opposed the immolation of the self. We humans, alone against nature and against all the gods, have erected it as a dogma, and that was the Good News, the Gospel: Man has made God!”
“But in order to be understood by those who would not have understood, you said: God has made Man.”
An infinite dawn rose gently over the gardens of eternal peace; the light sang.
Saint Peter extended his right hand.
“My brother, the double sanctity of human being is Effort and Pity. You have practiced both. Enter, you are at home.”
Notes
1 Black Coat Press, ISBN 978-1-61227-355-6.
2 Black Coat Press, ISBN 978-1-61227-075-3.
3 “In the beginning was the Word.” (John 1:1)
4 Anse means handle, or cove.
5 Max Mercadier was a twelfth-century Occitan mercenary in the pay of Richard the Lionheart whose depredations in southern France became legendary. Ruggiero da Fiore or Roget de Flor (1267-1305) was an Italian adventurer and Templar who became so powerful in the service of the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II that he decide to carve out a small empire of his own, but was swiftly assassinated. Aymerigot or Merigot Marches (1360-1391) was a mercenary in the pay of the English during the Hundred Years War who was executed for banditry when captured by the French.
6 Presumably maquereau [mackerel], the common French term for a man living off a woman.
7 Because the French translation of Torquato Tasso’s epic Gerusalemme liberata (1581; tr. as Jerusalem Delivered) was used in nineteenth-century French lycées as a standard text, every educated Frenchman in the early 1900s knew the story of the Saracen sorceress Armida, commissioned to interrupt the progress of the first Crusade by seducing the great knight Rinaldo. Instead of murdering him, she creates an enchanted garden where she retains him with her erotic charms. The garden was transformed into a palace in popular parlance referring to any kind of flamboyant device of seduction.
8 Like several of the more exotic names in the story, this one is derived from the Latin, Anura being the order if frogs.
9 i.e., the two hundredth.
10 Triste est omne animal post coitum [all animals are sad after sexual intercourse], continued in full praeter mulierem gallumque [except women and cocks] often falsely attributed to Aristotle or Galen, but probably invented in the 16th century as a joke. Alternative versions vary the word order and the detail of the Latin.
11 This “etymology” is specious. The Latin root of “futility” is actually futtilitas, related to futtilis, meaning worthless or brittle; it is difficult to believe that someone as allegedly well-read as Dieudonat would confuse those roots with derivatives of futur [future].
12 The French faire mans “to make” as well as “to do,” so Aude is deliberately misconstruing her father’s question and answering him as if he were asking her what she is making.
13 From the Greek root epago, meaning “I bring in,” most familiar in the reference to “epagomenal days” introduced into Egyptian 360-day calendar to adjust it to the actual number of days in the solar year. The name Onuphre, that of a famous Christian anchorite saint who lived in the Egyptian desert in the fourth century, is derived from an Egyptian word meaning “eternally good”; his legend is connected with that Paphnuce, the protagonist of Anatole France’s novel Thaïs (1890).
14 Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, was conventionally imagined to have been a shepherdess, although the historical individual was not. The reference to voices in a tree might, however, indicate that the person the narrative voice has in mind is Jeanne d’Arc.
15 The French for “gelded” is hongre, whereas the French for “Hungary” is Hongrie; the wordplay does not translate.
16 This chapter of the present text and its immediate predecessors are each derived from a single episode in the 1906 serial version. The last episode of 1906 version, however, begins with the first words of the following chapter and concludes with the penultimate line of chapter XXXVII, galloping from one to the other at a furious pace, without most of the characters and most of the events featured in the present version; the expansion gives the ensemble of the text a very different balance.
17 A calame, from the Latin calamus, is a reed sharpened to a point in order to serve as a primitive pen, and hence signifies “writer.”
18 I have translated poudres du Duc literally, as the phrase does exist in English; it is a misrendering of douce poudre [sweet powder], which referred to a Medieval blend of spices. Many of the other items on Calame’s menu are also derived from Medieval cuisine.
19 The word pis [worse] is used here, as it is a little further on, in a colloquial fashion that signifies the opposite—except, of course, that the author is being sarcastic…
20 The tern Alexandrine derives from the twelfth-century Roman d’Alexandre, which is a romance about Alexander the Great, not a romance by a “clerk” named Alexander, as the author knew full well. If taken seriously the reference would date Dieudonat’s adventure to 1165-1200 or thereabouts, although the story is full of anachronisms, as dutifully pointed out in the first paragraph.
FRENCH SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY COLLECTION
105 Adolphe Ahaiza. Cybele
102 Alphonse Allais. The Adventures of Captain Cap
02 Henri Allorge. The Great Cataclysm
14 G.-J. Arnaud. The Ice Company
152 André Arnyvelde. The Ark
153 André Arnyvelde. The Mutilated Bacchus
61 Charles Asselineau. The Double Life
118 Henri Austruy. The Eupantophone
119 Henri Austry. The Petitpaon Era
120 Henri Austry. The Olotelepan
130 Barillet-Lagargousse. The Final War
180 Honoré de Balzac. The Last Fay
193 Mme Barbot de Villeneuve. Beauty and the Beast
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sp; 194 Mme Barbot de Villeneuve. The Naiads
103 S. Henry Berthoud. Martyrs of Science
189 S. Henry Berthoud. The Angel Asrael
23 Richard Bessière. The Gardens of the Apocalypse + The Seven Rings of Rhea
121 Richard Bessière. The Masters of Silence+ They Came From The Dark
148 Béthune (Chevalier de). The World of Mercury
26 Albert Bleunard. Ever Smaller
06 Félix Bodin. The Novel of the Future
173 Pierre Boitard. Journey to the Sun
92 Louis Boussenard. Monsieur Synthesis
39 Alphonse Brown. City of Glass
89 Alphonse Brown. The Conquest of the Air
98 Emile Calvet. In A Thousand Years
191 Jean Carrère. The End of Atlantis
220. Charlotte-Rose Caumont de la Force. The Land of Delights
229 Comte de Caylus. The Impossible Enchantment
40 Félicien Champsaur. The Human Arrow
81 Félicien Champsaur. Ouha, King of the Apes
91. Félicien Champsaur. The Pharaoh’s Wife
133 Félicien Champsaur. Homo-Deus
143 Félicien Champsaur. Nora, The Ape-Woman
03 Didier de Chousy. Ignis
166 Jacques Collin de Plancy. Voyage to the Center of the Earth
97 Michel Corday. The Eternal Flame
182. Michel Corday & André Couvreur. The Lynx
113 André Couvreur. The Necessary Evil
114 André Couvreur. Caresco, Superman
115 André Couvreur. The Exploits of Professor Tornada (Vol. 1)
116 André Couvreur. The Exploits of Professor Tornada (Vol. 2)
117 André Couvreur. The Exploits of Professor Tornada (Vol. 3)
67 Captain Danrit. Undersea Odyssey
184 Gaston Danville. The Perfume of Lust
149 Camille Debans. The Misfortunes of John Bull
17 C. I. Defontenay. Star (Psi Cassiopeia)
05 Charles Derennes. The People of the Pole
227 Comtesse D.L. The Tyranny of the Fays Abolished
68 Georges T. Dodds. The Missing Link and Other Tales of Ape-Men
125 Charles Dodeman. The Silent Bomb
49 Alfred Driou. The Adventures of a Parisian Aeronaut
144 Odette Dulac. The War of the Sexes
188. Alexandre Dumas & Paul Lacroix. The Man who married a Mermaid
145 Renée Dunan. The Ultimate Pleasure
10 Henri Duvernois. The Man Who Found Himself
08 Achille Eyraud. Voyage to Venus
233 Madame Fagnan. The Enchanter’s Mirror
01 Henri Falk. The Age of Lead
51 Charles de Fieux. Lamékis
154 Fernand Fleuret. Jim Click
108 Louis Forest. Someone Is Stealing Children In Paris
31 Arnould Galopin. Doctor Omega
70 Arnould Galopin. Doctor Omega & The Shadowmen
112 H. Gayar. The Marvelous Adventures of Serge Myrandhal on Mars
88 Judith Gautier. Isoline and the Serpent-Flower
185 Louis Geoffroy. The Apocryphal Napoleon
163 Raoul Gineste. The Second Life of Dr. Albin
136 Delphine de Girardin. Balzac’s Cane
146 Jules Gros. The Fossil Man
174 Jimmy Guieu. The Polarian-Denebian War 1: The Time Spiral
175 Jimmy Guieu. The Polarian-Denebian War 2: Operation Aphrodite
176 Jimmy Guieu. The Polarian-Denebian War 3: The Man From Outer Space
177 Jimmy Guieu. The Polarian-Denebian War 4: Space Commandos
178 Jimmy Guieu. The Polarian-Denebian War 5: Our Ancestors From The Future
179 Jimmy Guieu. The Polarian-Denebian War 6: Prisoners of the Past
57 Edmond Haraucourt. Illusions of Immortality
134 Edmond Haraucourt. Daah, the First Human
222 Edmond Haraucourt. Dieudonat
24 Nathalie Henneberg. The Green Gods
131 Eugene Hennebert. The Enchanted City
137 P.-J. Hérault. The Clone Rebellion
150 Jules Hoche. The Maker of Men and his Formula
140 P. d’Ivoi & H. Chabrillat. Around the World on Five Sous
107 Jules Janin. The Magnetized Corpse
29 Michel Jeury. Chronolysis [NO LONGER AVAILABLE]
55 Gustave Kahn. The Tale of Gold and Silence
30 Gérard Klein. The Mote in Time’s Eye
209 Gérard Klein. Starmasters’ Gambit
210 Gérard Klein. The Day Before Tomorrow
90 Fernand Kolney. Love in 5000 Years
87 Louis-Guillaume de La Follie. The Unpretentious Philosopher
101 Jean de La Hire. The Fiery Wheel
50 André Laurie. Spiridon
52 Gabriel de Lautrec. The Vengeance of the Oval Portrait
82 Alain Le Drimeur. The Future City
27 Georges Le Faure & Henri de Graffigny. The Extraordinary Adventures of a Russian Scientist Across the Solar System (Volume 1)
28 Georges Le Faure & Henri de Graffigny. The Extraordinary Adventures of a Russian Scientist Across the Solar System (Volume 2)
228 Françoise le Marchand. Florine and Boca
07 Jules Lermina. Mysteryville
25 Jules Lermina. Panic in Paris
32 Jules Lermina. The Secret of Zippelius
66 Jules Lermina. To-Ho and the Gold Destroyers
127 Jules Lermina. The Battle of Strasbourg
15 Gustave Le Rouge. The Vampires of Mars
73 Gustave Le Rouge. The Dominion of the World 1: The Plutocratic Plot
74 Gustave Le Rouge. The Dominion of the World 2: The Transatlantic Threat
75 Gustave Le Rouge. The Dominion of the World 3: The Psychic Spies
76 Gustave Le Rouge. The Dominion of the World 4: The Victims Victorious
109 Gustave Le Rouge. The Mysterious Doctor Cornelius1: The Sculptor of Human Flesh
110 Gustave Le Rouge. The Mysterious Doctor Cornelius2: The Island od Hanged Men
111 Gustave Le Rouge. The Mysterious Doctor Cornelius3: The Rochester Bridge Catastrophe
214. Marie-Jeanne L’Heritier de Villandon. The Robe of Sincerity
96 André Lichtenberger. The Centaurs
99 André Lichtenberger. The Children of the Crab
135 Listonai. The Philosophical Voyager
157 Ch. Lomon & P.-B. Gheusi. The Last Days of Atlantis
225 Mademoiselle de Lubert. Princess Camion
197 Maurice Magre. The Marvelous Story of Claire d’Amour
197 Maurice Magre. The Call of the Beast
198 Maurice Magre. Priscilla of Alexandria
199 Maurice Magre. The Angel of Lust
200 Maurice Magre. The Mystery of the Tiger
201 Maurice Magre. The Poison of Goa
202 Maurice Magre. Lucifer
203 Maurice Magre. The Blood of Toulouse
204 Maurice Magre. The Albigensian Treasure
205 Maurice Magre. Jean de Fodoas
206 Maurice Magre. Melusine
207 Maurice Magre. The Brothers of the Virgin Gold
208 Charles Malato. Lost !
167 Camille Mauclair. The Virgin Orient
72 Xavier Mauméjean. The League of Heroes
219. Louis-Sebastien Mercier. The Iron Man
78 Joseph Méry. The Tower of Destiny
77 Hippolyte Mettais. The Year 5865
128 Hyppolite Mettais. Paris Before the Deluge
83 Louise Michel. The Human Microbes
84 Louise Michel. The New World
224 Victor-Emile Michelet. Superhuman Tales
218. L. Miral & A. Viger. The Ring of Light.
93 Tony Moilin. Paris in the Year 2000
11 José Moselli. Illa’s End
221 Comtesse de Murat. The Palace of Vengeance
226 Fernand Mysor. The Murdered City
38 John-Antoine Nau. Enemy Force
156 Charles Nodier. Trilby + The Crumb Fairy
04 Henri de Parville. An Inhabitant o
f the Planet Mars
21 Gaston de Pawlowski. Journey to the Land of the Fourth Dimension
56 Georges Pellerin. The World in 2000 Years
79 Pierre Pelot. The Child Who Walked On The Sky + What If Butterflies Cheat?
85 Ernest Perochon. The Frenetic People
161 Jean Petithuguenin. An International Mission to the Moon
141. Georges Price. The Missing Men of the Sirius
165 René Pujol. The Chimerical Quest
100 Edgar Quinet. Ahasuerus
123 Edgar Quinet. The Enchanter Merlin
192 Jean Rameau. Arrival in the Stars
60 Henri de Régnier. A Surfeit of Mirrors
33 Maurice Renard. The Blue Peril
34 Maurice Renard. Doctor Lerne
35 Maurice Renard. The Doctored Man
36 Maurice Renard. A Man Among the Microbes
37 Maurice Renard. The Master of Light
169 Restif de la Bretonne. The Discovery of the Austral Continent by a Flying Man
170 Restif de la Bretonne. Posthumous Correspondence Volume 1
171 Restif de la Bretonne. Posthumous Correspondence Volume 2
172 Restif de la Bretonne. Posthumous Correspondence Volume 3
186 Restif de la Bretonne. The Fay Ouroucoucou 1 : The Story of the Great Prince Oribeau
187 Restif de la Bretonne. The Fay Ouroucoucou 2 : The Four Beauties and the Four Beasts
41 Jean Richepin. The Wing
12 Albert Robida. The Clock of the Centuries
62 Albert Robida. Chalet in the Sky
69 Albert Robida. The Adventures of Saturnin Farandoul
95 Albert Robida. The Electric Life
211 Albert Robida. In 1965
151 Albert Robida. Engineer Von Satanas
46 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Givreuse Enigma
45 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Mysterious Force
43 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Navigators of Space
48 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. Vamireh
44 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The World of the Variants
47 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Young Vampire
71 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. Helgvor of the Blue River
217. J.-H. Rosny Aîné. Pan’s Flute
24 Marcel Rouff. Journey to the Inverted World
158 Marie-Anne de Roumier-Robert. The Voyages of Lord Seaton to the Seven Planets
132 Léonie Rouzade. The World Turned Upside Down
09 Han Ryner. The Superhumans
Dieudonat Page 29