Anthem - Ayn Rand - Literary Tales Collection

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Anthem by Anne Ran, chapter one. It is a sin
to write this. It is a sin to think words
no others think, and to put them down on a
paper no others are to see. It is base and evil.
It is as if we are speaking alone to no
ears but our own. And we know well that there

(00:24):
is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone.
We have broken the laws. The laws say that men
may not write unless the Council of Vocations bid them.
So may we be forgiven. But this is not the
only sin upon us. We have committed a greater crime.
And for this crime there is no name. What punishment

(00:47):
awaits us if it be discovered, we know not, for
no such crime has come in the memory of men,
and there are no laws to provide for it. It is
dark here. The flame of the candle stands still in
the air. Nothing moves in this tunnel save our hand
on the paper. We are alone here under the earth.

(01:08):
It is a fearful word alone. The laws say that
none among men may be alone, ever and at any time,
for this is the great transgression and the root of
all evil. But we have broken many laws, and now
there is nothing here save our one body and it
is strange to see only two legs stretched on the ground,

(01:31):
and on the wall before us the shadow of our
one head. The walls are cracked, and water runs upon
them in thin threads, without sound, black and glistening as blood.
We stole the candle from the larder of the home
of the street sweepers. We shall be sentenced to ten
years in the palace of corrective detention if it be discovered.

(01:53):
But this matters not. It matters only that the light
is precious, and we should not waste it to write
when we need it for that work, which is our crime.
Nothing matters save the work, our secret, our evil, our
precious work. Still we must also write, for may the
council have mercy upon us. We wish to speak for

(02:15):
once to no ears, but our own. Our name is
equality seven two five two one, as it is written
on the iron bracelet which all men wear on their
left wrist, with their names upon it. We are twenty
one years old. We are six feet tall, and this

(02:36):
is a burden, for there are not many men who
are six feet tall. Ever, have the teachers and leaders
pointed to us and frowned and said, there is evil
in your bones? Equality seven two five two one. For
your body has grown beyond the bodies of your brothers.
But we cannot change our bones nor our body. We

(02:58):
were born with a curse has always driven us to
thoughts which are forbidden. It has always given us wishes
which men may not wish. We know that we are evil,
but there is no will in us and no power
to resist it. This is our wonder and our secret fear,
that we know and do not resist. We strive to

(03:21):
be like all of our brother men, for all men
must be alike. Over the portals of the Palace of
the World Council, there are words cut in marble which
we are required to repeat to ourselves whenever we are tempted.
We are one and all, and all in one. There

(03:41):
are no men but only the Great We one, indivisible
and forever. We repeat this to ourselves, but it helps
us not. These words were cut long ago. There is
a green mold in the grooves of the letters, and
yellow streaks in the marbles, which come from more years

(04:04):
than men could count. And these words are truth, for
they are written on the Palace of the World Council,
and the World Council is the body of all truth.
Thus has it been ever since the Great Rebirth, and
farther back than that no memory can reach. But we

(04:24):
must never speak of the times before the Great Rebirth,
else we are sentenced to three years in the palace
of corrective attention. It's only the old ones who whisper
about it. In the evenings, in the home of the useless,
they whisper many strange things, of the towers which rose
to the sky in those unmentionable times, and of the
wagons which moved without horses, and of the lights which

(04:47):
burned without flame. But those times were evil, and those
times passed away when men saw the great truth, which
is this, that all men are won, and that there
is no will save the will of all men. Together,
all men are good and wise. It is only we

(05:08):
equality seven two five two one, we alone who were
born with a curse, for we are not like our brothers.
And as we look back upon our life, we see
that it has ever been thus, and that it has
brought us, step by step to our last supreme transgression,

(05:32):
our crime of crimes. Hidden here under the ground, we
remember the home of the infants, where we lived till
we were five years old, together with all the children
of the city who had been born in the same year.
The sleeping halls there were white and clean and bare
of all things save one hundred beds. We were just

(05:55):
like all our brothers. Then, save for one transgression, we
fought with our bathers. There were few offenses blacker than
to fight with our brothers at any age and for
any cause whatsoever. The counsel of the home told us so,
And of all the children of that year, we were

(06:15):
locked in the cellar most often. When we were five
years old, we were sent to the home of the students,
where they were ten wards for our ten years of learning.
Men must learn till they reached their fifteenth year. Then
they go to work in the home of the students.
We arose when the big bell rang in the tower,
and we went to our beds. When it rang again,

(06:38):
before we removed our garments, we stood in the great
sleeping hall, and we raised our right arms, and we
sat all together with the three teachers at the head.
We are nothing mankind is all by the grace of
our brothers, or we allowed our lives. We exist through

(07:00):
by and for our brothers, who are the state Amen.
Then we slept the sleeping halls were white and clean
and bare of all things save one hundred beds. We
Equality seven two five two one were not happy in
those years in the home of the students. It was

(07:21):
not that the learning was too hard for us. It
was that the learning was too easy. This is a
great sin to be born with a head which is
too quick. It is not good to be different from
our brothers, but it is evil to be superior to them.
The teachers told us so, and they frowned when they
looked upon us. So we fought against this curse. We

(07:45):
tried to forget our lessons, but we always remembered. We
tried not to understand what the teachers taught, but we
always understood it before the teachers had spoken. We looked
upon Union five three nine nine two, who were a pair,
oh boy with only half a brain, and we tried
to say and do as they did, that we might

(08:06):
be like them, like Union five three nine nine two.
But somehow the teachers knew that we were not, and
we were lashed more often than all the other children.
The teachers were just for they had been appointed by
the councils, and the counsels are the voice of all justice,
for they are the voice of all men. And if sometimes,

(08:28):
in the secret darkness of our heart we regret that
which befell us on our fifteenth birthday, we knew that
it was through our own guilt we had broken a law,
for we had not paid heed to the words of
our teachers. The teachers had said to us, all, dare
not choose in your mind the work you would like

(08:51):
to do. When you leave the home of the students,
you shall do what the Council of Vocations shall prescribe
for you. The Council of Vocation knows in its great
wisdom where you are needed by your brother men, better
than you can know it in your unworthy little minds.

(09:13):
And if you are not needed by your brother men,
there is no reason for you to burden the earth
with your bodies. We knew this well in the years
of our childhood. But our curse broke our will. We
were guilty, and we confessed it here. We were guilty
of the great transgression of preference. We preferred some work

(09:35):
and some lessons to others. We did not listen well
to the history of the councils elected since the Great Rebirth,
but we loved the science of things we wish to know.
We wish to know about all the things which make
the earth around us. We ask so many questions that
the teachers forbade it. We think that there are mysteries

(09:57):
in the sky and under the water, and in the
plant which grow. But the Council of Scholars has said
that there are no mysteries. And the Council of Scholars
knows all things. And we learned much from our teachers.
We learned that the earth is flat, and that the
sun revolves around it, which causes the day and night.

(10:18):
We learned the names of all the winds which blow
over the seas and push the sails of our great ships.
We learned how to bleed men, to cure them of
all ailments. We loved the science of things. And in
the darkness, in the secret hour, when we awoke in
the night, and there were no brothers around us, but
only their shapes in the beds and their snores, we

(10:41):
closed our eyes, and we held our lips shut, and
we stopped our breath, that no shudder might let our
brothers see or hear or guess. And we thought that
we wished to be sent to the home of the
scholars when our time would come. All of the great
modern inventions come from the home of scholars, such as

(11:03):
the newest one, which was found only one hundred years ago,
of how to make candles from wax and string, also
how to make glass, which is put in our windows
to protect us from the rain. To find these things,
the scholars must study the earth and learn from the rivers,
from the sands, from the winds and the rocks. And

(11:25):
if we went to the home of scholars, we could
learn from these. Also we could ask questions of these,
for they do not forbid questions, and questions give us
no rest. We know not why our curse makes us seek.
We know not whatever and ever, but we cannot resist it.

(11:46):
It whispers to us that there are great things on
this earth of ours, that we must know them. We
ask why must we know? But it has no answer
to give us. We must know that we may know.
So we wished to be sent to the home of scholars.
We wished it so much that our hands trembled under

(12:07):
the blankets in the night, and we bit our arm
to stop that other pain which we could not endure.
It was evil, and we dared not face our brothers
in the morning, for men may wish nothing for themselves,
and we were punished when the Council of Vocations came
to give us our life mandates, which tell those who

(12:30):
reached their fifteenth year what their work is to be
for the rest of their days. The Council of Vocations
came in on the first day of spring, and they
sat in the Great Hall, and we who were fifteen,
and all the teachers came into the Great Hall, and
the Council of Vocations sat on a high dais, and
they had but two words to speak to each of

(12:52):
the students. They called the students' names, and when the
students stepped before them, one after another, the council said
carpenter or doctor, or cook or leader. Then each student
raised their right arm and said, the will of our
brothers be done. Now. If the council said carpenter or cook,

(13:16):
the students so assigned go to work and do not
study any further. But if the council has said Leader,
then those students go to the home of the Leaders,
which is the greatest house in the city, for it
has three stories, and there they study for many years,
so that they may become candidates and be elected to
the City Council, and the State Council and the World

(13:38):
Council by a free and general vote of all men.
But we wish not to be a leader, even though
it is a great honor. We wish to be a scholar.
So we awaited our turn in the Great Hall, and
then we heard the Council of Vocations call our name
equality seven two five two One walked to the dais,

(14:01):
and our legs did not tremble, and we looked up
at the council. There were five members of the council,
three of the male gender and two of the female.
Their hair was white, and their faces were cracked as
the clay of a dry river bed. They were old.
They seemed older than the marble of the Temple of
the World Council. They sat before us, and they did

(14:23):
not move, and we saw no breath to stir the
folds of their white togas. But we knew that they
were alive, for a finger of the hand of the
oldest rose pointed to us and fell down again. This
was the only thing which moved, for the lips of
the oldest did not move. As they said, street sweeper,

(14:47):
We felt the cords of our neck grow tight as
our head rose higher to look upon the faces of
the council, and we were happy. We knew we had
been guilty, but now we had a way to atone
for it. We would accept our life mandate, and we
would work for our brothers gladly and willingly, and we

(15:08):
would erase our sin against them, which they did not know,
but we knew, for we were happy and proud of
ourselves and of the victory over ourselves. We raised our
right arm and we spoke, and our voice was the clearest,
the steadiest voice in the hall that day, and we said,
the will of our brothers be done. And we looked

(15:30):
straight into the eyes of the council, But their eyes
were as cold as blue glass buttons. So we went
into the home of the street sweepers. It is a
gray house on a narrow street. There is a sun
dial in the courtyard by which the council of the
home can tell the hours of the day and when
to ring the bell. When the bell rings, we arise

(15:53):
from our beds. The sky is green and cold in
our windows to the east, and the shadow on the
sun dial marks off a half hour. While we dress
and eat our breakfast in the dining hall, where there
are five long tables with twenty clay plates and twenty
clay cups on each table. Then we go to work
in the streets of the city with our brooms and

(16:15):
our rakes. In five hours, when the sun is high,
we return to the home and we eat our midday meal,
for which one half hour is allowed. Then we go
to work again. In five hours, the shadows are blue
on the pavements, and the sky is blue with a
deep brightness which is not bright. We come back to

(16:37):
have our dinner, which last one hour. Then the bell
rings and we walk in a straight column to one
of the city halls for the social meeting. Other columns
of men arrive from the homes of the different trades.
The candles are lit, and the councils of the different
homes stand in a pulpit, and they speak to us
of our duties and our brother men. Then visiting leaders

(17:00):
mount the pulpit and they read to us the speeches
which were made in the city council that day. For
the city council represents all men, and all men must know.
Then we sing hymns, the Hymn of Brotherhood, the Hymn
of Equality, and the hymn of the collective spirit. The
sky is a soggy purple when we return to the home.

(17:22):
Then the bell rings, and we walk in a straight
column to the city theater for three hours of social recreation.
Their a play is shown upon the stage, with two
great choruses from the home of the actors, which speak
and answer all together in two great voices. The plays
are about toil, and how good it is. Then we

(17:44):
walk back to the home in a straight column. The
sky is like a black sieve, pierced by silver drops
that tremble, ready to burst through. The moths beat against
the street lanterns. We go to our beds, and we
sleep till the bell rings again. The sleeping halls are

(18:04):
white and clean and bare of all things save one
hundred beds. Thus we have lived each day of four
years until two springs ago, when our crime happened. Thus
must all men live until they are forty. At forty
they're worn out. At forty they are sent to the
home of the useless, where the old ones live. The

(18:28):
old ones do not work, for the state takes care
of them. They sit in the sun and summer, and
they sit by the fire in winter. They do not
speak often, for they are weary. The old ones know
that they are soon to die. When a miracle happens
and some one lives to be forty five, they are
the ancient ones, and children stare at them when passing

(18:51):
by the home of the useless. Such is to be
our life, as that of all our brothers, and of
the brothers who came before us. Such would have been
our life had we not committed our crime, which has
changed all things for us. And it was our curse
which drove us to our crime. We had been a

(19:12):
good street sweeper, and like all our brothers, street sweepers,
save for our cursed wish to know. We looked too
long at the stars at night, and at the trees
and the earth. And when we cleaned the yard of
the home of the scholars, we gathered the glass vials,
the pieces of metal, the dried bones which they had discarded.

(19:35):
We wished to keep these things and to study them,
but we had no place to hide them. So we
carried them to the city cesspool, and then we made
the discovery. It was on a day of the spring
before last. We street sweepers worked in brigades of three,
and we were with Union five three nine ninety two.

(19:57):
They of the half brain, and with internet National for
eight eight one eight now Union five three nine ninety
two were a sickly lad, and sometimes they were stricken
with convulsions, when their mouth froths and their eyes turn white.
But International four eight eight one eight are different. They

(20:22):
are tall, strong youth, and in their eyes are like fireflies,
for there is laughter in their eyes. We cannot look
upon International four eight eight one eight and not smile
and answer for this. They were not liked in the
home of the students, as it were not proper to
smile without reason. And also they were not liked because

(20:45):
they took pieces of coal, and they drew pictures upon
the walls, and they were pictures which made men laugh.
But it is only our brothers in the home of
the artists, which are permitted to draw pictures. So International
four eight eight one eight were sent to the home
of the street sweepers like ourselves International four eight eight

(21:10):
one eight, And we are friends. This is an evil
thing to say, for it is a great transgression, the
great transgression of preference, to love any among men better
than the others. Since we must love all men, and
all men are of our friends, so International four eight

(21:31):
eight one eight. And we have never spoken of it,
but we know, we know when we look into each
other's eyes, and when we look thus without words, we
both know other things, also, strange things for which there
are no words. And these things frighten us. So on

(21:53):
that day of the spring before last Union five three
nine ninety two, we're stricken with convulsions on the edge
to the city, near the city theater. We left them
to lie in the shade of the theater tent, and
we went with International four eight eight one eight to
finish our work. We came together to the great ravine
behind the theater. It is empty save for trees and weeds.

(22:18):
Behind the ravine there is a plane, and behind the
plane there lies the uncharted forest, about which men must
not think. We were gathering the papers and the rags
which the wind had blown from the theater when we
saw an iron bar among the weeds. It was old
and rusted by many rains. We pulled with all our strength,

(22:42):
but we could not move it. So we called International
four eight eight one eight, and together we scraped the
earth around the bar. Of a sudden, the earth fell
in before us, and we saw an old iron grill
over a black holee National four eight eight one eight.
Step back, but we pulled at the grill and it

(23:04):
gave way. And then we saw iron rings as steps
leading down a shaft into a darkness without bottom. We
shall go down, we said to International four eight eight
one eight. It is forbidden. They answered, We said, the
Council does not know of this hole, so it cannot
be forbidden. And they answered, since the Council does not

(23:29):
know of this hole, there could be no law permitting
to enter it, and everything which is not permitted by
law is forbidden. But we said we shall go. Nonetheless,
they were frightened, but they stood by and watched us go.
We hung on the iron rings with our hands and
our feet. We could see nothing below us, and above us.

(23:51):
The hole open upon the sky grew smaller and smaller,
till it came to be the size of a button.
But still we went down. Then our foot touched the ground.
We rubbed our eyes, for we could not see. Then
our eyes became used to the darkness, and we could
not believe what we saw. No man known to us

(24:14):
could have built this place, nor the men known to
our brothers who lived before us, and yet it was
built by men. It was a great tunnel. Its walls
were hard and smooth to the touch. It felt like stone,
but it wasn't stone. On the ground there were long,
thin tracts of iron, but it was not iron. It

(24:35):
felt smooth and cold as glass. We knelt and we
crawled forward, our hand groping along the iron line to
see where it would lead. But there was an unbroken
night ahead. Only the iron tracks glowed through it, straight
and white, calling us to follow. But we could not follow,
for we were losing the puddle of light behind us.

(24:57):
So we turned and we crawled back, our hand on
the iron line, and our heart beat in our fingertips
without reason. And then we knew, We knew suddenly that
this place was left from the unmentionable times. So it
was true, and those times had been, and all the
wonders of those times, hundreds upon hundreds of years ago.

(25:20):
Men knew secrets which we have lost. And we thought
this is a foul place. They are damned to touch
the things of the dimensionable times. But our hand, which
followed the track as we crawled, clung to the iron
as if it would not leave it, as if the
skin of our hand were thirsty and begging of the metal,

(25:41):
some secret fluid beating its coldness, we returned to the earth.
International four eight eight one eight looked upon us and
stepped back. Equality seven two five two one. They said,
your face is white. But we could not speak, and
we stood looking upon them. They backed away as if

(26:06):
they dared not touch us. Then they smiled, but it
was not a gay smile. It was lost and pleading.
But still we could not speak. Then they said, we
shall report our find to the city council, and both
of us will be rewarded. And then we spoke. Our
voice was hard, and there was no mercy in our voice.

(26:29):
We said, we shall not report our find to the
city council. We shall not report it to any men.
They raised their hands to their ears, for never had
they heard such words as these. International four eight eight
one eight. We asked, will you report us to the
council and see us lashed to death before your eyes?

(26:53):
They stood straight of a sudden, and they answered, rather
would we die? Then we said, keep silent. This place
is ours. This place belongs to us Equality seven two
five two one, and to no other men on earth.
And if we ever surrender it, we shall surrender our

(27:14):
life with it. Also then we saw that the eyes
of International four eight eight one eight were fold to
the lids with tears that dared not drop. They whispered,
and their voice trembled, so that their words lost all shape.
The will of the Council is above all things, for
it is the will of our brothers, which is holy.

(27:35):
But if you wish it so, we shall obey you.
Rather shall we be evil with you than good with
all our brothers. May the Council have mercy upon both
our hearts. Then we walked away together and back to
the home of the street sweepers, and we walked in silence.
Thus did it come to pass that each night, when

(27:57):
the stars are high and the streets sweepers sit in
the city theater, we equality seven two five two one
steal out and run through the darkness to our place.
It is easy to leave the theater. When the candles
are blown and the actors come on to the stage.
No eyes can see us as we crawl under our

(28:18):
seat and under the cloth of the tent. Later, it
is easy to steal through the shadows and fall in
nine next to International four eight eight one eight. As
the column leaves the theater, it is dark in the streets,
and there are no men about, for no men may
walk through the city when they have no mission to

(28:39):
walk there. Each night we run to the ravine and
we remove the stones we have piled upon the iron
grill to hide it from men. Each night, for three
hours we are under the earth alone. We have stolen
candles from the home of the street sweepers. We have
stolen flints and knives and paper, and we have brought

(29:00):
them to this place. We have stolen glass vials and
powders and acids from the home of the scholars. Now
we sit in the tunnel for three hours each night,
and we study. We melt strange metals, and we mix acids,
and we cut open the bodies of the animals which
we find in the city cesspool. We have built an

(29:22):
oven of the bricks we gathered in the streets. We
burn the wood we find in the ravine. The fire
flickers in the oven, and the blue shadows dance upon
the walls, and there is no sound of men to
disturb us. We have stolen manuscripts. This is a great offense.
Manuscripts are precious for our brothers in the home of

(29:45):
the clerks spend one year to copy one single script
in their clear handwriting. Manuscripts are rare, and they are
kept in the home of the scholars. So we sit
under the earth and we read the stolen scripts. Two
years have passed since we found this place, and in
these two years we have learned more than we had

(30:07):
learned in the ten years at the home of the students.
We have learned things which are not in the scripts.
We have solved secrets of which the scholars have no knowledge.
We have come to see how great is the unexplored,
and how many lifetimes will not bring us to the
end of our quest. We wish nothing save to be

(30:30):
alone and to learn, and to feel as if with
each day our sight were growing sharper than the hawks
and clearer than the rock crystal. Strange are the ways
of evil. We are false in the faces of our brothers.
We are defying the will of our councils. We alone,
of the thousands who walk the earth, We alone, in

(30:50):
this hour, are doing a work which has no purpose
save that we wish to do it. The evil of
our crime is not for the human mind to probe
the nature of our punishment, if it be discovered, is
not free for the human heart to ponder. Never not
in the memory of the ancient ones. Ancients, never have

(31:13):
men done what we are doing. And yet there is
no shame in us and no regret. We say to
ourselves that we are a wretch and a traitor, but
we feel no burden upon our spirit, and no fear
in our heart. And it seems to us that our
spirit is clear as a lake, troubled by no eyes

(31:37):
save those of the sun. And in our heart strange
are the ways of evil. In our heart there is
the first peace we have known in twenty years. End
of Chapter one, Chapter two. Liberty five three thousand, Liberty

(31:59):
five three thousand, Liberty five three thousand. We wish to
write this name, we wish to speak it, but we
dare not speak it above a whisper. For men are
forbidden to take notice of women, and women are forbidden
to take notice of men. But we think of one
among women, those whose name is Liberty, five three thousand,

(32:22):
and we think of no others. The women who have
been assigned to work the soil live in the homes
of the peasants beyond the city. Where the city ends,
there is a great road winding off to the north,
and we street sweepers must keep this road clean. For
the first mile post. There is a hedge along the road,

(32:43):
and beyond the hedge lies the fields. The fields are
black and plowed, and they lie like a great fan
before us, furrows gathered in some hand beyond the sky,
spreading forth from that hand, opening wide apart as they
come toward us, like black pleats that sparkle with thin
green spangles. Women work in the fields, and their white

(33:07):
tunics in the wind are like the wings of sea
gulls beating over the black soil. And there it was
that we saw Liberty five three thousand, walking along the furrows.
Their body was straight and thin as a blade of iron.
Their eyes were dark and hard and glowing, with no
fear in them, no kindness, and no guilt. Their hair

(33:30):
was golden as the sun. Their hair flew in the wind,
shining and wild, as if it defied men to restrain it.
They threw seeds from their hands as if they were
designed to fling a scornful gift, and the earth was
a beggar under their feet. We stood still for the

(33:50):
first time we knew fear and then pain, and we
stood still that we might not spill this pain, more
precious than pleasure. Then we heard a void from the
others call their name, Liberty five three thousand, and they
turned and walked back. Thus we learned their name, and
we stood watching them go till their white tunic was

(34:12):
lost in the blue mist. And the following day, as
we came to the northern road, we kept our eyes
upon Liberty five three thousand in the field. And each
day thereafter we knew the illness of waiting for our
hour on the northern road, and there we looked at
Liberty five three thousand. Each day. We knew not whether

(34:33):
they looked at us also, but we think they did.
Then one day they came close to the hedge, and
suddenly they turned to us. They turned in a whirl,
and the movement of their body stopped, as if slashed off,
as suddenly as it had started. They stood still as
a stone, and they looked straight upon us, straight in

(34:55):
our eyes. There was no smile on their face, and
no welcome, but their face was taut and their eyes
were dark. Then they turned its swiftly and they walked
away from us. But the following day, when we came
to the road, they smiled. They smiled to us and
for us, and we smiled in answer. Their head fell back,

(35:17):
and their arms fell, as if their arms and their
thin white neck were stricken. Suddenly, with a great lassitude,
they were not looking upon us, but upon the sky.
Then they glanced at us over their shoulder, and we
felt as if a hand had touched our body, slipping
softly from our lips to our feet. Every morning thereafter

(35:38):
we greeted each other with our eyes. We dared not speak.
It is a transgression to speak to men of other trades,
save in groups at the social meetings. But once standing
at the hedge, we raised our hand to our forehead
and then moved it slowly, palm down towards Liberty five
three thousand. Had the others seen it, they would have

(35:58):
guessed nothing, or it looked only as if we were
shading our eyes for the sun. But Liberty five to
three sat thousand saw it and understood. They raised their
hand to their forehead and moved it as we had.
Thus each day we greet Liberty five three thousand, and
they answer, And no men can suspect we do not

(36:19):
wonder at this new sin of ours. It is our
second transgression of preference. For we do not think of
all of the brothers as we must, but only of one,
and their name is Liberty five three thousand. We do
not think of why we think of them. We do
not know why. When we think of them, we feel
of a sudden that the earth is good and that

(36:40):
it is not a burden to live. We do not
think of them as Liberty five three thousand any longer.
We have given them a name in our thoughts. We
call them the Golden One. But it is a sin
to give men other names which distinguished them from other men.
Yet we call them the Golden One. But they are

(37:00):
not like the others. The Golden One are not like
the others. And we take no heed of the law
which says that men may not think of women save
the time of mating. This is the time each spring
when all the men older than twenty and all the
women older than eighteen, are sent for one night to
the city palace of Mating, and each of the men

(37:22):
have one of the women assigned to them by the
Council of Eugenics. Children are born each winter, but women
never see their children, and children never know their parents.
Twice have we been sent to the Palace of mating.
But it is an ugly and shameful matter of which
we do not like to think. We had broken so

(37:42):
many laws, and today we have broken one more. Today
we spoke to the Golden One. The other women were
far off in the field when we stopped at the
hedge by the side of the road. The Golden One
were kneeling along the moat which runs through the field,
and the drops of water falling from their hands as
they raised the water to their lips were like sparks

(38:03):
of fire in the sun. Then the Golden One saw us,
and they did not move, kneeling there looking at us,
and circles of light played upon their white tunic from
the sun on the water of the moat, and one
sparkling drop fell from a finger of their hand, held
as frozen in the air. Then the Golden One rose

(38:25):
and walked to the hedge, as if they had heard
a command in our eyes. The two other street sweepers
of our brigade were a hundred paces away down the road,
and we thought that International four eight eight one eight
would not betray us, and Union five three nine nine
two would not understand. So we looked straight upon the

(38:45):
golden one, and we saw the shadows of their lashes
on their white cheeks, and the sparks of sun on
their lips, and we said, you are beautiful, Liberty five
three thousand. Their face did not move, and they did
not avert their eyes. Only their eyes grew wider, and
there was a triumph in their eyes. And it was

(39:07):
not triumph over us, but over things we could not guess.
Then they asked, what is your name? Equality seven two
five two one. We answered, you are not one of
our brothers, Equality seven two five two one, for we
do not wish you to be. We cannot say what

(39:29):
they meant, for there are no words for their meaning.
But we knew it without words, and we knew it.
Then no, we answered, nor are you one of our sisters?
If you could see among scores of women, will you
look upon us? We shall look upon you, Liberty five

(39:50):
three thousand, if we see you among all the women
of the earth. Then they asked, our street sweepers sent
to different parts of the city, or do they always
work in the same places. They always work in the
same places, we answered, and no one will take this
road away from us. Your eyes, they said, are not

(40:13):
like the eyes of any among men. And suddenly, without
cause for the thought which came to us, we felt cold,
cold to our stomach. How old are you, we asked.
They understood our thought, for they lowered their eyes for
the first time seventeen they whispered, and we sighed, as

(40:36):
if a burden had been taken from us. For we
had been thinking, without reason, of the palace a mating,
and we thought that we would not let the Golden
One be sent to the palace. How to prevent it,
how to bar the will of the councils, we knew not,
But we knew suddenly that we would. Only we do
not know why such thought came to us, For these

(40:57):
ugly matters bear no relation to us in the Golden One,
what relation can they bear? Still, without reason, as we
stood there by the hedge, we felt our lips drawn
tight with hatred, a sudden hatred for all our brother men.
And the Golden One saw it and smiled slow, slowly,

(41:19):
And there was in their smile the first sadness we
had seen in them. We think that in the wisdom
of women, the Golden One had understood more than we
can understand. Then three of the sisters in the field
appeared coming toward the road, So the Golden One walked
away from us. They took the bag of seeds, and

(41:40):
they threw the seeds into the furrowers of earth as
they walked away. But the seeds flew wildly, for the
hand of the Golden One was trembling. Yet, as we
walked back to the home of the street sweepers, we
felt that we wanted to sing without reason. So we
were reprimanded to in the dining hall, for without knowing it,

(42:03):
we had begun to sing aloud some tune we had
never heard. But it is not proper to sing without reason,
save at the social meetings. We are singing because we
are happy, we answered the one of the home counsel,
who reprimanded us. Indeed, you are happy, they answered, How
else can men be when they live for their brothers.

(42:27):
And now, sitting here in our tunnel, we wonder about
these words. It is forbidden not to be happy, for,
as it has been explained to us, men are free,
and the earth belongs to them, and all things on
earth belong to all men, and the will of all
men together is good for all, and so all men

(42:48):
must be happy. Yet, as we stand at night in
the Great Hall, removing our garments for sleep, we look
upon our brothers, and we wonder. The heads of our
brothers are bowed. The eyes of our brothers are dull,
and never do they look one another in the eyes.
The shoulders of our brothers are hunched, and the muscles

(43:09):
are drawn, as if their bodies were shrinking and wished
to shrink out of sight. And a word steals into
our mind as we look upon our brothers, and that
word is fear. There is a fear hanging in the
air of the sleeping halls, and in the air of
the streets. Fear walks through our city, fear without name,

(43:31):
without shape. All men feel it, and none dare to speak.
We feel it also, and we are in the home
of the street sweepers. But here in our tunnel we
feel it no longer. The air is pure. Under the ground,
there is no odor of men. And these three hours
give us strength. For our hours above the ground, our

(43:53):
body is betraying us, for the counsel of the home
looks with suspicion upon us. It is not good to
feel too much joy, nor to be glad that our
body lives, for we matter not, and it must not
matter to us whether we live or die, which is
to be as our brothers will it. But we Equality

(44:14):
seven two five two one are glad to be living.
If this is a vice, then we wish no virtue.
Yet our brothers are not like us. All is not
well with our brothers. There are Fraternity two five five
o three, a quiet boy with wise kind eyes, who
cry suddenly without reason, and in the midst of the

(44:36):
day or night, and their body shakes with sobs, so
they cannot explain. There are Solidarity nine six three four seven,
who are bright youth without fear in the day, but
they scream in their sleep, and they scream, help us,
help us, help us into the night, in a voice

(44:57):
which chills our bones. But the doctors cannot cure Solidarity
nine six three four seven. And as we all undress
at night in the dim light of candles, our brothers
are silent, for they dare not speak the thoughts of
their minds, for all must agree withal, and they cannot
know if their thoughts are the thoughts of all, so

(45:19):
they fear to speak, And they are glad when the
candles are blown for the night, and we equality seven
two five two, one look through the window upon the sky,
and there is peace in the sky, and cleanliness and dignity.
And beyond the city there lies the plane, and beyond
the plane black upon the black sky, there lies the

(45:42):
uncharted forest. We do not wish to look upon the
uncharted forests, we do not wish to think of it.
But ever do our eyes return to that black patch
upon the sky. Men never enter the uncharted forests, for
there is no power to explore it, and no path
to lead among its ancient trees, which stands as guards

(46:02):
of fearful secrets. It is whispered that once or twice
in a hundred years one among the men of the
city escape alone and run into the uncharted forests without
call or reason. These men do not return. They perish
from hunger and from the claws of the wild beasts
that roam the forests. But our councils say this is

(46:24):
only a legend. We have heard that there are many
uncharted forests over the lands among the cities, and it
is whispered that they have grown over the ruins of
many cities of the unmentionable Times. The trees have swallowed
the ruins, and the bones under the ruins, and all
the things which perished. And as we look upon the

(46:46):
uncharted forest far in the night, we think of the
secrets of the unmentionable times, and we wonder how it
came to pass that these secrets were lost to the world.
We have heard the legends of the great fighting, in
which many men fought on one side, and only a
few on the other. These few were the evil Ones,
and they were conquered. Then great fires raged over the land,

(47:11):
and in these fires the evil Ones were burned. And
the fire which is called the dawn of the Great
Rebirth was the script fire, where all the scripts of
the evil Ones were burned, and with them all the
words of the evil Ones. Great mountains of flames stood
in the squares of the city for three months. Then

(47:32):
came the Great Rebirth. The words of the evil Ones,
the words of the unmentionable Times. What are the words
which we have lost? May the Council have mercy upon us.
We had no wish to write such a question, and
we knew not what we were doing till we had

(47:52):
written it. We shall not ask this question, and we
shall not think it, we shall not call death on
our head. And yet, and yet there is some word,
one single word, which is not in the language of men,
but which has been And this is the unspeakable word,

(48:14):
which no men may speak nor hear. But sometimes, and
it is rare, sometimes somewhere one among men find that word.
They find it upon scraps of old manuscripts, or cut
into the fragments of ancient stones. But when they speak it,
they are put to death. There is no crime punished

(48:34):
by death in this world save this one crime of
speaking the unspeakable word. We have seen one of such
men burned alive in the square of the city. And
it was a sight which has stayed with us through
the years, and it haunts us and follows us, and
it gives us no rest. We were a child, then

(48:57):
ten years old, and we stood in the great square
with all the children and all the men of the city,
sent to behold the burning. They brought the transgressor out
into the square and led them into the pyre. They
had torn out the tongue of the transgressor so that
they could speak no longer. The transgressor were young and tall.

(49:21):
They had hair of gold and eyes of blue as morning.
They walked to the pyre, and their step did not falter.
And of all the faces in that square, of all
the faces which shrieked and screamed and spat curses upon them,
theirs was the calmest and happiest face. As the chains

(49:41):
were wound over their body at the stake, and a
flame set to the pyre, the transgressor looked upon the city.
There was a thin thread of blood running from the
corner of their mouth, but their lips were smiling. And
a monstrous thought came to us then, which has never
left us. We had heard of saints. There are the

(50:06):
saints of labor, the saints of the councils, the saints
of the Great Rebirth. But we had never seen a saint,
nor what the likeness of a saint should be. And
we thought, then, standing in the square, that the likeness
of a saint was the face we saw before us
in the flames, the face of the transgressor of the

(50:27):
unspeakable word. As the flames rose, a thing happened which
no eyes saw but ours, else we would not be
living today. Perhaps it had only seemed to us, but
it seemed to us that the eyes of the transgressor
had chosen us from the crowd and were looking straight
upon us. There was no pain in their eyes, and

(50:50):
no knowledge of the agony of their body. There was
only joy in them, and pride, a pride holier than
it it is fit for human pride to be. And
it seemed as if these eyes were trying to tell
us something through the flames, to send into our eyes
some word without sound. And it seemed as if these

(51:12):
eyes were begging us to gather that word and not
let it go from us and from the earth. But
the flames rose, and we could not guess the word. What,
even if we had to burn for it like the
saint of the Pyre? What is the unspeakable word? End

(51:32):
of Chapter two, Chapter three we equality seven two five
two one have discovered a new power of nature, and
we have discovered it alone, and we are to know it.
It is said, now, let us be lashed for it,
if we must. The Council of Scholars has said that

(51:56):
we all know the things which exist, and therefore all
the things which are not known by all do not exist.
But we think that the Council of Scholars is blind
The secrets of this earth are not for all men
to see, but only for those who will seek them.
We know, for we have found a secret unknown to
all our brothers. We know not what this power is,

(52:21):
nor whence it comes, but we know it is nature.
We have watched it and worked with it. We saw
it first two years ago. One night we were cutting
open the body of a dead frog when we saw
its leg jerking. It was dead, yet it moved. Some

(52:42):
power unknown to men was making it move. We could
not understand it. Then, after many tests, we found the answer.
The frog had been hanging on a wire of copper,
and it had been the metal of our knife which
had sent a strange power to the copper through the
brine of the FOG's body. We put a piece of

(53:04):
copper and a piece of zinc into a jar of brine.
We touched a wire to them, and there under our
fingers was a miracle which had never occurred before, a
new miracle and a new power. This discovery haunted us.
We followed it in preference to all our studies. We

(53:26):
worked with it. We tested it in more ways than
we can describe, and each step was another miracle unveiling
Before us. We came to know that we had found
the greatest power on earth, for it defies all the
laws known to men. It makes the needle move and
turn on the compass, which we stole from the house

(53:48):
of scholars. But we had been taught, when still a child,
that the load stone points to the north, and this
is a law which nothing can change. Yet our new
power defied all laws. We found that it causes lightning,
and never have men known what causes lightning in thunderstorms.

(54:08):
We raised a tall rod of iron by the side
of our hole and watched it from below. We have
seen the lightning strike it again and again, and now
we know that metal draws the power of the sky,
and that metal can be made to give it forth.
We have built strange things with this discovery of ours.

(54:29):
We used it for the copper wires which we found
here under the ground. We have walked the length of
our tunnel with a candle lighting the way. We could
go no further than a half a mile, for earth
and rock had fallen at both ends. But we gathered
all the things we found, and we brought them to
our workplace. We found strange boxes with bars of metal inside,

(54:52):
with many cords and strands and coils of metal. We
found wires that led to strange little globes of glass
gass on the walls. They contain threads of metal thinner
than a spider's web. These things help us in our work.
We do not understand them, but we think that the
men of the unmentionable times had known our power of

(55:15):
the sky, and these things had some relation to it.
We do not know, but we shall learn. We cannot
stop now, even though it frightens us that we are
alone in our knowledge. No single one can possess greater
wisdom than the many scholars who are elected by all
men for their wisdom. Yet we can, we do. We

(55:39):
have fought against saying it, But now it is said.
We do not care. We forget all men, all laws,
and all things save our medals and our wires. So
much is still to be learned. So long a road
lies before us, And what care we if we must

(55:59):
travel it alone? End of Chapter three, Chapter four. Many
days passed before we could speak to the Golden One again.
But then came the day when the sky turned white,
as if the sun had burst and spread its flame
in the air, and the fields lay still without breath,
and the dust of the road was white in the glow.

(56:22):
So the women of the field were weary, and they
tarried over their work, and they were far from the
road when we came, But the Golden One stood alone
at the hedge, waiting. We stopped, and we saw that
their eyes, so hard and scornful to the world, were
looking at us as if they would obey any word
we might speak. And we said, we have given you

(56:45):
a name in our thoughts, Liberty five three thousand. What
is our name? They asked the Golden One, Nor do
we call you equality seven two five two one when
we think of you? What name have you given us?
They looked straight into our eyes, and they held their

(57:06):
head high, and they answered the unconquered. For a long
time we could not speak. Then we said, such thoughts
are forbidden, Golden One, But you think such thoughts as these,
and you wish us to think them. We looked into
their eyes and we could not lie. Yes, we whispered,

(57:28):
and they smiled, and then we said, our dearest one,
do not obey us. They stepped back and their eyes
were wide, and still speak those words again? They whispered,
Which words we asked? But they did not answer, and
we knew it. Our dearest one, we whispered, Never have

(57:52):
men said this to women. The head of the Golden
One bowed slowly, and they stood still before us, there,
arms at their sides, the palms of their hands turned
to us, as if their body were delivered in submission
to our eyes, and we could not speak. Then they
raised their head, and they spoke simply and gently, as

(58:16):
if they wished us to forget some anxiety of their own.
The day is hot, they said, and you have worked
for many hours, and you must be weary. No, we answered,
It is cooler in the fields, they said, and there
is water to drink. Are you thirsty, yes, we answered,

(58:37):
but we cannot cross the hedge. We shall bring the
water to you, they said. Then they knelt by the moat,
they gathered water into their two hands. They rose, and
they held the water out to our lips. We do
not know if we drank that water. We only knew
suddenly that their hands were empty, but we were still

(58:59):
holding our lips to their hands, and that they knew it,
but did not move. We raised our head and stepped back,
for we did not understand what had made us do this,
and we were afraid to understand it. And the golden
One stepped back and stood looking upon their hands in wonder.
Then the golden One moved away, even though no others

(59:21):
were coming. And they moved, stepping back as if they
could not turn from us, their arms bent before them,
as if they could not lower their hands. End of
Chapter four, Chapter five. We made it, we created it,

(59:42):
We brought it forth from the night of the ages.
We alone, our hands, our mind ours alone, and only
we know not what we are saying. Our head is reeling.
We look upon the light which we we had made.
We shall be forgiven for anything we say tonight. Tonight,

(01:00:06):
after more days in trials than we can count, we
finished building a strange thing from the remains of the
unmentionable times, a box of glass, devised to give forth
the power of the sky, of greater strength than we
had ever achieved before. And when we put our wires
to this box, when we closed the current, the wire glowed,

(01:00:30):
it came to life, it turned red, and a circle
of light lay on the stone before us. We stood,
and we held our head in our hands. We could
not conceive of that which we had created. We had
touched no flint, made no fire, Yet there was light,
light that came from nowhere, light from the heart of metal.

(01:00:53):
We blew out the candle. Darkness swallowed us, and there
was nothing left around us, nothing save the night and
a thin thread of flame in it, as a crack
in the wall of a prison. We stretched our hands
to the wire, and we saw our fingers in the
red glow. We could not see our body nor feel it.

(01:01:15):
And in that moment nothing existed save our two hands
over a wire, glowing in a black abyss. Then we
thought of the meaning of that which lay before us.
We can light our tunnel, and the city, and all
the cities of the world with nothing save metal and wires.
We can give our brothers a new light, cleaner and

(01:01:36):
brighter than any they have ever known. The power of
the sky can be made to do men's bidding. There
are no limits to its secrets and its might, and
it can be made to grant us anything if we
but choose to ask. Then we knew what we must do.

(01:01:56):
Our discovery is too great for us to waste our
time in sweeping streets. We must not keep our secret
to ourselves, nor buried under the ground. We must bring
it into the sight of all men. We need all
our time. We need the workrooms of the Home of
the Scholars. We want the help of our brother scholars

(01:02:18):
and the wisdom joined to ours. There is so much
work ahead for all of us, for all the scholars
of the world. In a month, the World Council of
Scholars is to meet in our city. It is a
great council to which the wisest of all lands are elected,
and it meets once a year in the different cities

(01:02:38):
of the earth. We shall go to this council, and
we shall lay before them as our gift, the glass box.
With the power of the sky. We shall confess everything
to them. They will see, understand, and forgive, for our
gift is greater than our transgression. They will explain it

(01:02:59):
to the Council of Vocations, and we shall be assigned
to the Home of the Scholars. This has never been
done before, but neither has a gift such as ours
ever been offered to men. We must wait. We must
guard our tunnel as we have never guarded it before.
For should any men, save the scholars, learn of our secret,

(01:03:21):
they would not understand it, nor would they believe us.
They would see nothing save our crime of working alone,
and they would destroy us and our light. We care
not about our body, but our light is yes, we
do care. For the first time, we do care about
our body, for this wire is a part of our body,

(01:03:44):
as a vein torn from us, glowing with our blood.
We are proud of this threat of metal, or of
our hands which made it? Or is there a line
to divide these two? We stretch out our arms for
the first time. Do we know how strong our arms are?
And a strange thought comes to us. We wonder for

(01:04:05):
the first time in our life what we look like.
Men never see their own faces and never ask their
brothers about it, for it is evil to have concern
for their own faces or bodies. But tonight, for a
reason we cannot fathom, we wish it were possible to
us to know the likeness of our own person. End

(01:04:28):
of Chapter five, Chapter six. We have not written for
thirty days. For thirty days we have not been here
in our tunnel. We had been caught. It happened on
that night when we wrote last. We forgot that night
to watch the sand in the glass, which tells us

(01:04:50):
when three hours have passed and it's time to return
to the city theater. When we remembered the sand had
run out, hastened to the theater, but the big tent
stood gray and silent against the sky. The streets of
the city lay before us, dark and empty. If we

(01:05:10):
went back to hide in our tunnel, we would be
found in our light with us. So we walked to
the home of the street sweepers. When the council of
the home questioned us, we looked upon the faces of
the council, but there was no curiosity in those faces,
and no anger, and no mercy. So when the oldest

(01:05:31):
of them asked, where have you been, we thought of
our glass box and of our light, and we forgot
all else, and we answered, we will not tell you.
The oldest did not question us further. They turned to
the two youngest and said, and their voice was bored,

(01:05:54):
take our brother equality two five two one to the
Palace of corrective Detention. Lashed them until they tell. So
we were taken to the stone room under the Palace
of Corrective Detention. This room has no windows, and it
is empty save for an iron post. Two men stood

(01:06:16):
by the post, naked for leather aprons and leather hoods,
over their faces. Those who had brought us departed, leaving
us to the two judges who stood in a corner
of the room. The judges were small, thin men, gray
and bent. They gave the signal to the two strong
hooded ones. They tore our clothes from our body. They

(01:06:39):
threw us down upon our knees, and they tied our
hands to the iron post. The first blow of the
lash felt as if our spine had been cut in two.
The second blow stopped the first, and for a second
we felt nothing. Then pain struck us in our throat,
and fire ran in our liu without air, but we

(01:07:02):
did not cry out. The lash whistled like a singing wind.
We tried to count the blows, but we lost count.
We knew that the blows were falling upon our back,
only we felt nothing upon our back any longer. A
flaming grill kept dancing before our eyes, and we thought

(01:07:22):
of nothing save that grill, a grill, a grill of
red squares. And then we knew that we were looking
at the squares of the iron grill in the door.
And there was also the squares of the stone on
the walls, and the squares which the lash was cutting
upon our back, crossing and recrossing itself in our flesh.

(01:07:45):
Then we saw a fist before us. It knocked our
chin up, and we saw the red froth of our
mouth on the withered fingers. And the judge asked, where
have you been? But we jerked our head away, our
face upon our tied hands, and bit our lips. The
lash whistled again. We wondered who was sprinkling burning coal

(01:08:09):
dust upon the floor, for we saw drops of red
twinkling on the stones around us. Then we knew nothing
save two voices snarling steadily, one after the other, even
though we knew that they were speaking many minutes apart.
Where have you been? Where have you been? Where have
you been? Where have you been? And our lips moved,

(01:08:32):
but the sound trickled back in our throat, and the
sound was only the light, the light, the light. Then
we knew nothing. We opened our eyes, lying on our
stomach on the brick floor of a cell, we looked
upon two hands lying before us on the bricks, and

(01:08:52):
we moved them, and we knew that they were our hands,
but we could not move our body. Then we smile mild,
for we thought of the light and that we had
not betrayed it. We lay in ourselves for many days.
The door opened twice each day, once for the men
who brought us bread and water, and once for the judges.

(01:09:14):
Many judges came to our cell, first the humblest and
then the most honored judges of the city. They stood
before us in their white togas, and they asked, are
you ready to speak? But we shook our head, lying
before them on the floor, and they departed. We counted
each day and each night as it passed. Then tonight

(01:09:36):
we knew that we must escape, for tomorrow the World
Council of Scholars is to meet in our city. It
was easy to escape from the Palace of Corrective Detention.
The locks are old on the doors, and there are
no guards about. There is no reason to have guards,
for men have never defied the councils so far as
to escape from whatever place they were ordered to be.

(01:09:59):
Our body is healthy, and strength returns to it speedily.
We lunged against the door, and it gave way. We
stole through the dark passages, and through the dark streets,
and down into our tunnel. We lit the candle, and
we saw that our place had not been found, and
nothing had been touched, And our glass box stood before
us on the cold oven, as we had left it.

(01:10:23):
What matter they now the scars upon our back. Tomorrow,
in the full light of day, we shall take our
box and leave our tunnel open, and walk through the
streets to the home of the scholars. We shall put
before them the greatest gift ever offered to men. We
shall tell them the truth. We shall hand to them

(01:10:43):
as our confession these pages we have written. We shall
join our hands to theirs. We shall work together with
the power of the sky for the glory of mankind.
Our blessing upon you, our brothers. Tomorrow you will take
us back to your fold, and we shall be an
outcast no longer. Tomorrow we shall be one of you

(01:11:06):
again tomorrow. End of chapter six, Chapter seven. It is
dark here in the forest. The leaves rustle over our head,
black against the last gold of the sky. The moss
is soft and warm. We shall sleep on this moss

(01:11:26):
for many nights till the beasts of the forest come
to tear our body. We have no bed now save
the moss, and no future save the beasts. We are
old now, yet we were young this morning when we
carried our glass box through the streets of the city
to the home of the scholars. No men stopped us,

(01:11:47):
for there were none about the Palace of corrective Detention,
and the others knew nothing. No men stopped us at
the gate. We walked through the empty passages and into
the Great Hall, where the World Council of Scholars sat
in solemn meeting. We saw nothing as we entered, save
the sky in the great windows, blue and glowing. Then

(01:12:08):
we saw the scholars, who sat around a long table.
They were as shapeless clouds, huddled at the rise of
a great sky. There were the men whose famous names
we knew, and others from distant lands whose names we
had not heard. We saw a great painting on the
wall over their heads, of the twenty illustrious men who

(01:12:30):
had invented the candle. All the heads of the Council
turned to us as we entered. These great and wise
of the earth did not know what to think of us,
and they looked upon us with wonder and curiosity, as
if we were a miracle. It is true that our

(01:12:52):
tunic was torn and stained with brown stains which had
been blood. We raised our right arm, and we said
our greeting to you, our honored brothers of the World
Council of Scholars. Then collective zero zero zero zero nine,
the oldest and wisest of the council spoke and asked,

(01:13:14):
who are you, our brother for you do not look
like a scholar. Our name is Equality seven two five
two one, we answered, and we are a street sweeper
of this city. Then it was as if a great
wind had stricken the hall, for all the scholars spoke
at once, and they were angry and frightened. A street sweeper,

(01:13:39):
a street sweeper walking in upon the World Council of Scholars.
It is not to be believed. It is against all
the rules and all the laws. But we knew how
to stop them. Our brothers, we said, we matter not
nor our transgression. It is only our brother men who matter.

(01:14:02):
Give no thought to us, for we are nothing. But
listen to our words, for we bring you a gift
such as has never been brought to men. Listen to us,
for we hold the future of mankind in our hands.
Then they listened. We placed our glass box on the

(01:14:23):
table before them. We spoke of it, and of our
long quest, and of our tunnel, and of our escape
from the palace of corrective detention. Not a hand moved
in that hall as we spoke, nor an eye. Then
we put the wires to the box, and they all
bent forward and sat still, watching. And we stood still,

(01:14:44):
our eyes upon the wire, and slowly, slowly, as a
flush of blood, a red flame trembled in the wire.
Then the wire glowed. But terror struck the men of
the council. They leaped to their feet. They ran from
the table. They stood pressed against the wall, huddled together,

(01:15:06):
seeking the warmth of one another's bodies to give them courage.
We looked upon them, and we laughed and said, fear nothing,
our brothers. There is a great power in these wires.
But this power is tamed. It is yours. We give
it to you. Still they would not move. We give

(01:15:28):
you the power of the sky, we cried, We give
you the key to the earth. Take it, and let
us be one of you, the humblest among you. Let
us work together and harness this power, and make it
ease the toil of men. Let us throw away our
candles and our torches. Let us flood our cities with light.

(01:15:50):
Let us bring a new light to men. But they
looked upon us and suddenly we were afraid, for their
eyes were still and small and evil. Our brothers, we cried,
have you nothing to say to us? Then Collective zero

(01:16:11):
zero zero zero nine moved forward. They moved to the table,
and the others followed. Yes, spoke Collective zero zero zero
zero nine, we have much to say to you. The
sound of their voice brought silence to the hall, and

(01:16:32):
to the beat of our heart. Yes, said Collective zero
zero zero zero nine. We have much to say to
a wretch who have broken all the laws, and who
boast of their infamy. How dared you think that your
mind held greater wisdom than the minds of your brothers?
And if the council had agreed that you'd be a
street sweeper, how dared you think that you could be

(01:16:54):
of greater use to men than in sweeping the streets?
How dared you gut her cleaner? Spoke Fraternity nine three
four five two. To hold yourself as one alone, and
with thoughts of one and not of many, You shall
be burned at the stake, said Democracy four six nine
ninety eight. No, this should be lashed, said Unanimity seven

(01:17:19):
three three o four, till there is nothing left under
the lashes. No, said Collective zero zero zero zero nine.
We cannot decide upon this, our brothers. No such crime
has ever been committed, and it is not for us
to judge, nor for any small council. We shall deliver

(01:17:40):
this creature to the World Council itself and let their
will be done. We looked upon them, and we pleaded,
our brothers, you are right. Let the will of the
Council be done upon our body. We do not care
but the light. What will you do with the light?

(01:18:02):
Collective zero zero zero zero nine looked upon us, and
they smiled. So you think you have found a new power,
said Collective zero zero zero zero nine. Do you think
all your brothers think that? No, we answered, what is

(01:18:23):
not thought by all men cannot be true, said Collective
zero zero zero zero nine. You have worked on this alone,
asked International one five five three seven. Yes, we answered,
what is not done collectively cannot be good, said International

(01:18:47):
one five five three seven. Many men in the homes
of the scholars have had strange new ideas in the past,
said Solidarity eight one one six four. But when the
majority of their brother scholars voted against them, they abandoned
their ideas. As all men must. This box is useless,

(01:19:10):
said Alliance six seven three four nine. Should it be
what they claim of it, said Harmony nine two six
four to two, then it would bring ruin to the
department of candles. The candle is a great boon to mankind,
as approved by all men. Therefore it cannot be destroyed

(01:19:30):
by the whim of one. This would wreck the plans
of the world councils, said Unanimity two nine nine one three.
And without the plans of the World Council, the sun
cannot rise. It took fifty years to secure the approval
of all the councils for the candle, and to decide
upon the number needed, and to refit the plans so

(01:19:51):
as to make the candles instead of the torches. This
touched upon thousands and thousands of men working in scores
of states. We cannot alter the plans again so soon.
And if this should lighten the toil of men, said Similarity,
five zero three zero six, then it is a great evil,

(01:20:13):
for men have no cause to exist save in toiling
for other men. Then Collective zero zero zero zero nine
rose and pointed at our box. This thing, they said,
must be destroyed, and all the others cried as one,

(01:20:37):
it must be destroyed. Then we leapt to the table,
We seized our box. We shoved them aside, and we
ran to the window. We turned, and we looked at
them for the last time, and a rage such as
is not fit for humans to know, choked our voice
in our throat. You fools, we cried, you fools, do

(01:21:01):
you thrice? Damned fools? We swung our fists through the windowpane,
and we leapt out in a ringing rain of glass.
We fell, but we never let the box fall from
our hands. Then we ran. We ran blindly, and men
and houses streaked past us in a torrent without shape,

(01:21:24):
and the road seemed not to be flat before us,
but as if it were leaping up to meet us.
And we waited for the earth to rise and strike
us in the face. But we ran. We knew not
where we were going. We knew only that we must run,
run to the end of the world, to the end
of our days. Then we knew suddenly that we were

(01:21:47):
lying on a soft earth, and that we had stopped.
Trees taller than we had ever seen before stood over
us in a great silence. Then we knew we were
in the uncharted forest. We had not thought of coming here,
But our legs had carried our wisdom, and our legs
had brought us to the uncharted forest against our will.

(01:22:11):
Our glass box lay beside us. We crawled to it.
We fell upon it, our face in our arms, and
we lay still. We lay thus for a long time.
Then we rose. We took our box and walked on
into the forest. It mattered not where we went. We

(01:22:34):
knew that men would not follow us, for they never
entered the uncharted forest. We had nothing to fear from them.
The forest disposes of its own victims. This gave us
no fear either. Only we wished to be away from
the city and the air that touches upon the air
of the city. So we walked on, our box in

(01:22:57):
our arms, our heart empty. We are doomed. Whatever days
are left to us, we shall spend them alone. And
we have heard of the corruption to be found in solitude.
We have torn ourselves from the truth, which is our
brother men. And there is no road back for us,
and no redemption. We know these things, but we do

(01:23:23):
not care. We care for nothing on earth. We are tired.
Only the glass box in our arms is like living
heart that gives us strength. We have lied to ourselves.
We have not built this box for the good of
our brothers. We built it for its own sake. It

(01:23:44):
is above all our brothers. To us, it is truth
above their truth. Why wonder about this? We have not
many days to live. We are walking to the fangs
awaiting us somewhere among the great silent trees. There is
not a thing behind us to regret. Then a blow

(01:24:09):
of pain struck us, our first and our only. We
thought of the Golden One. We thought of the golden One,
whom we shall never see again. Then the pain passed.
It is best we are one of the damned. It
is best if the Golden One forget our name and

(01:24:29):
the body which bore that name. End Chapter seven, Chapter eight.
It has been a day of wonder. This our first
day in the forest. We awoke when a ray of
sunlight fell across our face. We wanted to leap to
our feet, as we have had to leap to our

(01:24:52):
feet every morning of our life. But we remembered suddenly
that no bell had rung, and there was no bell
to ring anywhere. We lay on our back. We threw
our arms out, and we looked up at the sky.
The leaves had edges of silver that trembled and rippled
like a river of green, and fire flowing high above us.

(01:25:17):
We did not wish to move. We thought suddenly that
we could lie thus as long as we wished, and
we laughed loud at the thought. We could also rise,
or run, or leap or fall down again. We were
thinking that these were things without sense. But before we
knew it, our body had risen in one leap. Our

(01:25:39):
arms stretched out of their own will, and our body
whirled and whirled till it raised a wind to rustle
through the leaves of the bushes. Then our hands seized
a branch and swung us high into a tree, with
no aim save the wonder of learning the stretch of
our body. The branch snapped under us, and we fell

(01:26:01):
upon the moss that was soft as a cushion. Then
our body, losing all sense, rolled over and over on
the moss, dry leaves, and our tunic in our hair,
in our face, and we heard suddenly that we were laughing,
laughing aloud, laughing, as if there were no power left
in us save laughter. Then we took our glass box

(01:26:28):
and we went into the forest. We went on, cutting
through the branches, and it was as if we were
swimming through a sea of leaves, with the bushes as waves,
rising and falling and rising around us, and flinging their
green sprays high on the tree tops. The trees parted

(01:26:49):
before us, calling us forward. The forest seemed to welcome us.
We went on without thought, without care, with nothing to
feel save the song of our body. We stopped when
we felt hunger. We saw birds in the tree branches,
and flying from under our footsteps. We picked a stone
and scent it as an arrow at a bird. It

(01:27:11):
fell before us. We made a fire, We cooked the bird,
We ate it, and no meal had ever tasted better
to us. And we thought suddenly that there was this
great satisfaction to be found in the food which we
need and obtained by our own hand. And we wished
to be hungry again, and soon that we might know

(01:27:33):
again this strange new pride in eating. Then we walked on,
and we came to a stream which lay as a
streak of glass among the trees. It lay so still
that we saw no water, but only a cut in
the earth in which the trees grew down, upturned, and

(01:27:54):
the sky at the bottom, we knelt by the stream,
and we bent down to drink. Then we stopped, for
upon the blue of the sky below us, we saw
our own face for the first time. We sat still,
and we held our breath, for our face and our

(01:28:17):
body were beautiful. Our face was not like the faces
of our brothers, for we felt no pity when we
looked upon it. Our body was not like the bodies
of our brothers, for our limbs were straight and thin,
and hard and strong. And we thought that we could
trust this being who looked upon us from the stream,

(01:28:39):
and that we had nothing to fear from this being.
We walked on till the sun had set. When the
shadows gathered among the trees, we stopped in a hollow
between the roots, where we shall sleep tonight. And suddenly,
for the first time this day, we remembered that we

(01:28:59):
are the damned. We remembered it, and we laughed. We
are writing this on the paper we had hidden in
our tunic, together with the written pages we had brought
for the World Council of Scholars, but never given to them.
We have much to speak of to ourselves, and we

(01:29:19):
hope we shall find the words for it in the
days to come. Now we cannot speak, for we cannot understand.
End Chapter eight, Chapter nine. We have not written for
many days. We did not wish to speak, for we

(01:29:42):
needed no words to remember that which has happened to us.
It was our second day in the forest that we
heard steps behind us. We hidden the bushes and we waited.
The steps came closer, and then we saw the fold
of a white tunic among the trees, and a gleam
of gold. We leapt forward. We ran to them, and

(01:30:05):
we stood looking upon the Golden One. They saw us,
and their hands closed into fists, and the fists pulled
their arms down, as if they wished their arms to
hold them, while their bodies swayed, and they could not speak.

(01:30:26):
We dared not come too close to them. We asked,
and our voice trembled, how come you to be here,
Golden One? But they whispered, only we have found you.
How came you to be in the forest, we asked.

(01:30:48):
They raised their head, and there was a great pride
in their voice. They answered, we have followed you. Then
we could not speak, and they said, we heard that
you had gone to the uncharted forest. For the whole
city is speaking of it. So on the night of

(01:31:10):
the day when we heard it, we ran away from
the home of the peasants. We found the marks of
your feet across the plain where no men walk. So
we followed them, and we went into the forest, and
we followed the path where the branches were broken by
your body. Their white tunic was torn, and the branches

(01:31:32):
had cut the skin of their arms. But they spoke
as if they had never taken notice of it, nor
of weariness, nor of fear. We have followed you, they said,
and we shall follow you wherever you go. If danger
threatens you, we shall face it. Also, if it be death,

(01:31:55):
we shall die with you. You are damned, and we
wish to share your damnation. They looked upon us, and
their voice was low, but there was bitterness and triumph
in their voice. Your eyes are as a flame, but
our brothers have neither hope nor fire. Your mouth is

(01:32:18):
cut of granite, but our brothers are soft and humble.
Your head is high, but our brothers cringe. You walk,
but our brothers crawl. We wish to be damned with you,
rather than be blessed with all of our brothers. Do
as you please with us, but do not send us

(01:32:41):
away from you. Then they knelt and bowed their golden
head before us. We had never thought of that which
we did. We bent to raise the golden One to
their feet, but when we touched them, it was as

(01:33:01):
if madness had stricken us. We seized their body, and
we pressed our lips to theirs. The golden one breathed once,
and their breath was a moan, and then their arms
closed around us. We stood together for a long time,
and we were frightened that we had lived for twenty

(01:33:23):
one years and had never known what joy is possible
to men. Then we said, our dearest one, fear nothing
of the forest. There is no danger in solitude. We
have no need of our brothers. Let us forget their

(01:33:44):
good and our evil. Let us forget all things save
that we are together, and that there is joy between us.
Give us your hand. Look ahead. It is our own world,
golden one, a strange, unknown world, but our own. Then

(01:34:07):
we walked on into the forest, their hand in ours,
And that night we knew that to hold the body
of a woman in our arms is neither ugly nor shameful,
but the one ecstasy granted to the race of men.
We have walked for many days. The forest has no end,

(01:34:31):
and we seek no end. But each day added to
the chain of days between us and the city is
like an added blessing. We have made a bow and
many arrows. We can kill more birds than we need
for our food. We find water and fruit in the forest.
At night, we choose a clearing, and we build a

(01:34:54):
ring of fires around it. We sleep in the midst
of that ring, and the beasts dare not attack us.
We can see their eyes, green and yellow as coals,
watching us from the tree branches beyond. The fires smolder
as a crown of jewels around us, and smoke stands
still in the air in columns made blue by the moonlight.

(01:35:19):
We sleep together in the midst of the ring, the
arms of the Golden One around us, their head upon
our breast. Someday we shall stop and build a house,
when we shall have gone far enough. But we do
not have to hasten. The days before us are without end,

(01:35:42):
like the forest. We cannot understand this new life which
we have found. Yet it seems so clear and so simple.
When questions come to puzzle us, we walk faster, then
turn and forget all things as we watch the golden
one following the Shahadows of leaves fall upon their arms
as they spread the branches apart, but their shoulders are

(01:36:05):
in the sun. The skin of their arms is like
a blue mist, but their shoulders are white and glowing,
as if the light fell not from above, but rose
from under the skin. We watched the leaf which has
fallen upon their shoulder, and it lies at the curve
of their neck, and a drop of dew glistens upon

(01:36:29):
it like a jewel. They approach us, and they stop laughing,
knowing what we think, and they wait obediently without question,
till it pleases us to turn and go on. We
go on, and we bless the earth under our feet.
But questions come to us again as we walk in silence.

(01:36:52):
If that we have found is the corruption of solitude,
then what can men wish for save corruption? If this
is the great evil of being alone, then what is
good and what is evil? Everything which comes from the
many is good, everything which comes from one is evil.

(01:37:15):
Thus we have been taught with our first breath, we
have broken the law, but we have never doubted it.
Yet now, as we walk the forest, we are learning
to doubt. There is no life for men save in
useful toil for the good of their brothers, But we
live not. When we toiled for our brothers, we were

(01:37:38):
only weary. There is no joy for men save the
joy shared with all their brothers. But the only things
which taught us joy were the power created in our
wires and the Golden One. And both these joys belonged
to us alone. They came from us alone. They bear

(01:37:58):
no relation to our brothers, and they do not concern
our brothers in any way. Thus do we wonder there
is some error, one frightful error, in the thinking of men.
What is that error? We do not know. But the
knowledge struggles within us, struggles to be born today. The

(01:38:20):
Golden One stopped suddenly and said, we love you. But
then they frowned and shook their head and looked at
us helplessly. No, they whispered, that is not what we
wished to say. They were silent. Then they spoke slowly,
and their words were halting, like the words of a

(01:38:41):
child learning to speak for the first time. We are
one alone and only, and we love you, who are
one alone and only. We looked into each other's eyes,
and we knew that the breath of a miracle had
touched us and fled and left us groping vainly, and

(01:39:05):
we felt torn, torn for some word we could not find.
End Chapter nine, Chapter ten. We are sitting at a table.
We were writing this upon paper made thousands of years ago.
The light is dim, and we cannot see the golden one,

(01:39:27):
only one lock of gold on the pillow of an
ancient bed. This is our home. We came upon it
to day at sunrise. For many days we have been
crossing a chain of mountains. The forest rose among cliffs,
and whenever we walked out upon a barren stretch of rock,

(01:39:48):
we saw great peaks before us in the west, and
to the north of us, and to the south. As
far as our eyes could see. The peaks were red
and brown, with the green streaks of forest as vanes
upon them, with blue mists as veils over their heads.
We had never heard of these mountains, nor seen them

(01:40:11):
marked on any map. The uncharted forest has protected them
from the cities and from the men of the cities.
We climbed paths where the wild goat dared not follow.
Stones rolled from under our feet, and we heard them
striking the rocks below. Farther and farther down, and the
mountains rang with each stroke, and long after the strokes

(01:40:35):
had died. But we went on, for we knew that
no men would ever follow our track nor reach us here.
Then to day, at sunrise, we saw a white flame
among the trees, high on a sheer peak before us.
We thought that it was a fire, and we stopped.

(01:40:55):
But the flame was unmoving, yet blinding as liquid metal.
So we climbed towards it through the rocks, and there
before us, on a broad summit, with the mountains rising
behind it, stood a house such as we had never seen,
and the white fire came from the sun on the

(01:41:15):
glass of its windows. The house had two stories and
a strange roof, flat as a floor. There was more
window than wall upon its walls, and the windows went
on straight around the corners. Though how this house kept
standing we could not guess. The walls were hard and
smooth of that stone, unlike stone which we had seen

(01:41:37):
in our tunnel. We both knew it without words. This
house was left from the unmentionable times. The trees had
protected it from time and weather and from men who
have less pity than time and weather. We turned to
the golden one, and we asked, are you afraid? But

(01:41:59):
they shook their head. So we walked to the door,
and we threw it open, and we stepped together into
the house of the unmentionable times. We shall need the
days in the years ahead to look, to learn, and
to understand the things of this house. To day, we
could only look and try to believe the sight of
our eyes. We pulled the heavy curtains from the windows,

(01:42:21):
and we saw that the rooms were small, and we
thought that not more than twelve men could have lived here.
We thought it strange that man had been permitted to
build a house for only twelve. Never had we seen
rooms so full of light. The sun rays danced upon
the colors, colors in more colors than we thought possible,

(01:42:43):
we who had seen no houses save the white ones,
the brown ones, and the gray. There were great pieces
of glass on the walls, but it was not glass,
for when we looked upon it, we saw our own
bodies and all the things behind us, as on the
face of a lake. There were strange things which we

(01:43:04):
had never seen, and the use of which we do
not know. And there were globes of glass everywhere in
each room. The globes with the metal cobwebs inside, such
as we had seen in our tunnel. We found the
sleeping Hall, and we stood in awe upon its threshold,

(01:43:24):
for it was a small room, and there were only
two beds in it. We found no other beds in
the house, and then we knew that only two had
lived here. And this passes understanding. What kind of world
did they have? The men of the unmentionable times? We
found garments, and the golden One gasped at the sight

(01:43:45):
of them, for they were not white tunics nor white
togas they were of all color, no two of them alike.
Some crumbled to dust as we touched them, but the
others were of heavier cloths and felt soft and new
in our fingers. We found a room with walls made
of shelves, which held rows of manuscripts from the floor

(01:44:09):
to the ceiling. Never had we seen such a number
of them, nor of such strange shape. They were not
soft and rolled, they had hard shells of cloth and leather,
and the letters on their pages were small, and so
even that we wondered at the men who had such handwriting.

(01:44:30):
We glanced through the pages, and we saw that they
were written in our language, but we found many words
which we could not understand. Tomorrow we shall begin to
read these scripts. When we had seen all the rooms
of the house, we looked at the Golden One, and
we knew the thought in our minds. We shall never

(01:44:52):
leave this house, we said, nor let it be taken
from us. This is our home and the end of
our journey. This is your house, golden one, and ours,
and it belongs to no other men whatever, as far
as the earth may stretch, We shall not share it
with others. And we share not our joy with them,

(01:45:15):
nor our love, nor our hunger. So be it to
the end of our days, Your will be done, they said.
Then we went out to gather wood for the great
hearth of our home. We brought water from the stream
which runs among the trees under our windows. We killed

(01:45:37):
a mountain goat, and we brought its flesh to be
cooked in a strange copper pot we found in a
place of wonders, which must have been the cooking room
of the house. We did this work alone, for no
words of ours could take the Golden One away from
the big glass, which is not glass. They stood before it,
and they looked and looked upon their own body. When

(01:46:00):
the sun sank beyond the mountains, the golden One fell
asleep on the floor, amidst jewels and bottles of crystal
and flowers of silk. We lifted the golden One in
our arms, and we carried them to a bed, their
head falling softly upon our shoulder. Then we lit a candle,
and we brought paper from the room of the manuscripts,

(01:46:22):
and we sat by the window, for we knew that
we could not sleep tonight. And now we look upon
the earth in the sky. The spread of naked rock
and peaks and moonlight is like a world ready to
be borne. It seems to us it asks a sign
from us, a spark, a first commandment. We cannot know

(01:46:44):
what word we are to give, nor what great deed
this earth expects to witness. We know it waits. It
seems to say it has great gifts to lay before us.
We are to speak. We are to give its gold,
its highest meaning, to all this glowing space of rock
and sky. We look ahead. We beg our heart for

(01:47:07):
guidance and answering this call. No voice has spoken, yet
we have heard. We look upon our hands. We see
the dusts of centuries, the dusts which hid great secrets
and perhaps great evils. And yet it stirs no fear
within our heart, but only silent reverence and pity may

(01:47:30):
knowledge come to us. What is this secret our heart
has understood, and yet will not reveal to us, although
it seems to beat as if it were endeavoring to
tell it. End Chapter ten, Chapter eleven. I am I think,

(01:47:55):
I will, my hands, my spirit, my sky, my forest,
this earth of mine. What must I say? Besides these

(01:48:17):
are the words? This is the answer. I stand here
on the summit of the mountain. I lift my head
and I spread my arms. This my body and spirit.
This is the end of the quest. I wish to

(01:48:37):
know the meaning of things. I am the meaning. I
wish to find a warrant for being. I need no
warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being.
I am the warrant and the sanction. It is my

(01:48:58):
eyes which see. In the sight of my eyes grants
beauty to the earth. It is my ears which hear,
and the hearing of my ears gives its song to
the world. It is my mind which thinks, and the
judgment of my mind is the only searchlight that confine
the truth. It is my will which chooses, and the

(01:49:21):
choice of my will is the only edict I must respect.
Many words have been granted me, and some are wise,
and some are false, but only three are holy. I
will it whatever road I take. The guiding star is
within me. The guiding star and the lodestone which point

(01:49:44):
the way, they point in, but one direction they point
to me. I know not if this earth on which
I stand is the core of the universe, or if
it is a speck of dust lost in eternity. I
know not, and I care not, for I know what
happiness is possible to me on earth, and my happiness

(01:50:08):
needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is
not the means to any end. It is the end.
It is its own goal, It is its own purpose.
Neither am I the means to any end others may
wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use.

(01:50:33):
I am not a servant of their needs. I am
not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a
sacrifice on their altars. I am a man. This miracle
of me is mine to own and keep, and mine
to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before.

(01:50:59):
I do not surrender my treasures, nor do I share them.
The fortune of my spirit is not to be blown
into coins of brass and flung to the winds as
alms for the poor of the spirit. I guard my treasures,

(01:51:20):
my thought, my will, my freedom, and the greatest of
these is freedom. I owe nothing to my brothers, nor
do I gather debts from them. I ask none to
live for me, nor do I live for any others.

(01:51:41):
I covet no man's soul, nor is my soul theirs
to covet. I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers,
but such as each of them shall deserve of me.
And to earn my love, my brothers must do more
than to have been born. I do not grant my

(01:52:04):
love without reason, nor to any chance or by who
may wish to claim it. I honor men with my love,
but honor is a thing to be earned. I shall
choose friends among men, but neither slave nor masters. And

(01:52:24):
I shall choose only such as please me. And then
I shall love and respect, but neither command nor obey.
And we shall join our hands when we wish, or
walk alone when we so desire. For in the temple
of his spirit. Each man is alone. Let each man

(01:52:47):
keep his temple untouched and undefiled. Then let him join
hands with others if he wishes, but only beyond his
holy threshold. For the word we must never be spoken
save by one's choice and as a second thought. This

(01:53:10):
word must never be placed first within man's soul, else
it becomes a monster, the root of all the evils
on earth, the root of man's torture by men, and
an unspeakable lie. The word we is as lime poured

(01:53:32):
over men, which sets and hardens to stone and crushes
all beneath it. And that which is white and that
which is black are lost equally in the gray of it.
And it is the word by which the depraved steal
the virtue of the good, by which the weak steal

(01:53:55):
the might of the strong, and by which the fools
still the wisdom of the sages. What is my joy
if all hands, even the unclean, can reach into it?
What is my wisdom if even the fools can dictate

(01:54:16):
to me? What is my freedom? If all creatures, even
the botched and impotent, are my masters? What is my life?
If I am but to bow, to agree and to obey.
But I am done with this creed of corruption. I

(01:54:40):
am done with the monster of we, the word of serfdom,
of plunder, of misery, and falsehood and shame. And now
I see the face of God, and I raise this
God over the earth, and this God whom men have

(01:55:00):
sawt since men came into being, This God who will
grant them joy and peace and pride, This God, this
one word, I end Chapter eleven, Chapter twelve. It was

(01:55:21):
when I read the first of the books I found
in my house that I saw the word I. And
when I understood this word, the book fell from my hands,
and I wept, I who had never known tears. I
wept in deliverance and in pity for all mankind. I

(01:55:42):
understood the blessed thing which I had called my curse.
I understood why the best in me had been my
sins and my transgressions, and why I had never felt
guilt in my sins. I understood that centuries of chains
and lash will not kill the spirit of man, nor

(01:56:04):
the sense of truth within him. I read many books
for many days. Then I called the Golden One, and
I told her what I had read and what I
had learned. She looked at me, and the first words
she spoke were I love you. Then I said, my

(01:56:24):
dearest one, it is not proper for men to be
without names. There was a time when each man had
a name of his own to distinguish him from all
other men. So let us choose our names. I have
read of a man who lived many thousands of years ago,
and of all the names in these books, his is

(01:56:46):
the one I wished to bear. He took the light
of the gods and brought it to men, and he
taught men to be gods. And he suffered for his deed,
as all bearers of light must suffer. His name was Prometheus.
It shall be your name, said the Golden One. And

(01:57:07):
I have read of a goddess, I said, who was
the mother of the earth and of all the gods.
Her name was Gaea. Let this be your name, my
Golden One, for you are to be the mother of
a new kind of gods. It shall be my name,
said the Golden One. Now I look ahead. My future

(01:57:27):
is clear before me. The Saint of the Pyre had
seen the future when he chose me as his heir,
as the heir of all the saints and all the
martyrs who came before him, and who died for the
same cause, for the same word, no matter what name
they gave to their cause and their truth. I shall

(01:57:49):
live here in my own house. I shall take my
food from the earth by the toil of my own hands.
I shall learn many secrets from my books. Through the
years ahead, I shall rebuild the achievements of the past
and open the way to carry them further, the achievements
which are open to me, but close forever to my brothers,

(01:58:11):
for their minds are shackled to the weakest and dullest
among them. I have learned that the power of the
sky was known to men long ago. They called it electricity.
It was the power that moved their greatest invention. It
lit this house with light that came from those globes
of glass on the walls. I have found the engine

(01:58:32):
which produced this light. I shall learn how to repair
it and how to make it work again. I shall
learn how to use the wires which carry this power.
Then I shall build a barrier of wires around my
home and across the paths which lead to my home.
A barrier light as a cobweb, more impassable than a

(01:58:54):
wall of granite a barrier my brothers will never be
able to cross, for they have nothing to fight me
with save the brute force of their numbers. I have
my mind. Then, here on this mountain top, with the
world below me and nothing above me but the sun,
I shall live my own truth. Gay is pregnant with

(01:59:18):
my child. He will be taught to say I, and
to bear the pride of it. He will be taught
to walk straight on his own feet. He will be
taught reverence for his own spirit. When I shall have
read all the books and learned my new way, when
my home will be ready and my earth tilled, I

(01:59:41):
shall steal one day for the last time, into the
cursed city of my birth. I shall call to me,
my friend who has no name save international four eight
eight one eight, and all those like him Fraternity two
five five o three, who cries without reason in solidarity

(02:00:03):
nine six three four seven, who calls for help in
the night, and a few others. I shall call to
me all the men and women whose spirit has not
been killed within them, and who suffer under the yoke
of their brothers. They will follow me, and I shall
lead them to my fortress. And here in this uncharted wilderness.

(02:00:29):
I and they, my chosen friends, my fellow builders, shall
write the first chapter in the new history of Man.
These are the last things before me. And as I
stand here at the door of glory, I look behind
me for the last time. I look upon the history
of men, which I have learned from the books, and

(02:00:52):
I wonder. It was a long story, and the spirit
which moved it was the spirit of man's freedom. But
what is freedom? Freedom from what? There is nothing to
take a man's freedom away from him, save other men.
To be free, a man must be free of his brothers.

(02:01:16):
That is freedom, that and nothing else. At first man
was enslaved by the gods, but he broke their chains.
Then he was enslaved by the kings, but he broke
their chains. He was enslaved by his birth, by his kin,

(02:01:37):
by his race, but he broke their chains. He declared
to all his brothers that a man has rights which
neither God, nor king, nor other men can take away
from him, no matter what their number, For his is
the right of man. And there is no right on
earth above this right. And he stood on the threshold

(02:02:00):
to freedom, for which the blood of the centuries behind
him had spilled. But then he gave up all he
had won, and fell lower than his savage beginning. What
brought it to pass? What disaster took their reason away

(02:02:22):
from men? What whip lashed them to their knees in
shame and submission? The worship of the word We. When
men accepted that worship, the structure of centuries collapsed about them,
the structure whose every beam had come from the thought

(02:02:45):
of some one man, each in his day, down the ages,
from the depths of some one's spirit, such as spirit existed,
but for its own sake. Those men who survived, those
eager to obey, eager to live for one another. Since
they had nothing else to vindicate them, those men could

(02:03:06):
neither carry on nor preserve what they had received. Thus
did all thought, all science, all wisdom perish on earth.
Thus did men, men with nothing to offer save their
great numbers, lose the steel towers, the flying ships, the
power wires, all the things that had not created and

(02:03:29):
could never keep. Perhaps later some men had been born
with the mind and the courage to recover these things
which were lost. Perhaps these men came before the Councilor
of Scholars. They answered as I had been answered and
for the same reasons. But I still wonder how it
was possible, in those graceless years of transition long ago,

(02:03:52):
that men did not see whither they were going, and
went on in blindness and cowardice to their fate. I wonder,
for it is hard for me to conceive how men
who knew the word I could give it up and
not know what they had lost. But such has been

(02:04:15):
the story. For I have lived in the city of
the damned, and I know what horror men permitted to
be brought upon them. Perhaps in those days there were
few among men, a few of clear sight and clean soul,
who refused to surrender that word. What agony must have
been theirs before that which they saw coming and could

(02:04:38):
not stop. Perhaps they cried out in protest and in warning,
but men paid no heed to their warning, and they
those few fought a hopeless battle, and they perished, with
their banners smeared by their own blood. And they chose
to perish, for they knew to them. I send my

(02:05:02):
salute across the centuries, and my pity theirs is the
banner in my hand, And I wish I had the
power to tell them that the despair of their hearts
was not to be final, and their night was not
without hope. For the battle they lost can never be lost.

(02:05:24):
For that which they died to save, can never perish.
Through all the darkness, through all the shame of which
men are capable, the spirit of man will remain alive
on this earth. It may sleep, but it will awaken.
It may wear chains, but it will break through, and

(02:05:49):
man will go on man not men. Here on this mountain,
I and my sons and my chosen friends shall build
our new land and our fort, and it will become
as the heart of the earth, lost and hidden at first,

(02:06:11):
but beating, beating louder each day, and word of it
will reach every corner of the earth, and the roads
of the world will become as veins which will carry
the best of the world's blood to my threshold. And
all my brothers and the councils of my brothers will

(02:06:32):
hear of it, but they will be impotent against me.
And the day will come when I shall break the
chains of the earth and raise the cities of the enslaved,
and my home will become the capital of a world
where each man will be free to exist for his
own sake, for the coming of that day, I shall fight,

(02:06:56):
I and my sons and my chosen friends, for the
freedom of man, for his rights, for his life, for
his honor. And here over the portals of my fort
I shall cut in the stone the word which is
to be my beacon and my banner. The word which

(02:07:21):
will not die, shall we all perish in battle. The
word which can never die on this earth, for it
is the heart of it, and the meaning and the glory,
the sacred word ego end Chapter twelve, and of anthem

(02:07:44):
by an Ran

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Anthem - Ayn Rand

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