Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Pearl of Love by H. G. Wells. This is
a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Read by Christa Zeleski, The Pearl of Love, the pearl
is lovelier than the most brilliant of crystalline stones, the
(00:24):
moralist declares, because it is made through the suffering of
a living creature. About that I can say nothing, because
I feel none of the fascination of pearls. There cloudy
luster moves me not at all, nor can I decide
for myself upon that age long dispute whether the Pearl
of Love is the cruelest of stories or only a
gracious fable of the immortality of beauty. Both the story
(00:47):
and the controversy will be familiar to students of medieval
Persian prose. The story is a short one, though the
commentary upon it is a respectable part of the literature
of that period. They have treated it as a poetic invention,
and they have treated it as an allegory, meaning this,
that or the other thing. Theologians have had their copious
(01:07):
way with it, dealing with it, particularly as concerning the
restoration of the body after death. And it has been
greatly used as a parable by those who write about esthetics,
and many have held it to be the statement of
a fact simply and baldly true. The story is laid
in North India, which is the most fruitful soil for
sublime love stories of all the lands in the world.
(01:29):
It was in a country of sunshine and lakes, and
rich forests and hills and fertile valleys, and far away
the great mountains hung in the sky, peaks crests, and
ridges of inaccessible and eternal snow. There was a young prince,
lord of all the land, and he found a maiden
of indescribable beauty and delightfulness, and he made her his
queen and laid his heart at her feet. Love was theirs,
(01:53):
full of joys and sweetness, full of hope, exquisite, brave
and marvelous love, beyond anything you have ever dreamt of. Love.
It was theirs for a year and a part of
a year. And then suddenly, because of some venomous sting
that came to her in a thicket, she died. She died,
and for a while the prince was utterly prostated, he
(02:13):
was silent and motionless with grief. They feared he might
kill himself, and he had neither sons nor brothers to
succeed him. For two days and nights he lay upon
his face, fasting across the foot of the couch which
bore her calm and lovely body. Then he arose and ate,
and went about very quietly, like one who had taken
the great resolution. He caused her body to be put
(02:35):
in a coffin of lead mixed with silver, and for
that he had an outer coffin made of the most
precious scented woods, wrought with gold. And about that there
was to be a sarcophagus of alabaster inlaid with precious stones.
And while these things were being done, he spent his time,
for the most part, by the pools, and in the
garden houses and pavilions and groves, and in those chambers
(02:57):
in the palace where they two had been most together,
rooting upon her loveliness. He did not rend his garments,
nor defile himself with ashes and sackcloth, as the custom was,
for his love was too great for such extravagances. At
last he came forth again among his councilors and before
the people, and told them what he had a mind
to do. He is said he could never more touch
(03:19):
a woman, he could never more think of them. And
so he would find a seemly youth to adopt for
his heir and train him to his task, and that
he would do his princely duties as became him, but
that for the rest of it he would give himself
with all his power, and all his strength, and all
his wealth, all that he could command, to make a
monument worthy of his incomparable dear lost mistress. A building.
(03:42):
It should be of perfect grace and beauty, more marvelous
than any other building had ever been, nor could ever be,
so that to the end of time it should be
a wonder and men would treasure it and speak of it,
and desire to see it, and come from all the
lands of the earth to visit it, and recall the
name and the memory of his Queen. And this building,
he said, was to be called the Pearl of Love.
(04:04):
And this his councilors and people permitted him to do.
And so he did year followed year, and all the
years he devoted himself to building and adorning the Pearl
of Love. A great foundation was hewn out of the
living rock in a place whence one seemed to be
looking at the snowy wilderness of the great Mountain, across
the valley of the world, villages and hills there were
(04:25):
a winding river, and very far away three great cities.
Here they put the sarcophagus of alabaster beneath the pavilion
of cunning workmanship, and about it there were set pillars
of strange and lovely stone, and wrought and fretted walls,
and a great casket of masonry bearing a dome and
pinnacles and cupolas, as exquisite as a jewel. At first,
(04:46):
the design of the Pearl of Love was less bold
and subtle than it became later. At first it was
smaller and more wrought and encrusted. There were many pierced
screens and delicate clusters of rosy hued pillars, and the
sarcophagus lay like a child. This lie leaps among flowers.
The first dome was covered with green tiles, framed and
held together by silver. But this was taken away again
(05:07):
because it seemed close, because it did not soar grandly
enough for the broadening imagination of the prince, For by
this time he was no longer the graceful youth who
had loved the girl queen. He was now a man,
grave and intent, wholly set upon the building of the
Pearl of Love. With every year of effort he had
learnt new possibilities in arch and wall and buttress. He
(05:30):
had acquired greater power over the material he had to use,
and he had learnt of a hundred stones and hues
and effects that he could never have thought of in
the beginning. His sense of color had grown finer and colder.
He cared no more for the enameled, gold lined brightness
that had pleased him first, the brightness of an illuminated missile.
He sought now for the blue colorings like the sky,
(05:51):
and for the subtle hues of great distances, for recondie
shadows and sudden broad floods of purple opalescence, and for
grandeur and space. He wearied altogether of carvings and pictures,
and inlaid ornamentation, and all the little careful work of men.
Those were pretty things, he said of his earlier decorations,
and had them put aside into subordinate buildings where they
(06:13):
would not hamper his main design. Greater and greater grew
his artistry. With awe and amazement, the people saw the
pearl of love sweeping up from its first beginnings to
a superhuman breadth and height and magnificence. They did not
know clearly what they had expected, but never had they
expected so sublime a thing as this. Wonderful are the miracles,
(06:34):
they whispered, that love can do. And all the women
in the world, whatever the other loves, they had, loved
the Prince for the splendor of his devotion. Through the
middle of the building ran a great isle, a vista
that the Prince came to care for more and more.
From the inner entrance of the building, he looked along
the length of an immense pillared gallery, and across the
(06:55):
central area, from which the rose hued columns had long
since vanished, over the top of the pavilion, under which
lay the sarcophagus, through a marvelously designed opening to the
snowy wildernesses of the Great Mountain, the Lord of all mountains,
two hundred miles away. The pillars and arches and buttresses
and galleries soared and floated on either side, perfect yet unobtrusive,
(07:19):
like great archangels waiting in the shadows about the presence
of God. When men saw that austere beauty for the
first time, they were exalted, and then they shivered and
their hearts bowed down. Very often would the Prince come
to stand there and look at that vista, deeply moved,
and not yet fully satisfied. The pearl of Love had
still something for him to do, he felt. Before his
(07:41):
task was done, always he would order some little alteration
to be made, or some recent alteration to be put
back again. And one day he said that the sarcophagus
would be clearer and simpler without the pavilion, And after
regarding it very steadfastly for a long time, he had
the pavilion dismantled and removed. The next day he came
(08:01):
and said nothing, and the next day and the next.
Then for two days he stayed away altogether. Then he returned,
bringing with him an architect and two master craftsmen, and
a small retinue. All looked standing together silently in a
little group, amidst the serene vastness of their achievement. No
trace of toil remained in its perfection. It was as
(08:23):
if the god of Nature's beauty had taken over their
offspring to himself. Only one thing there was to mar
the absolute harmony. There was a certain disproportion about the sarcophagus.
It had never been enlarged, and indeed, how could it
have been enlarged Since the early days? It challenged the
eye and nicked the streaming lines. In that sarcophagus was
(08:45):
the casket of lead and silver, And in the casket
of lead and silver was the Queen, the dear immortal
cause of all this beauty. But now that sarcophagus seemed
no more than a little, dark oblong that lay incongruously
in the great vista of the Pearl of Love. It
was as if someone had dropped a small valise upon
the crystal sea of heaven. Long, the Prince mused, but
(09:05):
no one knew the thoughts that passed through his mind.
At last he spoke. He pointed, take that thing away,
he said, end of the Pearl of Love.
The Pearl of Love by H. G. Wells. This is
a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Read by Christa Zeleski, The Pearl of Love, the pearl
is lovelier than the most brilliant of crystalline stones, the
(00:24):
moralist declares, because it is made through the suffering of
a living creature. About that I can say nothing, because
I feel none of the fascination of pearls. There cloudy
luster moves me not at all, nor can I decide
for myself upon that age long dispute whether the Pearl
of Love is the cruelest of stories or only a
gracious fable of the immortality of beauty. Both the story
(00:47):
and the controversy will be familiar to students of medieval
Persian prose. The story is a short one, though the
commentary upon it is a respectable part of the literature
of that period. They have treated it as a poetic invention,
and they have treated it as an allegory, meaning this,
that or the other thing. Theologians have had their copious
(01:07):
way with it, dealing with it, particularly as concerning the
restoration of the body after death. And it has been
greatly used as a parable by those who write about esthetics,
and many have held it to be the statement of
a fact simply and baldly true. The story is laid
in North India, which is the most fruitful soil for
sublime love stories of all the lands in the world.
(01:29):
It was in a country of sunshine and lakes, and
rich forests and hills and fertile valleys, and far away
the great mountains hung in the sky, peaks crests, and
ridges of inaccessible and eternal snow. There was a young prince,
lord of all the land, and he found a maiden
of indescribable beauty and delightfulness, and he made her his
queen and laid his heart at her feet. Love was theirs,
(01:53):
full of joys and sweetness, full of hope, exquisite, brave
and marvelous love, beyond anything you have ever dreamt of. Love.
It was theirs for a year and a part of
a year. And then suddenly, because of some venomous sting
that came to her in a thicket, she died. She died,
and for a while the prince was utterly prostated, he
(02:13):
was silent and motionless with grief. They feared he might
kill himself, and he had neither sons nor brothers to
succeed him. For two days and nights he lay upon
his face, fasting across the foot of the couch which
bore her calm and lovely body. Then he arose and ate,
and went about very quietly, like one who had taken
the great resolution. He caused her body to be put
(02:35):
in a coffin of lead mixed with silver, and for
that he had an outer coffin made of the most
precious scented woods, wrought with gold. And about that there
was to be a sarcophagus of alabaster inlaid with precious stones.
And while these things were being done, he spent his time,
for the most part, by the pools, and in the
garden houses and pavilions and groves, and in those chambers
(02:57):
in the palace where they two had been most together,
rooting upon her loveliness. He did not rend his garments,
nor defile himself with ashes and sackcloth, as the custom was,
for his love was too great for such extravagances. At
last he came forth again among his councilors and before
the people, and told them what he had a mind
to do. He is said he could never more touch
(03:19):
a woman, he could never more think of them. And
so he would find a seemly youth to adopt for
his heir and train him to his task, and that
he would do his princely duties as became him, but
that for the rest of it he would give himself
with all his power, and all his strength, and all
his wealth, all that he could command, to make a
monument worthy of his incomparable dear lost mistress. A building.
(03:42):
It should be of perfect grace and beauty, more marvelous
than any other building had ever been, nor could ever be,
so that to the end of time it should be
a wonder and men would treasure it and speak of it,
and desire to see it, and come from all the
lands of the earth to visit it, and recall the
name and the memory of his Queen. And this building,
he said, was to be called the Pearl of Love.
(04:04):
And this his councilors and people permitted him to do.
And so he did year followed year, and all the
years he devoted himself to building and adorning the Pearl
of Love. A great foundation was hewn out of the
living rock in a place whence one seemed to be
looking at the snowy wilderness of the great Mountain, across
the valley of the world, villages and hills there were
(04:25):
a winding river, and very far away three great cities.
Here they put the sarcophagus of alabaster beneath the pavilion
of cunning workmanship, and about it there were set pillars
of strange and lovely stone, and wrought and fretted walls,
and a great casket of masonry bearing a dome and
pinnacles and cupolas, as exquisite as a jewel. At first,
(04:46):
the design of the Pearl of Love was less bold
and subtle than it became later. At first it was
smaller and more wrought and encrusted. There were many pierced
screens and delicate clusters of rosy hued pillars, and the
sarcophagus lay like a child. This lie leaps among flowers.
The first dome was covered with green tiles, framed and
held together by silver. But this was taken away again
(05:07):
because it seemed close, because it did not soar grandly
enough for the broadening imagination of the prince, For by
this time he was no longer the graceful youth who
had loved the girl queen. He was now a man,
grave and intent, wholly set upon the building of the
Pearl of Love. With every year of effort he had
learnt new possibilities in arch and wall and buttress. He
(05:30):
had acquired greater power over the material he had to use,
and he had learnt of a hundred stones and hues
and effects that he could never have thought of in
the beginning. His sense of color had grown finer and colder.
He cared no more for the enameled, gold lined brightness
that had pleased him first, the brightness of an illuminated missile.
He sought now for the blue colorings like the sky,
(05:51):
and for the subtle hues of great distances, for recondie
shadows and sudden broad floods of purple opalescence, and for
grandeur and space. He wearied altogether of carvings and pictures,
and inlaid ornamentation, and all the little careful work of men.
Those were pretty things, he said of his earlier decorations,
and had them put aside into subordinate buildings where they
(06:13):
would not hamper his main design. Greater and greater grew
his artistry. With awe and amazement, the people saw the
pearl of love sweeping up from its first beginnings to
a superhuman breadth and height and magnificence. They did not
know clearly what they had expected, but never had they
expected so sublime a thing as this. Wonderful are the miracles,
(06:34):
they whispered, that love can do. And all the women
in the world, whatever the other loves, they had, loved
the Prince for the splendor of his devotion. Through the
middle of the building ran a great isle, a vista
that the Prince came to care for more and more.
From the inner entrance of the building, he looked along
the length of an immense pillared gallery, and across the
(06:55):
central area, from which the rose hued columns had long
since vanished, over the top of the pavilion, under which
lay the sarcophagus, through a marvelously designed opening to the
snowy wildernesses of the Great Mountain, the Lord of all mountains,
two hundred miles away. The pillars and arches and buttresses
and galleries soared and floated on either side, perfect yet unobtrusive,
(07:19):
like great archangels waiting in the shadows about the presence
of God. When men saw that austere beauty for the
first time, they were exalted, and then they shivered and
their hearts bowed down. Very often would the Prince come
to stand there and look at that vista, deeply moved,
and not yet fully satisfied. The pearl of Love had
still something for him to do, he felt. Before his
(07:41):
task was done, always he would order some little alteration
to be made, or some recent alteration to be put
back again. And one day he said that the sarcophagus
would be clearer and simpler without the pavilion, And after
regarding it very steadfastly for a long time, he had
the pavilion dismantled and removed. The next day he came
(08:01):
and said nothing, and the next day and the next.
Then for two days he stayed away altogether. Then he returned,
bringing with him an architect and two master craftsmen, and
a small retinue. All looked standing together silently in a
little group, amidst the serene vastness of their achievement. No
trace of toil remained in its perfection. It was as
(08:23):
if the god of Nature's beauty had taken over their
offspring to himself. Only one thing there was to mar
the absolute harmony. There was a certain disproportion about the sarcophagus.
It had never been enlarged, and indeed, how could it
have been enlarged Since the early days? It challenged the
eye and nicked the streaming lines. In that sarcophagus was
(08:45):
the casket of lead and silver, And in the casket
of lead and silver was the Queen, the dear immortal
cause of all this beauty. But now that sarcophagus seemed
no more than a little, dark oblong that lay incongruously
in the great vista of the Pearl of Love. It
was as if someone had dropped a small valise upon
the crystal sea of heaven. Long, the Prince mused, but
(09:05):
no one knew the thoughts that passed through his mind.
At last he spoke. He pointed, take that thing away,
he said, end of the Pearl of Love.
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