August 10, 2025 • 13 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter eighteen, Early History of the Pseudopsies, as related by
Beryl Brow. How they were driven to take refuge in
the underworld, and how they came upon the Marble Highway,
their discovery of natural gas, which yields them light and warmth,
and of nature's magnificent treasure house, how they replaced their
tattered garments and began to build the city of silver,
(00:23):
the strange misfortunes that came upon them, and how they
rose superior to them, terrible as they were. And no doubt,
dear friends, you would be glad to hear something about
the early history of the Pseudopsys. Who they were, where
they came from, and how they happened to find their
way down into the world within a world. At least,
(00:43):
this was the way I felt after I had been
presented to the learned Barrel Brow. And so the next
time I called upon him, I waited patiently for him
to finish reading the four books in front of him,
and then I said, be pleased, dear master, to tell
me something concerning the early history of thy people, and
to explain to me how they came to make their
way down into this underground world ages and ages ago.
(01:07):
Wrote the learned barrel Brow. My people lived upon the
shores of a beautiful land, with a vast ocean to
the north of it, and in those days they had
the same senses as the other people of the upper world.
It was a very fair land, indeed, so fair that,
in the words of the ancient chronicles, the sun looked
(01:28):
in vain for a farer. Its rivers were deep and broad,
its plains were rich and fertile, and its mountains stored
full of silver and gold, and copper and tin. And
so easily mined were these metals that our people became
famous as metal workers, so deaft in their workmanship, that
(01:49):
the other nations from far and near came to us
for swords and shields, and spear heads, and suits of armor,
and table service, and armlets and bracelets, and above all
for lamps, most gloriously chased and carved to hang in
their palaces and temples. And so we were very happy,
(02:09):
until one terrible day the great round world gave a twist,
and we were turned away from the sun, so that
its rays went slantingly over our heads and gave us
no warmth. Oh me I could weep, now, exclaimed the
learned barrel brow. After all these centuries, when I think
(02:31):
of the cruel fate that overtook my people, in a
few months, the whole face of our fair land was
covered with ice and snow, and our cattle dyed, and
many of our people too, before they could weave thick
cloth to keep their delicate bodies from the pinching cold.
But this was not all. The great blue ocean, which
(02:53):
had until then dashed its warm waves and white foam
up against our shores, now breathe its icy breath full
upon us, driving us into our cellars to escape its fury.
And in a few brief months, to our horror, there
came drifting down upon us fields and mountains of ice,
(03:15):
which the tempestuous waters cast up against our shores with
deafening crash. To remain there meant death, swift and terrible.
So the command was given to abandon homes and firesides
and escape to the southward, And this most of them did.
But it so happened that several hundred families belonging to
(03:36):
the metal working guilds, who knew the underground passages to
the mines as foresters know, the trackless wood, had taken
refuge in the vast underground caverns, with all the goods
they could carry, poor deluded creatures, They thought that this
sudden coming of the winter blast, of the blinding snow
and vast floating fields of ice, was but a freak
(03:59):
of nature, and that in a few months the old
warmth and the old sunshine would come back again. Alas
months went by, and their supply of food was almost exhausted,
and the entrances to the mines were closed by gigantic
blocks of ice, cemented into one great mass by the
snow which the gray clouds had sifted down upon them,
(04:22):
there was now no escape that way. Their only hope
was to make their way underground to some portal to
the upper world. So, with lighted torches, but with hearts
plunged in the darkness of despair, they kept on their way,
when one day or one night, they knew not which
their leaders, suddenly came upon a broad street of marble,
(04:44):
opened by nature's own hands. It was skirted by a
softly flowing river that swarmed with fish in scales and
shells in skin. And here are people halted to eat
and drink and rest. And while one of their number
was striking his flint on one occasion to make a
fire to cook a meal. To his surprise and delight,
(05:04):
a tongue of flame darted up from the rocky floor
and continued to burn, giving light and warmth to them.
As they had brought their tools, their drills and chisels,
and files and gravers and blowpipes with them in their
carts and wagons, they made haste to fit a pipe
to this opening in the rock and set up a
(05:25):
cluster of lights with food and water and warmth and light.
Their hearts grew lighter, especially as they soon discovered that
in many of the vast caverns, gigantic mushrooms grew in
the wildest profusion. The wisest of them continued, the learned
barrel brow at once made up their minds that there
(05:47):
must be reservoirs of this gas farther along on this
beautiful marble highway. So day by day they pushed farther
into this world within a world, halting every now and
then to set up a light house, as they called it.
After advancing several leagues, the exploring party, upon lighting a
cluster of gas jets, were stricken, almost speechless with wonder
(06:11):
at finding themselves upon the very sill of a tower portal,
opening into a succession of vast chambers, some with flat ceiling,
some arched, some domed, upon the floors and walls of
which lay and hung inexhaustible quantities of pure silver. Those
magnificent caverns were, in reality nature's vast storehouses of the
(06:35):
glorious white metal. And our people made haste to set
up clusters of gas jets here and there so that
they might view the wondrous treasure house. Here they determined
to remain, for here was food and water and never
failing supplies, and here they would have light and warmth.
And here they could forget their miseries by working at
(06:56):
their calling, using the precious metal with lavish hand to
build them living chambers and to fashion the thousand and
one things necessary for every day life. So great was
their delight as metal workers to come upon this exhaustless
supply of pure silver, that they could hardly sleep until
they had set up clusters of gas jets throughout these
(07:18):
vast caverns. For no doubt, little Baron thou hast already
guessed that this is the spot I am telling me
of that right here it was where our people halted
to build the city of silver. But one thought troubled them,
and that was where to find needful clothing, for the
old was fast falling into shreds and tatters, When to
(07:40):
their delight they came upon a bed of mineral wool.
With this they managed to weave some claw, although it
was rather stiff and harsh, yet it was better than none.
While exploring a new cavern one day, one of my
wise ancestors saw a large night moth alike near him, and,
gently loosening some of its eggs, he carried them home,
(08:03):
more as a curiosity than aught else. Imagine how rejoiced
he was, however, to see one of the worms, which
hatched out, set to work spinning a cocoon of silk
half as big as his fist. There was great feasting
and merrymaking among our people upon hearing of this glad news,
(08:24):
And it was not very long before many a silver
shuttle was rattling in a silver loom, and the soft
bodies of our people were warmly and comfortably clad. Now
long periods of time went by, which cut up into
your months, would have made many many years. Our people
had everything but sunlight, and this, of course those who
(08:48):
were born in the underworld knew nothing about, and therefore
did not miss. But as was to be expected, great
changes gradually took place in our people. To their inexpressible grief,
they noticed that as they busied themselves beautifying their new
homes by erecting arches and bridges and terraces, and lining
(09:10):
them with glorious candelabra and statues, all in cast and
rot or hammered silver, their sight was gradually failing them,
and that in not a very great length of time
they should be totally blind. This result, little Baron, continued,
the learned barrel brow was very natural, for the sense
(09:31):
of sight was in reality created for sunlight. For as
thou no doubt knowest all the fish that swim in
our rivers have no eyes, having no need of them,
it happened just as they had expected. In a few
generations more, our people discovered that their eyes could no
longer see things as thou dost, but yet they could
feel them if they were not too far away, just
(09:54):
as I can feel thy presence now, and tell where
thou sittest, and how tall thou art, and how broad
thou art, and whether thou movest right or left, forward
or backward. But I cannot tell exactly how thou art
made until I reach out and touch thee Then I
know all, yes, far better than thou canst know. For
(10:16):
our sense of feeling is keener than thy so called sight.
One off, my people can feel a grain or roughness
upon a silver mirror, which to thy eyes seems smoother
than glass. Well strange to relate, and yet not strange.
Our ancestors, with the going out of their sense of sight,
also felt their sense of hearing on the wain, our ears,
(10:39):
as thou callest them, having nothing more to listen to.
For eternal silence, as thou knowest, reigns in this underworld,
became as useless to us as the tail of the
polywog would be to the full grown frog. And of course,
with the loss of our sense of hearing, our children
were soon unable to learn to talk, and in a
(11:00):
certain lapse of time we came to merit fulwell our
new name of former folk or aunt people, for we
were now blind and death and numb. It is long,
very very long, Little Baron continued the learned pseudopsy, since
all recollection of sunlight, of color, of sound died out
(11:21):
of our minds to day. My people don't even know
the names of these things, and thou wouldst have as
much chance of success. Wert thou to attempt to tell
them what light or sound is as thou wouldst have it.
Thou shouldst try to explain to a savage that there
is nothing under the world to hold it up, and
(11:43):
yet it doesn't fall. But if thou shouldst delay several
pieces of metal in a row and ask one of
my people to tell thee what they were, he would
try the weight of each, and feel its grain carefully,
possibly smell them or touch his tongue to them, and
then he would make answer that this is gold, this
is silver, that is copper, that is lead, that is tin,
(12:06):
that is iron. But thou wouldst say they are all
differently colored. Canst not perceive that I know not what
thou meanest by color? He would reply, But mark me. Now,
I hide them all beneath this silken handkerchief, and still,
by touching them with my finger tips, I can tell
which metal each one is. If thou canst do it,
(12:28):
then art thou as good a man as I what
sayest now, little Baron, asked the learned barrel Brow, while
his face was wreathed in a smile of triumph. Dost
think thou wouldst be as good a man as this Pseudopsy? Nay,
indeed I do not, wise, master, wrote I upon my
silver tablet, and I thank THEE for all thou hast
(12:51):
told me and taught me. And I ask leave o
beryl Brow, to come again and converse with THEE that
thou mayest. Little Baron graced the learned Pseudopsy upon his
silver tablet, and then as I turned to leave his chamber,
he reached quickly after me and touched me with a
bent forefinger, which meant return thy pardon, Little Baron, he wrote,
(13:15):
But thou art leaving my study without thy faithful Bulgar?
Am I not right? I was astounded, For indeed he
was right. And though without the sense of sight, he
had seen more than I with two good eyes wide open,
there lay Bulger, fast asleep on a silken covered hassock.
Our silent conversation had so worried him that he had
(13:35):
sailed off into the land of Nod on the wings
of a dream. He hung his head and looked very
shamefaced when my call aroused him, and he discovered that
I had actually reached the doorway without his knowing it.
End of Chapter eighteen.
Chapter eighteen, Early History of the Pseudopsies, as related by
Beryl Brow. How they were driven to take refuge in
the underworld, and how they came upon the Marble Highway,
their discovery of natural gas, which yields them light and warmth,
and of nature's magnificent treasure house, how they replaced their
tattered garments and began to build the city of silver,
(00:23):
the strange misfortunes that came upon them, and how they
rose superior to them, terrible as they were. And no doubt,
dear friends, you would be glad to hear something about
the early history of the Pseudopsys. Who they were, where
they came from, and how they happened to find their
way down into the world within a world. At least,
(00:43):
this was the way I felt after I had been
presented to the learned Barrel Brow. And so the next
time I called upon him, I waited patiently for him
to finish reading the four books in front of him,
and then I said, be pleased, dear master, to tell
me something concerning the early history of thy people, and
to explain to me how they came to make their
way down into this underground world ages and ages ago.
(01:07):
Wrote the learned barrel Brow. My people lived upon the
shores of a beautiful land, with a vast ocean to
the north of it, and in those days they had
the same senses as the other people of the upper world.
It was a very fair land, indeed, so fair that,
in the words of the ancient chronicles, the sun looked
(01:28):
in vain for a farer. Its rivers were deep and broad,
its plains were rich and fertile, and its mountains stored
full of silver and gold, and copper and tin. And
so easily mined were these metals that our people became
famous as metal workers, so deaft in their workmanship, that
(01:49):
the other nations from far and near came to us
for swords and shields, and spear heads, and suits of armor,
and table service, and armlets and bracelets, and above all
for lamps, most gloriously chased and carved to hang in
their palaces and temples. And so we were very happy,
(02:09):
until one terrible day the great round world gave a twist,
and we were turned away from the sun, so that
its rays went slantingly over our heads and gave us
no warmth. Oh me I could weep, now, exclaimed the
learned barrel brow. After all these centuries, when I think
(02:31):
of the cruel fate that overtook my people, in a
few months, the whole face of our fair land was
covered with ice and snow, and our cattle dyed, and
many of our people too, before they could weave thick
cloth to keep their delicate bodies from the pinching cold.
But this was not all. The great blue ocean, which
(02:53):
had until then dashed its warm waves and white foam
up against our shores, now breathe its icy breath full
upon us, driving us into our cellars to escape its fury.
And in a few brief months, to our horror, there
came drifting down upon us fields and mountains of ice,
(03:15):
which the tempestuous waters cast up against our shores with
deafening crash. To remain there meant death, swift and terrible.
So the command was given to abandon homes and firesides
and escape to the southward, And this most of them did.
But it so happened that several hundred families belonging to
(03:36):
the metal working guilds, who knew the underground passages to
the mines as foresters know, the trackless wood, had taken
refuge in the vast underground caverns, with all the goods
they could carry, poor deluded creatures, They thought that this
sudden coming of the winter blast, of the blinding snow
and vast floating fields of ice, was but a freak
(03:59):
of nature, and that in a few months the old
warmth and the old sunshine would come back again. Alas
months went by, and their supply of food was almost exhausted,
and the entrances to the mines were closed by gigantic
blocks of ice, cemented into one great mass by the
snow which the gray clouds had sifted down upon them,
(04:22):
there was now no escape that way. Their only hope
was to make their way underground to some portal to
the upper world. So, with lighted torches, but with hearts
plunged in the darkness of despair, they kept on their way,
when one day or one night, they knew not which
their leaders, suddenly came upon a broad street of marble,
(04:44):
opened by nature's own hands. It was skirted by a
softly flowing river that swarmed with fish in scales and
shells in skin. And here are people halted to eat
and drink and rest. And while one of their number
was striking his flint on one occasion to make a
fire to cook a meal. To his surprise and delight,
(05:04):
a tongue of flame darted up from the rocky floor
and continued to burn, giving light and warmth to them.
As they had brought their tools, their drills and chisels,
and files and gravers and blowpipes with them in their
carts and wagons, they made haste to fit a pipe
to this opening in the rock and set up a
(05:25):
cluster of lights with food and water and warmth and light.
Their hearts grew lighter, especially as they soon discovered that
in many of the vast caverns, gigantic mushrooms grew in
the wildest profusion. The wisest of them continued, the learned
barrel brow at once made up their minds that there
(05:47):
must be reservoirs of this gas farther along on this
beautiful marble highway. So day by day they pushed farther
into this world within a world, halting every now and
then to set up a light house, as they called it.
After advancing several leagues, the exploring party, upon lighting a
cluster of gas jets, were stricken, almost speechless with wonder
(06:11):
at finding themselves upon the very sill of a tower portal,
opening into a succession of vast chambers, some with flat ceiling,
some arched, some domed, upon the floors and walls of
which lay and hung inexhaustible quantities of pure silver. Those
magnificent caverns were, in reality nature's vast storehouses of the
(06:35):
glorious white metal. And our people made haste to set
up clusters of gas jets here and there so that
they might view the wondrous treasure house. Here they determined
to remain, for here was food and water and never
failing supplies, and here they would have light and warmth.
And here they could forget their miseries by working at
(06:56):
their calling, using the precious metal with lavish hand to
build them living chambers and to fashion the thousand and
one things necessary for every day life. So great was
their delight as metal workers to come upon this exhaustless
supply of pure silver, that they could hardly sleep until
they had set up clusters of gas jets throughout these
(07:18):
vast caverns. For no doubt, little Baron thou hast already
guessed that this is the spot I am telling me
of that right here it was where our people halted
to build the city of silver. But one thought troubled them,
and that was where to find needful clothing, for the
old was fast falling into shreds and tatters, When to
(07:40):
their delight they came upon a bed of mineral wool.
With this they managed to weave some claw, although it
was rather stiff and harsh, yet it was better than none.
While exploring a new cavern one day, one of my
wise ancestors saw a large night moth alike near him, and,
gently loosening some of its eggs, he carried them home,
(08:03):
more as a curiosity than aught else. Imagine how rejoiced
he was, however, to see one of the worms, which
hatched out, set to work spinning a cocoon of silk
half as big as his fist. There was great feasting
and merrymaking among our people upon hearing of this glad news,
(08:24):
And it was not very long before many a silver
shuttle was rattling in a silver loom, and the soft
bodies of our people were warmly and comfortably clad. Now
long periods of time went by, which cut up into
your months, would have made many many years. Our people
had everything but sunlight, and this, of course those who
(08:48):
were born in the underworld knew nothing about, and therefore
did not miss. But as was to be expected, great
changes gradually took place in our people. To their inexpressible grief,
they noticed that as they busied themselves beautifying their new
homes by erecting arches and bridges and terraces, and lining
(09:10):
them with glorious candelabra and statues, all in cast and
rot or hammered silver, their sight was gradually failing them,
and that in not a very great length of time
they should be totally blind. This result, little Baron, continued,
the learned barrel brow was very natural, for the sense
(09:31):
of sight was in reality created for sunlight. For as
thou no doubt knowest all the fish that swim in
our rivers have no eyes, having no need of them,
it happened just as they had expected. In a few
generations more, our people discovered that their eyes could no
longer see things as thou dost, but yet they could
feel them if they were not too far away, just
(09:54):
as I can feel thy presence now, and tell where
thou sittest, and how tall thou art, and how broad
thou art, and whether thou movest right or left, forward
or backward. But I cannot tell exactly how thou art
made until I reach out and touch thee Then I
know all, yes, far better than thou canst know. For
(10:16):
our sense of feeling is keener than thy so called sight.
One off, my people can feel a grain or roughness
upon a silver mirror, which to thy eyes seems smoother
than glass. Well strange to relate, and yet not strange.
Our ancestors, with the going out of their sense of sight,
also felt their sense of hearing on the wain, our ears,
(10:39):
as thou callest them, having nothing more to listen to.
For eternal silence, as thou knowest, reigns in this underworld,
became as useless to us as the tail of the
polywog would be to the full grown frog. And of course,
with the loss of our sense of hearing, our children
were soon unable to learn to talk, and in a
(11:00):
certain lapse of time we came to merit fulwell our
new name of former folk or aunt people, for we
were now blind and death and numb. It is long,
very very long, Little Baron continued the learned pseudopsy, since
all recollection of sunlight, of color, of sound died out
(11:21):
of our minds to day. My people don't even know
the names of these things, and thou wouldst have as
much chance of success. Wert thou to attempt to tell
them what light or sound is as thou wouldst have it.
Thou shouldst try to explain to a savage that there
is nothing under the world to hold it up, and
(11:43):
yet it doesn't fall. But if thou shouldst delay several
pieces of metal in a row and ask one of
my people to tell thee what they were, he would
try the weight of each, and feel its grain carefully,
possibly smell them or touch his tongue to them, and
then he would make answer that this is gold, this
is silver, that is copper, that is lead, that is tin,
(12:06):
that is iron. But thou wouldst say they are all
differently colored. Canst not perceive that I know not what
thou meanest by color? He would reply, But mark me. Now,
I hide them all beneath this silken handkerchief, and still,
by touching them with my finger tips, I can tell
which metal each one is. If thou canst do it,
(12:28):
then art thou as good a man as I what
sayest now, little Baron, asked the learned barrel Brow, while
his face was wreathed in a smile of triumph. Dost
think thou wouldst be as good a man as this Pseudopsy? Nay,
indeed I do not, wise, master, wrote I upon my
silver tablet, and I thank THEE for all thou hast
(12:51):
told me and taught me. And I ask leave o
beryl Brow, to come again and converse with THEE that
thou mayest. Little Baron graced the learned Pseudopsy upon his
silver tablet, and then as I turned to leave his chamber,
he reached quickly after me and touched me with a
bent forefinger, which meant return thy pardon, Little Baron, he wrote,
(13:15):
But thou art leaving my study without thy faithful Bulgar?
Am I not right? I was astounded, For indeed he
was right. And though without the sense of sight, he
had seen more than I with two good eyes wide open,
there lay Bulger, fast asleep on a silken covered hassock.
Our silent conversation had so worried him that he had
(13:35):
sailed off into the land of Nod on the wings
of a dream. He hung his head and looked very
shamefaced when my call aroused him, and he discovered that
I had actually reached the doorway without his knowing it.
End of Chapter eighteen.
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