August 12, 2025 • 18 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter twenty. This is a long and sad chapter. It
tells how dear gentle pouting Lip was lost, and how
the Pseudopsis grieved for him and whom they suspected. Bulgar
gives a striking proof of his wonderful intelligence, which enables
me to convince the Pseudopsis that my dance inspector did
(00:21):
not cause pouting Lip's death. The true tale of his
terrible fate. What follows my discovery, how a beautiful boat
is built for me by the grateful pseudopsies, and how
Bulgar and I bid adieu to the land of the
make believes twas the custom in the city of Silver
to touch all around, as it was called, before going
(00:43):
to rest. The touch all around began in a certain
quarter of the city and passed with wonderful rapidity from
man to man. Exactly how it was done I never
could understand, But the purpose of the mysterious signaling was
to make an actual count of all the form of folk.
If a single one were missing, it would be most
surely discovered by the time the touch all around had
(01:04):
been completed. It proceeded with lightning like rapidity throughout the city,
and then if no return signal was made. The people
knew that every one was in his proper place, and
that no pseudopsy had lost his way or fallen ill
in some unfrequented passage. I don't think that I had
more than dropped off to sleep when I was aroused
by Bulger's gentle tugging at my sleeve, rubbing my eyes.
(01:27):
I sat up in bed and listened. Instantly my ear
caught that faint shuffling sound which was always perceptible when
any number of the former folk were hurrying hither and
thither over the polished silver pavement. I sprang out of
bed and rushed to the door, Bulger close at my heels.
What a strange sight confronted me. I could compare it
(01:49):
to nothing, save to the appearance of a large ant
hill when some mischievous boy suddenly drops a stone among
the crowd of petty, patient, plodding people peacefully pursuing their work.
In an instant, all is changed. Lines are broken, workmen
jostle workmen. Order becomes disorder. Regularity is changed to confusion.
(02:10):
Hither and thither the affrightened creatures rush with waving feelers,
seeking for the cause of the mad outburst. Of terror.
So it was with a former folk. As I looked
out upon them, with outstretched hands and tremulously moving fingers,
they rushed from side to side, jostling and bumping one another,
while a nameless dread was depicted upon their upturned faces.
(02:32):
Anon a group would halt, join hands and begin to
exchange thoughts by lightning like pressures, tappings, and strokes, when
others would dash against them, break them apart, and confusion
would reign greater than ever. But gradually I noted that
some sort of order seemed to be coming out of
the movements of this mad throng. Here and there groups
of three and foward foreman clasp hands. Then these smaller
(02:56):
circles would break and form into larger ones. And I
noted too that this ever increasing circle was formed on
the outside of the panic stricken crowd, and as it grew,
it shut them in, so that when a fleeing Sudopsy
hurtled up against this steady line, his terair left him
at once, and he took his place in it. In
a few moments, the madly pushing, jostling throng had disappeared entirely,
(03:20):
and the whole city was girt round by these long,
steady lines, the great circle had been formed. After half
an hour, the deliberation was completed, and to my surprise,
the great Circle broke up into squads and companies of
fours and sixes and tens, and then each disappeared, slowly
and steadily with locksteps, passing out of the city into
(03:42):
dark or only partially lighted chambers and passages that surrounded it.
The search for the missing pseudopsy had been begun. It
was hours before the last squad had returned to the
square and the great Circle had been formed again. Alas
the news was sad. Indeed, there came no tidings of
the missing man. He was lost forever, And with clasped
(04:04):
hands and slow and heavy step, the grieving former folk
made their way back to their homes, where the sinne
women and children were awaiting their coming. As Bulger and
I went back to bed again, it almost seemed to
me as if I could hear at times the deep
and long drawn sighs that escaped from the gentle breasts
of the sorrowing pseudopsies. I noticed a very touching thing
(04:26):
on the following day. It was that every man, woman
and child in the city of Silver, grieve for the
lost Pudopsy, as if he were actually brother to each
one of them. Love was not, as with us in
the upper world, a thing bestowed upon those in whom
we see our own vases repeated, and in whose voices
we hear our own ring out again, sweet and clear,
(04:48):
as in our childhood. In other words, a love almost
of our very selves. Oh No, while it was true
that a mother's touch was most tender to her own child,
yet no little hands stretched out to her went without
its caress. She was mother to them. All to her
they were all beautiful, and as their little frocks were
(05:09):
all woven in the same loom, there never could come
into her mind a temptation to feel whether a rich
neighbor's child was playing with hers, and that therefore it
ought to receive a more loving caress. In that portion
of the city where the children had their playgrounds, the
silver pavement was in some places marked off with raised
lines and letters, something after the manner of our hopscotch,
(05:31):
for the purpose of a game, which was very popular
with the little Sodopsis. Its name is hard to translate,
but it meant something like little Boogeyman. And many an
hour had Bulgar and I stood there watching these silent
little gnomes at play, fascinated by the wonderful skill which
they would display in feigning the drawing near the little Boogeyman,
their hiding from him, his stealthy approach, the increasing danger,
(05:55):
the attack, the escape, the new dangers, wild flight, and
mad pursuit. Fancy. Therefore my astonishment one morning to note
that Bulger was coaxing me thither, although the place was
quite deserted, the children being all at their lessons. But
as it was a rule of mine always to humor
Bulgar's whims, I went patiently along. In a moment, as
(06:16):
we came to the spot where the pavement was marked
off and inscribed as I have explained, he halted, and,
with an anxious whine, began to play the game of
the Little Boogeyman, turning every now and then to see
what effect his actions had upon me. He made no mistakes.
As he entered each compartment, he rested his paw upon
the raised letters, as he had so often seen the
(06:37):
children do with their little bare feet, and then mimic
with wonderful fidelity their actions, beginning with the first scent
of danger, and ending with mad terror at the close
pursuit of the boogeyman. I was more than surprised. I
was bewildered by this piece of mimicry on Bulgar's part.
To my mind, it boded some terrible accident to him.
For I have a superstitious notion that great danger to
(07:00):
an animal's life gives him for the moment and almost
human intelligence. It is nature caring for her own. But
all of a sudden the real truth in this case
burst upon me. It was not my dear little brother
giving me to understand that some peril was threatening him,
but that some danger was hanging over my head. The
more real in that it was unseen and unsuspected by me.
(07:22):
I called him to me and rewarded him with a caress.
He was overjoyed to note that I had apparently understood him.
I now made haste to seek out barrel Brow. He
was surprised to feel my salutation in a moment or
so I had told him all. Nor was he slow
in detecting my excitement. He no doubt felt that in
the changed character of my handwriting, calm thyself, little Baron.
(07:46):
He wrote the wise Bulgar has told the truth. Thy
life is in danger. I had resolved to send for
THEE this very day to warn THEE of it, to
bid THEE quit the land of the former folk in
all haste, for the notion had spread among our people
that it was the advancing Specter at thy heels which
caused the death of the gentle Pouting Lip, who disappeared
so mysteriously the other day. I therefore counsel THEE that
(08:09):
thou make ready at once to quit our city tomorrow
before the clocks roused the people from their sleep. I
thanked beryl brow and promised that I would heed his advice,
although I confessed to him that I would fain have
bide it a few weeks longer. There were so many
things in and about the wonderful city of Silver that
I had not seen. But I owed it to the
dear hearts of my own world to take the best
(08:30):
care of my life. Insignificant though it might appear to me,
then again, I felt that it would be madness to
attempt to reason with the pseudopsys. To them, the dancing
Specter at my heels was a real being of flesh
and bud, Although they had not been able to seize him,
and it was really natural for them to suspect that
we had made away. With pouting lip calling out to
(08:51):
Bulgar to follow me, I left berrel Brow's home, resolved
to make one more round of the wonderful city, and
then pack up some food and clothing, and be all
ready for a start before the clocks began their tapping.
I should explain, dear friends, that, as happens in all cities,
the people of this one imagined at times that they
hadn't quite elbow room enough, and hence they surveyed other
(09:12):
chambers and set up new candelabra within them in order
to chase the cold and dampness away and make them
fit for human habitations. In the last one, which they
had in this way annexed to their fair city, fitting
it with a silver doorway and tiling the floor with
polished plates of the same beautiful metal, they had discovered
a hard mound, apparently of rock in one corner, and
(09:35):
had resolved that they would come some day with their
drills and picks and begin the task of removing this mound.
A strange inclination came upon me to visit this new
chamber in order to inspect the work of these eyeless
workmen and see how far they have proceeded with their
task of transforming a cold and rocky vault into a bright, warm,
healthy habitation. Imagine my surprise to hear Bulgar utter a
(09:57):
low growl as we reached the entrance, and I put
out my hand to swing the door open, for the
Pseudopsis were not at work there that day, and the
place was as silent as a tomb. Glancing through the grating,
a sight met my gaze, which caused my flesh to
creep and my hair to stiffen. What think, ye was it?
(10:18):
Why the mound in the cotton was rocking and swaying,
and from underneath one end issued a loud and angry hissing.
I'm no coward, if I do say it myself, but
this was just a little too much for ordinary or
even extraordinary flesh to bear without flinching. I staggered back
with a suppressed cry of horror, and was upon the
(10:38):
point of breaking into a mad flight when the thought
flashed through my mind that the door was securely fastened,
and that there would be no danger in my taking
another look at the terrible monster thus caged in this chamber.
A great snakelike head was now lifted from beneath one
edge of the mound, and on the end of a
(10:59):
law swain neck. Its great round eyes, big as an oxus,
stared with dull, cold, glassy look from wall to wall,
and then, with an awful outburst of hissing, the whole
mound was suddenly raised upon four great legs, thick as
posts and ending in terrible claws and porn, rocking and
(11:21):
swaying into the center of the chamber. What was this
terrible monster? And where had it come from? Why I
saw through it all now at a glance it was
a gigantic tortoise eight feet long by five wide at least,
and once an inhabitant of the upper world thousands and
(11:43):
thousands of years ago, by the coming of the awful
fields of ice, it had been forced to fly from
certain death by crawling down into these underground caverns. Here,
chilled and numbed by the dampness and cold, it had
fallen asleep, and would have continued to sleep on from
or other ages to come, had not the industrious form
(12:03):
of folk lighted the clusters of burning jets of gas
in the monster's bedroom. Gradually the warmth had penetrated the
roof of shell made thicker by earth, and layer of
broken rock which the tooth of time had dropped upon it,
and reached his great heart and set it beating again, slowly,
very slowly, but faster and faster, until he really felt
(12:27):
that he had awakened from his long sleep by a
terrible misfortune. Pouting lip, the gentle Sodopsy had happened to
be left behind when his brother laborers quit work and
the new silver doors of the chamber had been closed
upon him. Oh, it was terrible to think of, but
(12:47):
true it must have been the poor little Soudopsy, shut
in by his own eyeless folk in this chamber, which
he was helping to beautify by his patient's skill, had
served to satisfy the hunger of this awful monster after
his long ages of fasting. But why you ask, dear friends,
was all this not discovered when the great circle had
(13:09):
been formed and the search was made for him? Simply
because the monster, after devouring the lost Soudopsy, retreated to
his nest and drew the dirt and crumbled rock up
around him with its gigantic flippers. And went to sleep again,
as all gorged reptiles do, so that when the searchers
entered the new chamber, all was as they had left it,
(13:31):
the mound of rock as they had supposed it to
be in the corner, undisturbed. With Bulgar at my heels,
I now turned and ran with such mad haste to
barrel Brows that the whole city was thrown into the
wildest disorder, For of course they had felt me fly
past them with all the quickness I could command. I
wrote an account of what I had witnessed, and when
(13:53):
Beryl Brow communicated it to the assembled pseudopsies, a thousand
hands flew into the air, and token of mingled fright
and wonder, and a wild rush was made for Bulgar
and me, and we were well nigh smothered with kisses
and caresses. The moment the excitement had quieted down a little,
a great circle was immediately formed, and I was honored
with a place in it. And when my tablet was
(14:16):
passed about a thousand hands made signs of ascent. My
plan was a simple one. It was to make a
pipe connection between up a slock and the new chamber,
and to turn the deadly vapor into the sleepy department
of the gigantic Monster. In this manner, his despatch would
be a happy one, merely a beginning of another one
(14:36):
of his long naps, so far as he would know
anything about it. This was done at once, care, first
being taken to make the doors of the new chamber
perfectly air tight. I was the first to enter the
cavern after the execution of the monster, and found to
my delight that my estimate of his length and width
was correct, almost to an inch. I had always had
(14:58):
a wonderful eye for dementia and distances. Seen Bulgar raising
himself upon his hind legs and make an effort to
dislodge something from the wall, I drew nearer to assist him.
Alas it was dear gentle pouting lips tablet. He had
been writing upon it, and as the terrible Monster advanced
upon him, he had reached up and hung it upon
(15:21):
a silver pin on the wall. When the pseudopsis read
what their poor brother had written there, they all sat
down and wrung their hands in silent but awful grief.
It ran as follows, O, my people, why have ye
abandoned me? The air trembles, the whole places filled with
suffocating odor. Must I die alas I fear it? And
(15:43):
yet I would so love to feel my dear ones
touch us once more. The ground trembles, A stafling breath
is puffed into my face. I am wearied, almost fainting
by trying to escape it. I can write no more.
Don't grieve too long over me. It was my fault.
I stayed behind kind when I should have followed. Oh, horrible,
horrible farewell. I'm going now, I loven touch to all farewell.
(16:10):
After waiting a few days for the grief of the
former folk to lighten a little, I asked them to
send a number of their most skillful workmen to assist
me in removing the magnificent shell from the dead monster,
whose body was fed to the fishes. They not only
did this, but they also offered to transform the shell
into a beautiful boat for me, so that when I
(16:31):
resolved to bid them adieu, I might sail away from
the city of Silver and not be obliged to trudge
along the marble highway. The work went on apace. At first.
The polishers began their task, and in a few days
the mighty carapace glowed like a lady's comb. Then the
dainty and cunning craftsmen in silver began their part of
the work, and ere many days the shell was fitted
(16:53):
with a silver prow curiously rocked like a swan's neck
and head, while quaintly carved trimmings ran here and there.
And a dainty pair of silver skulls with a silver rudder,
beautifully chaste, from which ran two little silken ropes were
added to the outfit. I never had seen anything half
(17:14):
so rich and rare, and I was as proud of
it as a young king of his throne before he
finds it is so much like my ship of shell.
And last the day came when I was to bid
the gentle pseudopsies a long farewell. They lined the shore
as Bulgar and I proceeded to take our place in
the bark of shell, which sat upon the water like
(17:35):
a thing of life. It was with great show of
dignity that Bulgar took his position in the stern, with
the tiller ropes in his mouth, ready to pull on
either side as I might direct, and setting the silver
oars in place, I threw my weight upon them, and
away we glided swiftly and noiselessly over the surface of
the dark and sluggish stream. In a few moments, nothing
(17:57):
but a faint glimmer was left to remarkind us of
the wonderful city of Silver, where the silent former folk
live and love and labor, without ever a thought that
human beings could be any happier than they. Dear happy folk,
They have solved a mighty problem of which we of
the upper world are still struggling over. End of chapter
(18:20):
twenty
Chapter twenty. This is a long and sad chapter. It
tells how dear gentle pouting Lip was lost, and how
the Pseudopsis grieved for him and whom they suspected. Bulgar
gives a striking proof of his wonderful intelligence, which enables
me to convince the Pseudopsis that my dance inspector did
(00:21):
not cause pouting Lip's death. The true tale of his
terrible fate. What follows my discovery, how a beautiful boat
is built for me by the grateful pseudopsies, and how
Bulgar and I bid adieu to the land of the
make believes twas the custom in the city of Silver
to touch all around, as it was called, before going
(00:43):
to rest. The touch all around began in a certain
quarter of the city and passed with wonderful rapidity from
man to man. Exactly how it was done I never
could understand, But the purpose of the mysterious signaling was
to make an actual count of all the form of folk.
If a single one were missing, it would be most
surely discovered by the time the touch all around had
(01:04):
been completed. It proceeded with lightning like rapidity throughout the city,
and then if no return signal was made. The people
knew that every one was in his proper place, and
that no pseudopsy had lost his way or fallen ill
in some unfrequented passage. I don't think that I had
more than dropped off to sleep when I was aroused
by Bulger's gentle tugging at my sleeve, rubbing my eyes.
(01:27):
I sat up in bed and listened. Instantly my ear
caught that faint shuffling sound which was always perceptible when
any number of the former folk were hurrying hither and
thither over the polished silver pavement. I sprang out of
bed and rushed to the door, Bulger close at my heels.
What a strange sight confronted me. I could compare it
(01:49):
to nothing, save to the appearance of a large ant
hill when some mischievous boy suddenly drops a stone among
the crowd of petty, patient, plodding people peacefully pursuing their work.
In an instant, all is changed. Lines are broken, workmen
jostle workmen. Order becomes disorder. Regularity is changed to confusion.
(02:10):
Hither and thither the affrightened creatures rush with waving feelers,
seeking for the cause of the mad outburst. Of terror.
So it was with a former folk. As I looked
out upon them, with outstretched hands and tremulously moving fingers,
they rushed from side to side, jostling and bumping one another,
while a nameless dread was depicted upon their upturned faces.
(02:32):
Anon a group would halt, join hands and begin to
exchange thoughts by lightning like pressures, tappings, and strokes, when
others would dash against them, break them apart, and confusion
would reign greater than ever. But gradually I noted that
some sort of order seemed to be coming out of
the movements of this mad throng. Here and there groups
of three and foward foreman clasp hands. Then these smaller
(02:56):
circles would break and form into larger ones. And I
noted too that this ever increasing circle was formed on
the outside of the panic stricken crowd, and as it grew,
it shut them in, so that when a fleeing Sudopsy
hurtled up against this steady line, his terair left him
at once, and he took his place in it. In
a few moments, the madly pushing, jostling throng had disappeared entirely,
(03:20):
and the whole city was girt round by these long,
steady lines, the great circle had been formed. After half
an hour, the deliberation was completed, and to my surprise,
the great Circle broke up into squads and companies of
fours and sixes and tens, and then each disappeared, slowly
and steadily with locksteps, passing out of the city into
(03:42):
dark or only partially lighted chambers and passages that surrounded it.
The search for the missing pseudopsy had been begun. It
was hours before the last squad had returned to the
square and the great Circle had been formed again. Alas
the news was sad. Indeed, there came no tidings of
the missing man. He was lost forever, And with clasped
(04:04):
hands and slow and heavy step, the grieving former folk
made their way back to their homes, where the sinne
women and children were awaiting their coming. As Bulger and
I went back to bed again, it almost seemed to
me as if I could hear at times the deep
and long drawn sighs that escaped from the gentle breasts
of the sorrowing pseudopsies. I noticed a very touching thing
(04:26):
on the following day. It was that every man, woman
and child in the city of Silver, grieve for the
lost Pudopsy, as if he were actually brother to each
one of them. Love was not, as with us in
the upper world, a thing bestowed upon those in whom
we see our own vases repeated, and in whose voices
we hear our own ring out again, sweet and clear,
(04:48):
as in our childhood. In other words, a love almost
of our very selves. Oh No, while it was true
that a mother's touch was most tender to her own child,
yet no little hands stretched out to her went without
its caress. She was mother to them. All to her
they were all beautiful, and as their little frocks were
(05:09):
all woven in the same loom, there never could come
into her mind a temptation to feel whether a rich
neighbor's child was playing with hers, and that therefore it
ought to receive a more loving caress. In that portion
of the city where the children had their playgrounds, the
silver pavement was in some places marked off with raised
lines and letters, something after the manner of our hopscotch,
(05:31):
for the purpose of a game, which was very popular
with the little Sodopsis. Its name is hard to translate,
but it meant something like little Boogeyman. And many an
hour had Bulgar and I stood there watching these silent
little gnomes at play, fascinated by the wonderful skill which
they would display in feigning the drawing near the little Boogeyman,
their hiding from him, his stealthy approach, the increasing danger,
(05:55):
the attack, the escape, the new dangers, wild flight, and
mad pursuit. Fancy. Therefore my astonishment one morning to note
that Bulger was coaxing me thither, although the place was
quite deserted, the children being all at their lessons. But
as it was a rule of mine always to humor
Bulgar's whims, I went patiently along. In a moment, as
(06:16):
we came to the spot where the pavement was marked
off and inscribed as I have explained, he halted, and,
with an anxious whine, began to play the game of
the Little Boogeyman, turning every now and then to see
what effect his actions had upon me. He made no mistakes.
As he entered each compartment, he rested his paw upon
the raised letters, as he had so often seen the
(06:37):
children do with their little bare feet, and then mimic
with wonderful fidelity their actions, beginning with the first scent
of danger, and ending with mad terror at the close
pursuit of the boogeyman. I was more than surprised. I
was bewildered by this piece of mimicry on Bulgar's part.
To my mind, it boded some terrible accident to him.
For I have a superstitious notion that great danger to
(07:00):
an animal's life gives him for the moment and almost
human intelligence. It is nature caring for her own. But
all of a sudden the real truth in this case
burst upon me. It was not my dear little brother
giving me to understand that some peril was threatening him,
but that some danger was hanging over my head. The
more real in that it was unseen and unsuspected by me.
(07:22):
I called him to me and rewarded him with a caress.
He was overjoyed to note that I had apparently understood him.
I now made haste to seek out barrel Brow. He
was surprised to feel my salutation in a moment or
so I had told him all. Nor was he slow
in detecting my excitement. He no doubt felt that in
the changed character of my handwriting, calm thyself, little Baron.
(07:46):
He wrote the wise Bulgar has told the truth. Thy
life is in danger. I had resolved to send for
THEE this very day to warn THEE of it, to
bid THEE quit the land of the former folk in
all haste, for the notion had spread among our people
that it was the advancing Specter at thy heels which
caused the death of the gentle Pouting Lip, who disappeared
so mysteriously the other day. I therefore counsel THEE that
(08:09):
thou make ready at once to quit our city tomorrow
before the clocks roused the people from their sleep. I
thanked beryl brow and promised that I would heed his advice,
although I confessed to him that I would fain have
bide it a few weeks longer. There were so many
things in and about the wonderful city of Silver that
I had not seen. But I owed it to the
dear hearts of my own world to take the best
(08:30):
care of my life. Insignificant though it might appear to me,
then again, I felt that it would be madness to
attempt to reason with the pseudopsys. To them, the dancing
Specter at my heels was a real being of flesh
and bud, Although they had not been able to seize him,
and it was really natural for them to suspect that
we had made away. With pouting lip calling out to
(08:51):
Bulgar to follow me, I left berrel Brow's home, resolved
to make one more round of the wonderful city, and
then pack up some food and clothing, and be all
ready for a start before the clocks began their tapping.
I should explain, dear friends, that, as happens in all cities,
the people of this one imagined at times that they
hadn't quite elbow room enough, and hence they surveyed other
(09:12):
chambers and set up new candelabra within them in order
to chase the cold and dampness away and make them
fit for human habitations. In the last one, which they
had in this way annexed to their fair city, fitting
it with a silver doorway and tiling the floor with
polished plates of the same beautiful metal, they had discovered
a hard mound, apparently of rock in one corner, and
(09:35):
had resolved that they would come some day with their
drills and picks and begin the task of removing this mound.
A strange inclination came upon me to visit this new
chamber in order to inspect the work of these eyeless
workmen and see how far they have proceeded with their
task of transforming a cold and rocky vault into a bright, warm,
healthy habitation. Imagine my surprise to hear Bulgar utter a
(09:57):
low growl as we reached the entrance, and I put
out my hand to swing the door open, for the
Pseudopsis were not at work there that day, and the
place was as silent as a tomb. Glancing through the grating,
a sight met my gaze, which caused my flesh to
creep and my hair to stiffen. What think, ye was it?
(10:18):
Why the mound in the cotton was rocking and swaying,
and from underneath one end issued a loud and angry hissing.
I'm no coward, if I do say it myself, but
this was just a little too much for ordinary or
even extraordinary flesh to bear without flinching. I staggered back
with a suppressed cry of horror, and was upon the
(10:38):
point of breaking into a mad flight when the thought
flashed through my mind that the door was securely fastened,
and that there would be no danger in my taking
another look at the terrible monster thus caged in this chamber.
A great snakelike head was now lifted from beneath one
edge of the mound, and on the end of a
(10:59):
law swain neck. Its great round eyes, big as an oxus,
stared with dull, cold, glassy look from wall to wall,
and then, with an awful outburst of hissing, the whole
mound was suddenly raised upon four great legs, thick as
posts and ending in terrible claws and porn, rocking and
(11:21):
swaying into the center of the chamber. What was this
terrible monster? And where had it come from? Why I
saw through it all now at a glance it was
a gigantic tortoise eight feet long by five wide at least,
and once an inhabitant of the upper world thousands and
(11:43):
thousands of years ago, by the coming of the awful
fields of ice, it had been forced to fly from
certain death by crawling down into these underground caverns. Here,
chilled and numbed by the dampness and cold, it had
fallen asleep, and would have continued to sleep on from
or other ages to come, had not the industrious form
(12:03):
of folk lighted the clusters of burning jets of gas
in the monster's bedroom. Gradually the warmth had penetrated the
roof of shell made thicker by earth, and layer of
broken rock which the tooth of time had dropped upon it,
and reached his great heart and set it beating again, slowly,
very slowly, but faster and faster, until he really felt
(12:27):
that he had awakened from his long sleep by a
terrible misfortune. Pouting lip, the gentle Sodopsy had happened to
be left behind when his brother laborers quit work and
the new silver doors of the chamber had been closed
upon him. Oh, it was terrible to think of, but
(12:47):
true it must have been the poor little Soudopsy, shut
in by his own eyeless folk in this chamber, which
he was helping to beautify by his patient's skill, had
served to satisfy the hunger of this awful monster after
his long ages of fasting. But why you ask, dear friends,
was all this not discovered when the great circle had
(13:09):
been formed and the search was made for him? Simply
because the monster, after devouring the lost Soudopsy, retreated to
his nest and drew the dirt and crumbled rock up
around him with its gigantic flippers. And went to sleep again,
as all gorged reptiles do, so that when the searchers
entered the new chamber, all was as they had left it,
(13:31):
the mound of rock as they had supposed it to
be in the corner, undisturbed. With Bulgar at my heels,
I now turned and ran with such mad haste to
barrel Brows that the whole city was thrown into the
wildest disorder, For of course they had felt me fly
past them with all the quickness I could command. I
wrote an account of what I had witnessed, and when
(13:53):
Beryl Brow communicated it to the assembled pseudopsies, a thousand
hands flew into the air, and token of mingled fright
and wonder, and a wild rush was made for Bulgar
and me, and we were well nigh smothered with kisses
and caresses. The moment the excitement had quieted down a little,
a great circle was immediately formed, and I was honored
with a place in it. And when my tablet was
(14:16):
passed about a thousand hands made signs of ascent. My
plan was a simple one. It was to make a
pipe connection between up a slock and the new chamber,
and to turn the deadly vapor into the sleepy department
of the gigantic Monster. In this manner, his despatch would
be a happy one, merely a beginning of another one
(14:36):
of his long naps, so far as he would know
anything about it. This was done at once, care, first
being taken to make the doors of the new chamber
perfectly air tight. I was the first to enter the
cavern after the execution of the monster, and found to
my delight that my estimate of his length and width
was correct, almost to an inch. I had always had
(14:58):
a wonderful eye for dementia and distances. Seen Bulgar raising
himself upon his hind legs and make an effort to
dislodge something from the wall, I drew nearer to assist him.
Alas it was dear gentle pouting lips tablet. He had
been writing upon it, and as the terrible Monster advanced
upon him, he had reached up and hung it upon
(15:21):
a silver pin on the wall. When the pseudopsis read
what their poor brother had written there, they all sat
down and wrung their hands in silent but awful grief.
It ran as follows, O, my people, why have ye
abandoned me? The air trembles, the whole places filled with
suffocating odor. Must I die alas I fear it? And
(15:43):
yet I would so love to feel my dear ones
touch us once more. The ground trembles, A stafling breath
is puffed into my face. I am wearied, almost fainting
by trying to escape it. I can write no more.
Don't grieve too long over me. It was my fault.
I stayed behind kind when I should have followed. Oh, horrible,
horrible farewell. I'm going now, I loven touch to all farewell.
(16:10):
After waiting a few days for the grief of the
former folk to lighten a little, I asked them to
send a number of their most skillful workmen to assist
me in removing the magnificent shell from the dead monster,
whose body was fed to the fishes. They not only
did this, but they also offered to transform the shell
into a beautiful boat for me, so that when I
(16:31):
resolved to bid them adieu, I might sail away from
the city of Silver and not be obliged to trudge
along the marble highway. The work went on apace. At first.
The polishers began their task, and in a few days
the mighty carapace glowed like a lady's comb. Then the
dainty and cunning craftsmen in silver began their part of
the work, and ere many days the shell was fitted
(16:53):
with a silver prow curiously rocked like a swan's neck
and head, while quaintly carved trimmings ran here and there.
And a dainty pair of silver skulls with a silver rudder,
beautifully chaste, from which ran two little silken ropes were
added to the outfit. I never had seen anything half
(17:14):
so rich and rare, and I was as proud of
it as a young king of his throne before he
finds it is so much like my ship of shell.
And last the day came when I was to bid
the gentle pseudopsies a long farewell. They lined the shore
as Bulgar and I proceeded to take our place in
the bark of shell, which sat upon the water like
(17:35):
a thing of life. It was with great show of
dignity that Bulgar took his position in the stern, with
the tiller ropes in his mouth, ready to pull on
either side as I might direct, and setting the silver
oars in place, I threw my weight upon them, and
away we glided swiftly and noiselessly over the surface of
the dark and sluggish stream. In a few moments, nothing
(17:57):
but a faint glimmer was left to remarkind us of
the wonderful city of Silver, where the silent former folk
live and love and labor, without ever a thought that
human beings could be any happier than they. Dear happy folk,
They have solved a mighty problem of which we of
the upper world are still struggling over. End of chapter
(18:20):
twenty
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