Classic Audiobook Collection - Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice by James Branch Cabell ~ Full Audiobook [fantasy]

Starting point is 00:00:00 Uyghn, a comedy of justice. A forward. A forward which asserts nothing. In continental periodicals, not more than a dozen articles in all would seem to have given accounts or partial translations of the Yergan legends. No thorough investigation of this epos

Starting point is 00:00:19 can be said to have appeared in print anywhere prior to the publication in 1913 of the monumental synopsies of Aryan mythology by Angelo de Ruiz. It is unnecessary to observe that, in this exhaustive digest, Professor de Ruiz has given, Chapter 7, page 415 at Sequentia, a summary of the greater part of these legends as contained in the collections of Verve and Bulg, and has discussed at length and with much learning the esoteric meaning of these folk stories and their bearing upon questions to which the

Starting point is 00:00:52 solar theory of myth explained has given rise. To his volumes and to the pages of Mr. Lewistam's key to the popular tales of Poitem, must be referred all those who may elect to think of Juergen as the resplendent, journeying, and procreative son. Equally in reading here and after, will the judicious waive all allegorical interpretation, if merely because the suggestions hitherto advanced are inconveniently various. Thus, Vervei finds the Necess shirt a symbol of retribution, where Bulg, with rather wide divergence, would have it represent the dangerous gift of genius. Then it may be remembered that Dr. Codman says, without any hesitancy of Mother

Starting point is 00:01:35 Serida, this mother-middle is the world generally, an obvious anagram of Erda-S, and this Sarita rules not merely the middle of the working days, but the midst of everything. She is the factor of middleness, of mediocrity, of an avoidance of extremes, of the eternal compromise begotten by use and want. She is the Mrs. Grundy of the Leshi. She is comstockery, and her shadow is common sense. Yet Codman speaks with certainty no more authority than Prote, when the latter, in his origins of fable, declares this epos as a parable of man's vein journeying in search of that rationality and justice which his nature craves, and discovers nowhere in the universe. And the shirt is an emblem of this instinctive craving, as the shadow symbolizes conscience.

Starting point is 00:02:27 Serita typifies a surrender to life as it is, a giving up of man's rebellious self-centeredness and selfishness, the anagram being Sedare. Thus do interpretations throng and clash, and neatly equal the commentators in number. Yet possibly each one of these unriddlings, with no doubt a host of others, is conceivable, so that wisdom will dwell upon none of them very seriously. With the origin and the occult meaning of the folklore of Pouquetem, this book at least is in no wise concern. Its unambitious aim has been merely to familiarize English readers

Starting point is 00:03:03 with the Juergen Epos for the tale's sake. And this tale of old years is one which, by rare fortune, can be given to English readers almost unabridged, in view of the singular delicacy and pure mightiness of the Yurgan mythos. In all, not more than a half-dozen deletions have seemed expedient, and have been duly indicated, in order to remove such sparse and unimportant outcroppings of medieval frankness as might conceivably offend the squeamish. Since this volume is presented simply as a story to be read for pastime, neither morality nor symbolism is here and after reduced, and no parallels and authorities are quoted. Even the gaps are left unabridged by guesswork,

Starting point is 00:03:46 whereas the historic and mythological problems perhaps involved are relinquished to those really thorough-going scholars whom iridition qualifies to deal with such topics, and tedium does not deter. In such terms and thus far ran the forward to the first issues of this book, whose later fortunes had made necessary the lengthening of the forward with a postscript. The needed edition, this much at least chiming with good luck, is brief. It is just that fragment which some scholars, since the first appearance of this volume, have asserted, upon what perfect frankness must describe as not indisputable grounds, to be a portion of the thirty-second chapter of the complete form of Leot Istoire de Juergen.

Starting point is 00:04:31 And in reply to what these scholars assert, discretion says nothing. For this fragment was, of course, unknown when the high history was first put into English, and there, in consequence, appears here little to be won either by endorsing or denying its claims to authenticity. Rather, does discretion prompt the appending without any gloss or scolia of this fragment which deals with the judging of Yergen? Now a court was held by the Philistines to decide whether or no King Yergan should be relegated to limbo. And when the judges were prepared for judging, there came into the court a great tumblebug, rolling in front of him his loved and properly housed young ones.

Starting point is 00:05:12 With the creature came pages, in black and white, bearing a sword, a staff, and a lance. This insect looked at Yurgan, and its pincers rose erect in horror. The bug cried to the three judges, "'Now by St. Anthony, this Yergan must forthwith be relegated to Limbo, for he is offensive and lewd and lascivious and indecent.' "'And how can that be?' said. as Juergen. "'You are offensive,' the bug replied,

Starting point is 00:05:41 "'because this page has a sword which I choose to say is not a sword. You are lewd because that page has a lance which I prefer to think is not a lance. You are lascivious because yonder page has a staff which I elect to declare is not a staff. And finally, you are indecent for reasons of which a description would be objectionable to me, and which therefore I must decline to reveal to anybody. Well, that sounds logical, said Juergen. But still, at the same time, it would be no worse for an admixture of common sense. For you gentlemen can see for yourselves, by considering these pages fairly and as a whole,

Starting point is 00:06:24 that these pages bear a sword, and a lance and a staff, and nothing else whatever. And you will deduce, I hope, that all the lewdness is in the insectival mind of him who itches to be calling these things by other names. The judges said nothing as yet, but they that guarded Yergan and all the other Philistines stood to his side and to that side with their eyes shut tight, and all these said, We declined to look at the pages fairly and as a whole,

Starting point is 00:06:53 because to look might seem to imply a doubt of what the tumblebug has decreed. Besides, as long as the tumblebug has reasons which he declines to reveal, his reasons stay unanswerable. and you are plainly a purient rascal who are making trouble for yourself. To the contrary, said Yergan, I am a poet, and I make literature. But in Philistia, to make literature, and to make trouble for yourself are synonyms, the tumblebug explained. I know, for already we of Felistia have been pestered by three of these makers of literature.

Starting point is 00:07:28 Yes, there was Edgar, whom I starved and hunted until I was tired of it. Then I chased him up a back alley one night and knocked out those annoying brains of his. And there was Walt, whom I shivied and battered from place to place, and made a paralytic of him. And him too I labeled offensive and lewd and lascivious and indecent. Then later there was Mark, whom I frightened into disguising himself in a clown suit, so that nobody might suspect him to be a maker of literature. Indeed, I frightened him so that he hid away the greater part of what he was. what he had made until after he was dead, and I could not get at him. That was a disgusting

Starting point is 00:08:08 trick to play on me, I consider. Still, these are the only three detected makers of literature that have ever infested Felistia, thanks be to goodness and my vigilance, but for both of which we might have been no more free from makers of literature than are the other countries. Now, but these three, cried Yergan, are the glory of Felistia, and of all that Felistia has produced, it is these three alone whom living ye made least of, that today are honored wherever art is honored, and where nobody bothers one way or the other about Felicia." "'What is art to me and my way of living?' replied the tumble-bug wearily. "'I have no concern with art and letters and the other lewd idols of foreign nations.

Starting point is 00:08:55 I have in charge the moral welfare of my young, whom I roll here before me, and trust with St. Anthony's to raise in time to be God-fearing tumblebugs like me, delighting in what is proper to their nature. For the rest, I have never minded dead men being well-spoken of. No, no, my lad. Once whatever I may do means nothing to you, and once you are really rotten, you will find that tumble-bug friendly enough. Meanwhile, I am paid to protest that living persons are offensive and lewd and lascivious and indecent, and one must live.

Starting point is 00:09:30 Then the Philistines who stood to this side and to that side said in indignant unison, And we, the reputable citizenry of Felistia, are not at all in sympathy with those who would take any protest against the tumblebug as a justification of what they are pleased to call art. The harm done by the tumblebug seems to us very slight, whereas the harm done by the self-styled artist may be very great. Yergan now looked more attentively at this queer creature, and he saw that the tumblebug was malodorous, certainly, but at bottom, honest and well-meaning, and this seemed to Yergan the saddest thing he had found among the Philistines, for the tumblebug was sincere in his insane doings, and all

Starting point is 00:10:15 Philistia honoured him sincerely, so that there was nowhere any hope for this people. Therefore King Yurgan addressed himself, as his need was, to submit to the strange customs of the Philistines. "'Now do you judge me fairly,' cried Yergan to his judges. "'If there be any justice in this mad country. And if there be none, do you relegate me to limbo or to any other place, so long as in that place this tumblebug is not omnipotent and sincere and insane?' And Yergan waited.

Starting point is 00:10:50 Yergan. Amara Lento Temperate Risu End of Forward. Chapter 1 of Yergan A Comedy of Justice by James Branch Cabell This Liberovox recording is in the public domain

Starting point is 00:11:12 Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice Chapter 1 Why Yurgan Did the Manly Thing It is a tale which they narrate in Poitam saying, In the old days lived a pawnbroker named Yergan But what his wife called him was very often much worse than that. She was a high-spirited woman with no especial gift for silence.

Starting point is 00:11:36 Her name, they say, was Adelaise, but people by ordinary called her Dame Lisa. They tell also that in the old days, after putting up the shop windows for the night, Yergan was passing the Cistercian Abbey on his way home, and one of the monks had tripped over a stone in the roadway. He was cursing the devil who had placed it there. "'Fie, brother,' says Yergan. "'And have not the devils enough to bear as a roadway?' it is? I never held with origin, replied the monk, and besides, it hurt my great toe confoundedly. Nonetheless, observes Yergan, it does not behoove God-fearing persons to speak with disrespect

Starting point is 00:12:15 of the divinely appointed Prince of Darkness. To your further confusion, consider this monarch's industry. Day and night you may detect him toiling at the task heaven set him. That is a thing can be said of few communicants and of no monks. Think, too, of his fine artistry, as evidenced in all the perilous and lovely snares of this world, which it is your business to combat, and mine to lend money upon. Why, but for him, we would both be vocationless. Then, too, consider his philanthropy, and deliberate how insufferable would be our case if you and I, and all our fellow parishioners, were today hobnobbing with other beasts in the garden which we pretend to desiderate on Sundays. To arise with swine and lie down with the hyena, oh, intolerable.

Starting point is 00:13:07 Thus he ran on, devising reasons for not thinking too harshly of the devil. Most of it was an abridgment of some verses Yergen had composed, in the shop when business was slack. I consider that to be stuff and nonsense, was the monk's glows. "'No doubt your notion is sensible,' observed the pawnbroker, but mine is the prettier. Then Yergan passed the Cistercian Abbey and was approaching Bell-Gard, when he met a black gentleman who saluted him and said,

Starting point is 00:13:37 "'Thanks, Yergan, for your good word.' "'Who are you, and why do you thank me?' asked Yergan. "'My name is no great matter. "'But you have a kind heart, Yergan. "'May your life be free from care.' "'Save us from her. and harm, friend, but I am already married. A, sirs, and a fine, clever poet like you.

Starting point is 00:14:01 Yet it is a long while now since I was a practicing poet. Why, to be sure, and you have the artistic temperament, which is not exactly suited to the restrictions of domestic life. Then, I suppose your wife has her own personal opinion about poetry, Yergan. Indeed, sir, her opinion would not bear repetition, for I am sure you are unaccustomed to such language. This is very sad. I am afraid your wife does not quite understand you, Juergen.

Starting point is 00:14:31 Sir, says Yergen astounded, do you read people's inmost thoughts? The black gentleman seemed much dejected. He pursed his lips and fell to accounting upon his fingers, as they moved his sharp nails glittered like flame points. Now but this is a very deplorable thing, says the black gentleman, to have befallen the first person I have found ready to speak a kind word for evil. And in all these centuries too, Dear me, this is a most regrettable instance of mismanagement.

Starting point is 00:15:04 No matter, Juergen, the morning is brighter than the evening. How will I reward you to be sure? So Yergan thanked this simple old creature politely, and when Yergan reached home, his wife was nowhere to be seen. He looked on all sides and questioned everyone, but to no avail. Dame Lisa had vanished in the midst of getting supper ready, suddenly, completely, and inexplicably, just as, as Juergen's figure, a windstorm passes and leaves behind it a tranquility, which seems by contrast uncanny. Nothing could explain the mystery short of magic,

Starting point is 00:15:41 and Yergan, on a sudden, recollected the black gentleman's queer promise. Yergan crossed himself. How unjustly now, says Juergen, do some people get an ill name for gratitude? And now do I perceive how wise I am, always to speak pleasantly of everybody in this world of tail-bearers. Then Yergan prepared his own supper, went to bed, and slept soundly. I have implicit confidence, says he, in Lisa. I have particular confidence in her ability to take care of herself in any surroundings. That was all very well, but time passed, and presently it began to be rumored that Dame Lisa

Starting point is 00:16:24 walked on Morven. Her brother, who was a grocer and a member of the town council, went thither to see about this report. And sure enough, there was Juergen's wife walking in the twilight and muttering incessantly. "'Fie, sister,' says the town councillor. "'This is very unseemly conduct for a married woman, and a thing likely to be talked about. "'Follow me,' replied Dame Lisa. And the town councillor followed her a little way in the dusk, but when she came to Amneran Heath and still went onward, he knew better than to follow. Next evening the elder sister of Dame Lisa went to Morven.

Starting point is 00:17:03 This sister had married a notary, and was a shrewd woman. In consequence, she took with her this evening a long wand of peeled willow wood. And there was Yergan's wife walking in the twilight and muttering incessantly. "'Fie, sister,' says the notary's wife, who was a shrewd woman, "'and do you not know that all this while Yergan does his own sewing, "'and is once more making eyes at Countess Dorothy?' "'Dame Lisa shuddered, but she only said, "'Follow me!'

Starting point is 00:17:34 "'And the notary's wife followed her to Amneran Heath, "'and across the heath to where a cave was. "'This was a place of abominable repute. "'A lean hound came to meet them there in the twilight, lulling his tongue. But the notary's wife struck thrice with her wand, and the silent beast left them. And Dame Lisa passed silently into the cave, and her sister turned and went home to her children weeping. So the next evening, Yergan himself came to Morven, because all his wife's family assured him this was the manly thing to do. Yergan left the shop in charge of Yurie and Vilmarsh,

Starting point is 00:18:11 who was a highly efficient clerk. Yergan followed his wife across Amner and Heath until they reached the cave. Yergan would willingly have been elsewhere. For the hound squatted upon his haunches and seemed to grin at Yergan, and there were other creatures abroad that flew low in the twilight, keeping close to the ground like owls, but they were larger than owls and were more discomforting. And moreover, all this was just after sunset upon Walburga's Eve,

Starting point is 00:18:41 when almost anything is rather more than likely to happen. So Yergan said a little peevishly, "'Lisa, my dear, if you go into that cave, I will have to follow you, because it is the manly thing to do. And you know how easily I take hold.' The voice of Dame Lisa now was thin and wailing, a curiously changed voice. "'There is a cross about your neck.

Starting point is 00:19:07 You must throw that away.' Yergan was wearing such a cross through motives of sentiment because it had once belonged to his dead mother. But now, to pleasure his wife, he removed the trinket and hung it on a barbary bush. And with the reflection that this was likely to prove a deplorable business, he followed Dame Lisa into the cave. End of Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Of Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell.

Starting point is 00:19:43 This Libervox recording is in the public. domain. Yergan, a comedy of justice. Chapter 2. Assumption of a noted garment. The tale tells that all was dark there, and Yergan could see no one. But the cave stretched straight forward and downward, and at the far end was a glow of light. Yergan went on and on, and so came presently to a centaur, and this surprised him not a little, because Yergan knew that centaurs were imaginary creatures. Certainly they were curious to look at, for here was the body of a fine bay horse, and rising from its shoulders the sun-burnt body of a young fellow, who regarded Yergan with grave and not unfriendly eyes. The centaur was lying beside a fire of cedar and juniper

Starting point is 00:20:34 wood. Near him was a platter containing a liquid with which he was anointing his hoofs. This stuff, as the centaur rubbed it in with his fingers, turned the appearance of his hoofs to gold. "'Hale, friend,' says Juergen, "'if you be the work of God.' "'Your proteasus is not good Greek,' observed the centaur, "'because in Hellas we did not make such reservations. "'Besides, it is not so much my origin as my destination which concerns you.' "'Well, friend, and whither are you going?'

Starting point is 00:21:07 "'To the garden between dawn and sunrise, Yergan.' "'Surely now, but that is a fine name for a garden, and it is a place I would take joy to be seeing.' "'Up upon my back, Yorgon, and I will take you thither,' says the centaur, and heave to his feet. Then said the centaur, when the pawnbroker hesitated, "'because, as you must understand, there is no other way. For this garden does not exist, and never did exist, in what men humorously call real life, so that, of course, only imaginary creature such as I can enter it. That sounds reasonable, Yergan estimated, but as it happens, I am looking for my wife, whom I suspect

Starting point is 00:21:49 to have been carried off by a devil, poor fellow. And Yirken began to explain to the centaur what had befallen. The centaur laughed. It may be for that reason I am here. There is, in any event, only one remin in this matter. Above all devils, and above all gods, they tell me, but certainly above all Centaurs is the power of Koshe, the Deathless, who made things as they are. It is not always wholesome, Yergan submitted, to speak of Koshay. It seems especially

Starting point is 00:22:21 undesirable in a dark place like this. Nonetheless, I suspect it is to him you must go for justice. I would prefer not doing that, said Yergan with unaffected candor. You have my sympathy, but there is no question of preference where Koshay is concerned. Do you think, for example, that I am frousing in this underground place by my own choice and knew your name by accident?' Juergen was frightened a little. Well, well, but it is usually the deuce and all this doing of the manly thing. How then can I come to Koshay?

Starting point is 00:22:58 Roundabout, says the centaur. There is never any other way. And is the road to this garden roundabout? Oh, very much so, inasmuch as it circumvents both. destiny and common sense. Needs must then, says Juergen, at all events, I am willing to taste any drink once. You will be chilled, though, traveling as you are, for you and I are going a queer way in search of justice, over the grave of a dream and through the malice of time. So you at best

Starting point is 00:23:30 put on this shirt above your other clothing. Indeed, it is a fine, snug, shining garment, with curious figures on it. I accept such such a very good. raim it gladly. And whom shall I be thanking for this kindness now? My name, said the centaur, is Nessus. Well then, friend Nessus, I am at your service. And in a trice Yergan was on the centaur's back, and the two of them had somehow come out of the cave, and were crossing Amneran heath. So they passed into a wooded place where the light of sunset yet lingered, rather unaccountably. Now the centaur went westward, and now about the pawnbroker's shoulders and upon his breast and over his lean arms glittered like a rainbow

Starting point is 00:24:14 the many-colored shirt of Nessus. For a while they went through the woods, which were composed of big trees standing a goodish distance from one another, with the centaur's gilded hoofs rustling and sinking in a thick carpet of dead leaves, all gray and brown in level stretches that were unbroken by any undergrowth. And then they came to a white roadway that extended due west, and so were done with the woods. Now happened an incredible thing in which Juergen would never have believed had he not seen it with his own eyes. For now the centaur went so fast that he gained a little by little upon the sun, thus causing it to rise in the west a little by a little, and these two sped westward in the glory of a departed sunset. The sun fell full in Juergen's face as he rode straight

Starting point is 00:25:05 toward the west, so that he blinked and closed his eyes, and looked first toward this side, then the other. Thus it was that the country about him and the persons they were passing were seen by him in quick, bright flashes, like pictures suddenly transmuted into other pictures, and all his memories of this shining highway were in consequence, always confused and incoherent. He wondered that there seemed to be so many young women along the road to the garden. Here was a slim girl in white teasing a great brown and yellow dog that leaped about her clumsily. Here a girl sat in the branches of a twisted and gnarled tree, and back of her was a broad, muddied river, copper-colored in the sun. And here shone the fair head of a tall girl on horseback,

Starting point is 00:25:53 who seemed to wait for someone. In fine, the girls along the way were numberless, and Yergan thought he recollected one or two of them. But the centaur went so sweet, that Jürgen could not be sure. End of Chapter 2. Chapter 3 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yergan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 3. The Garden Between Dawn and Sunrise.

Starting point is 00:26:31 Thus it was that Yurgan and the Centaur came to the garden between dawn and sunrise, entering this place in a fashion which it is not convenient to record. But as they passed over the bridge, three fled before them, screaming. And when the life had been trampled out of the small furry bodies which these three had misused, there was none to oppose the centaur's entry into the garden between dawn and sunrise. This was a wonderful garden, yet nothing therein was strange. Instead, it seemed that everything hereabouts was heart-breakingly familiar and very dear to to Juergen. For he had come to a broad lawn, which slanted northward to a well-remembered brook,

Starting point is 00:27:13 and multitudinous maples and locust trees stood here and there irregularly, and were being played with very lazily by an irresolute west wind, so that foliage seemed to toss and ripple everywhere like green spray. But autumn was at hand, for the locust trees were dropping a danae's shower of small round yellow leaves. Around the garden was an unforgotten circle of blue hills, and hills. And this was a place of lucent twilight, unlit by either sun or stars, and with no shadows anywhere in the diffused faint radiancy that revealed this garden, which is not visible to any man except in the brief interval between dawn and sunrise. Why, but it is Count Emmerich's garden at Story's End, says Juergen, where I used to be having

Starting point is 00:28:00 such fine times when I was a lad. I will wager, said Nessus, that you did not used to walk alone in this garden. Well, no, there was a girl. Just so, assented Nessus. It is a local by-law, and here are those who comply with it. For now had come toward them, walking together in the dawn, a handsome boy and girl, and the girl was incredibly beautiful, because everybody in the garden saw her with the vision of the boy who was with her.

Starting point is 00:28:30 "'I am Rudolph,' said this boy, and she is Anne. "'And are you happy here?' asked Yergan. "'Oh, yes, sir. We are tolerably happy. But Anne's father is very rich, and my mother is poor, so that we cannot be quite happy until I have gone into foreign lands and come back with a great many lacks of rupees and pieces of eight.' "'And what will you do with all this money, Rudolph? "'My duty, sir, as I see it. But I inherit defective eyesight.' "'God speed to you, Rudolph,' said Yergan. for many others are in your plight.

Starting point is 00:29:06 Then came to Yergan and the centaur, another boy with the small, blue-eyed person in whom he took delight. And this fat and indolent-looking boy informed them that he and the girl who was with him were walking in the glaze of the red mustard jar, which Yergan thought was gibberish. And the fat boy said that he and the girl

Starting point is 00:29:27 had decided never to grow any older, which Yergan said was excellent good sense, if only they could make. manage it. Oh, I can manage that, said this fat boy reflectively. If only I do not find the managing of it uncomfortable. Yergan for a moment regarded him, and then gravely shook hands. "'I feel for you,' said Yergan, for I perceive that you too are a monstrous, clever fellow, so life will get the best of you.' "'But is not cleverness the main thing, sir?' "'Time will show you, my lad,' said Yergan, a little sorrowful.

Starting point is 00:30:03 And Godspeed to you, for many others are in your plight. And a host of boys and girls did Yergan see in the garden. And all the faces that Yergan saw were young and glad and very lovely and quite heart-breakingly confident, as young persons beyond numbering came toward Yurgan and passed him there, in the first glow of dawn. So they all went exulting in the glory of their youth, and for knowing life to be a puny antagonist from whom one might take very easily anything which one desired. And all passed in couples, as though they came from the Ark, said Yergan. But the Centaur said they followed a precedent which was far older than the Ark.

Starting point is 00:30:45 For in this garden, said the centaur, each man that ever lived has sojourned for a little while, with no company save his illusions. I must tell you again that in this garden are encountered none but imaginary creatures, And stalwart persons take their hour of recreation here, and go hence unaccompanied to become alderman and respected merchants and bishops, and to be admired as captains upon prancing horses, or even as kings upon tall thrones, each in his station thinking not at all of the garden ever any more. But now and then come timid persons, Juergen, who fear to leave this garden without an escort.

Starting point is 00:31:25 So these must need go hence with one or another imaginary. creature, to guide them about alleys and bypass, because imaginary creatures find little nourishment in the public highways and shun them. Thus must these timid persons skulk about obscurely with their diffident and skittish guides, and they do not ever venture willingly into the thronged places where men get horses and build thrones. And what becomes of these timid persons centaur? Why, sometimes they spoil paper, Juergen, and sometimes they spoil human lives. Then are these a cursed persons, Yergan considered. You should know best, replied the centaur.

Starting point is 00:32:07 Oh, very probably, said Yergan. Meanwhile, here is one who walks alone in this garden, and I wonder to see the local bylaws thus violated. Now Nessus looked at Yergan for a while without speaking, and in the eyes of the centaur was so much of comprehension and compassion that it troubled Yergan. For somehow it made sense of it. Juergen Fidgett and consider this an unpleasantly personal way of looking at anybody.

Starting point is 00:32:35 "'Yes, certainly,' said the centaur. "'This woman walks alone. But there is no help for her loneliness, since the lad who loved this woman is dead. Nessus, I am willing to be reasonably sorry about it. Still, is there any need of pulling quite such a portentously long face?' After all, a great many other persons have died off and on, and for anything I can say to the contrary, this particular young fellow may have been no especial loss to anybody.

Starting point is 00:33:06 Again the centaur said, You should know best. End of Chapter 3. Chapter 4. Of Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cable. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 4.

Starting point is 00:33:32 the Dorothy who did not understand. For now had come to Yurkin and the centaur, a gold-haired woman, clothed all in white, and walking alone. She was tall and lovely and tender to regard, and hers was not the red and white comeliness of many ladies that were famed for beauty, but rather it had the even glow of ivory. Her nose was large and high in the bridge. Her flexible mouth was not of the smallest. And yet, whatever other persons might have said, to Yergen, this woman's countenance was in all things perfect. Perhaps this was because he never saw her as she was. For certainly the color of her eyes stayed a matter never revealed to him. Gray, blue, or green, there was no saying. They varied as does the sea, but always these eyes

Starting point is 00:34:22 were lovely and friendly and perturbing. Yergan remembered that, for Yergan saw this was Count Emmerich's second sister, Dorothy La Desiree, whom Yergan, very long ago, a many years before he met Dame Lisa and set up in business as a pawnbroker, had hymned in innumerable verses as heart's desire. And this is the only woman whom I ever loved, Yergan remembered upon a sudden, for people cannot always be thinking of these matters. So he saluted her, with such deference as his due a countess from a tradesman, and yet with unforgotten tremors waking in his stayed body. But the strangest was yet to be seen, for he noted now that this was not a handsome woman in middle life but a young girl.

Starting point is 00:35:11 "'I do not understand,' he said aloud, "'for you are Dorothy, and yet it seems to me that you are not the Countess Dorothy, who is Heitman Michael's wife.' And the girl tossed her fair head with that careless lovely gesture which the Countess had forgotten. Heitman Michael is well enough for a nobleman, and my brother is at me day and night to marry the man, and certainly, Heitman Michael's wife will go in satin and diamonds at half the courts of Christenham, with many lackeys to attend her. But I am not to be thus purchased. So you told a boy that I remember very long ago. Yet you married Heitman Michael for all that,

Starting point is 00:35:51 and in the teeth of a number of other fine declarations. "'Oh, no, not I,' said this Dorothy, wondering, "'I never married anybody.' And Heitman Michael has never married anybody either, old as he is, for he is twenty-eight, and looks every day of it. But who are you, friend, that have such curious notions about me?' That question I will answer, just as though it were put reasonably, for surely you perceive I am Yurgen.

Starting point is 00:36:21 I never knew but one Yergan, and he is a young man, barely come of age. Then as she paused in speech, whatever was the matter upon which this girl now meditated, her cheeks were tenderly colored by the thought of it, and in her knowledge of this thing her eyes took infinite joy. And Ergen understood. He had come back somehow to the Dorothy whom he had loved, but departed, and passed overtaking by the fleet hoofs of centaurs, was the boy who had once loved this Dorothy, and who had rhymed of her as his heart's desire. And he had In the garden there was of this boy no trace. Instead, the girl was talking to a staid and ponchy pawnbroker of forty-and-something. So Yergan shrugged and looked toward the centaur,

Starting point is 00:37:07 but Nessus had discreetly wandered away from them in search of four-leafed clover's. Now the east had grown brighter, and its crimson began to be colored with gold. "'Yes, I have heard of this other, Yergan,' says the pawnbroker. "'Oh, Madam Dorothy, but it was he. that loved you. No more than I loved him, through a whole summer have I loved Yergan. And the knowledge that this girl spoke a wondrous truth was now to Yergan a joy that was keen as pain, and he stood motionless for a while, scowling and biting his lips. I wonder how long the poor devil loved you. He also loved for a whole summer it may be.

Starting point is 00:37:48 And yet again, it may be that he loved you all his life, for twenty years and for more than twenty years, I have debated the matter, and I am as well informed as when I started. But, friend, you talk in riddles. Is not that customary when age talks with youth? For I am an old fellow in my forties, and you, as I know now, are near eighteen, or rather four months short of being eighteen, for it is August. Nay, more, it is the August of a year I had not looked ever to see again. And again, Dom Manuel reigns over us. That man of iron whom I saw die so horribly.

Starting point is 00:38:28 All this seems very improbable. Then Yergan meditated for a while. He shrugged. Well, and what could anybody expect me to do about it? Somehow it has befallen that I, who am but the shadow of what I was, now walk among the shadows, and we converse with the thin intonations of dead persons. For Madame Dorothy, you who are not yet eighteen,

Starting point is 00:38:53 in this same garden there was once a boy who loved a girl, with such a love as it puzzles me to think of now. I believe that she loved him. Yes, certainly, it is a cordial to the tired and battered heart which nowadays pumps blood for me, to think that for a little while, for a whole summer, these two were as brave and comedy and clean a pair of sweethearts as the world has known. Thus Yergan spoke. But his thought was that this was a girl whose equal for loveliness and delight was not to be found between two oceans. Long and long ago, that doubtfulness of himself which was closer to him than his skin had fretted Yergan into believing that Dorothy he had loved was but a piece of his imaginings. But certainly this girl was real, and sweet she was, and

Starting point is 00:39:43 innocent she was, and light of heart and feet beyond the reach of any man's inventiveness. No, Yergan had not invented her, and it strangely contented him to know as much. "'Tell me your story, sir,' says she, "'for I love all romances. "'Ah, my dear child, but I cannot tell you very well of just what happened. "'As I look back, there is a blinding glory of green woods and lawns and moonlit nights "'and dance music and unreasonable after. "'I remember her hair and eyes and the curving and the feel of her red mouth.

Starting point is 00:40:19 and once, when I was bolder than ordinary, but that is hardly worth raking up at this late day. Well, I see these things in memory as plainly as I now seem to see your face, but I can recollect hardly anything she said. Perhaps, now I think of it, she was not very intelligent, and said nothing worth remembering. But the boy loved her and was happy, because her lips and heart were his, and he, as the saying is, had plucked a diamond from the world's ring. She was a Count's daughter and the sister of a Count, but in those days the boy quite firmly intended to become a Duke or an Emperor or something of that sort, so the transient discrepancy did not worry them.

Starting point is 00:41:01 I know. Why, Yergan is going to be a Duke, too, says she very proudly. Though he did think, a great while ago, before he knew me, of being a cardinal, on account of the robes. But Cardinals are not allowed to marry, you see. And I am forgetting your story, too. What happened then? They parted in September, with what vows it hardly matters now,

Starting point is 00:41:25 and the boy went into Gattinay to win his spurs under the old Vidam de Svacor. And presently, oh, a good while before Christmas, came the news that Dorothy La Desiree had married rich Heitman Michael. But that is what I am called, and as you know there is a Heitman Michael who is always plaguing me. Is that not strange for you to tell me all this happened a great while ago. Indeed, the story is very old, and old it was when Methuselah was teething. There is no older and more common story anywhere. As the sequel, it would be heroic to tell

Starting point is 00:42:01 you this boy's life was ruined. But I do not think it was. Instead, he had learned all of a sudden that which at twenty-one is heady knowledge. That was the hour which taught him sorrow and rage, and sneering too, for a redemption. Oh, it was armor that hour brought him, and a humor to use it, because no woman now could hurt him very seriously. No, never anymore. Ah, the poor boy, she said divinely tender, and smiling as a goddess smiles, not quite in mirth. Well, women, as we knew by experience now, were the pleasantest of playfellows. So he began to play. Rampaging through the world he went in the pride of his youth and in the armor of his hurt. In songs he made for the pleasure of kings, and swordplay he made for the pleasure of men, and a whispering he made for the

Starting point is 00:42:52 pleasure of women, in places where renown was and where he trod boldly, giving pleasure to everybody in those fine days. But the whispering, and all that followed the whispering, was his best game, and the game he played for the longest while, with many brightly colored playmates, who took the game more seriously than he did. And their faith in the game's importance, and in him and his high-sounding nonsense, he very often found amusing. And in their other chattels, too, he took his natural pleasure. Then, when he had played sufficiently, he held a consultation with diverse waning appetites, and he married the handsome daughter of an estimable pawnbroker in a fair line of business.

Starting point is 00:43:33 And he lived with his wife very much as two people customarily lived together. So, all in all, I would not say his life was ruined. Why, then it was. said Dorothy. She stirred uneasily with an impatient sigh, and you saw that she was vaguely puzzled. Oh, but somehow I think you are a very horrible old man, and you seem doubly horrible in that glittering queer garment you are wearing. No woman ever praised a woman's handiwork, and each of you was particularly severe upon her own. But you are interrupting the saga. I do not see, and those large bright eyes of which the collar was so much.

Starting point is 00:44:13 indeterminable and so dear to Juergen seemed even larger now, but I do not see how there could well be any more. Still, human hearts survive the benediction of the priest, as you may perceive any day. This man, at least, inherited his father-in-law's business, and found it, quite as he had anticipated, the fittest of vocations for a cashiered poet. And so, I suppose, he was content. And yes, but after a while Hightman Michael returned from foreign parts, along with his lackeys, and plate and chest upon chest of merchandise, and his fine horses, and his wife. And he who had been her lover could see her now, after so many years, whenever he liked. She was a handsome stranger. That was all. She was rather stupid. She was nothing remarkable,

Starting point is 00:45:03 one way or another. This respectable pawnbroker saw that quite plainly. Day by day he writhed under the knowledge, because, as I must tell you, he could not retain composure in her presence, even now. No, he was never able to do that. The girl somewhat condensed her brows over this information. You mean that he still loved her? Why, but of course. My child, said Yergan, now with a reproving forefinger, you are an incurable romanticist. The man disliked her and despised her. At any event, he assured himself that he did. Well, even so, this handsome stupid stranger held his eyes and muddled his thoughts and put errors into his accounts.

Starting point is 00:45:50 And when he touched her hand, he did not sleep that night as he was used to sleep. Thus he saw her day after day. And they whispered that this handsome and stupid stranger had a liking for young men who aided her artfully to deceive her husband. But she never showed any such favor to the woman. the respectable pawnbroker. For youth had gone out of him, and it seemed that nothing in particular happened. Well, that was his saga. About her I do not know. And I shall never know. But certainly she got the name of deceiving Heitman Michael with two young men, or with five young men it might be,

Starting point is 00:46:29 but never with a respectable pawnbroker. I think that is an exceedingly cynical and stupid story, observed the girl. And so I shall be off to look for Yergan, for he makes love very amusingly, says Dorothy, with the sweetest, loveliest meditative smile that ever was lost to heaven. And a madness came upon Yergan there in the garden between dawn and sunrise,

Starting point is 00:46:54 and a disbelief and such injustice as now seemed incredible. No heart's desire, he cried, I will not let you go, for you are dear and pure and faithful, and all my evil dream, wherein you were a wanton and befooled me, was not true. Surely mine was a dream that can never be true so long as there is any justice upon earth. Why, there is no imaginable God who would permit a boy to be robbed of that which in my

Starting point is 00:47:22 evil dream was taken from me. And still I cannot understand you're talking about this dream of yours. Why, it seemed to me I had lost the most of myself, and there was left only a brain which played with ideas, and a body that went delicately down pleasant ways. And I could not believe as my fellows believed, nor could I love them, nor could I detect anything in aught they said or did save their exceeding folly. For I lost their cordial common faith in the importance of what use they made of half-hours and months and years, and because a jill-flirt had opened my eyes so that they saw too much, I had lost faith in the importance of my own actions, too.

Starting point is 00:48:06 There was a little time of which the passing might be made endurable, beyond gaped unpredictable darkness, and that was all there was of certainty anywhere. Now tell me, heart's desire, but was not that a foolish dream? For these things never happened. Why, it would not be fair if these things ever happened. And the girl's eyes were wide and puzzled and a little frightened. I do not understand what you are saying, and there is that about you which troubles me unspeakably. for you call me by the name which none but Yergen used, and it seems to me that you are Yergan, and yet you are not Yergan. But I am truly Yergan. And look you, I have done what never any man has done before, for I have won back to that first love whom every man must lose, no matter whom he

Starting point is 00:48:57 marries. I have come back again, passing very swiftly over the grave of a dream and through the malice of time to my heart's desire, and how strange it seems that I did not know this thing was inevitable. Still, friend, I do not understand you. Why, but I yawned and fretted in preparation for some great and beautiful adventure which was to befall me by and by, and dazedly I toiled forward, whereas behind me all the while was the garden between dawn and sunrise, and therein you awaited me. Now, assuredly the life of every man is a quaintly-built-tail, in which the right and proper ending comes first. Thereafter time runs forward, not as schoolmen fable in a straight line, but in a vast, closed curve, returning to the place of its starting. And it is by a dim for knowledge of this,

Starting point is 00:49:50 by some faint prescience of justice and reparation being given them by and by, that men have heart to live. For I know now that I have always known this thing. What else was living good for, unless it brought me back to you? But the girl shook her small, glittering head very sadly. I do not understand you, and I fear you. For you talk foolishness, and in your face I see the face of Yergen, as one might see the face of a dead man drowned in muddy water. Yet I am truly Yergan, and, as it seems to me, for the first time since we were parted.

Starting point is 00:50:26 For I am strong and admirable, even I, who sneered and pluried, so long, because I thought myself a thing of no worth at all. That which has been since you and I were young together is as a mist that passes, and I am strong and admirable, and all my being is one vast hunger for you, my dearest, and I will not let you go, for you and you alone are my heart's desire." Now the girl was looking at him very steadily, with a small puzzle frown, and with her vivid, young, soft lips a little parted, and all her tender loveliness was glorified by the light of a sky that had turned to dusty, palpitating gold.

Starting point is 00:51:07 Ah, but you say that you are strong and admirable, and I can only marvel at such talking, for I see that which all men see. And then Dorothy showed him the little mirror which was attached to the long chain of turquoise matrix about her neck, and Yergan studied the frightened, foolish, aged face that he found in the mirror. Thus drearily did sanity return to Juergen, and his flair of passion died, and the fever and storm

Starting point is 00:51:32 and the impetuous world of things was ended, and the man was very weary. And in the silence he heard the piping cry of a bird that seemed to seek for what it could not find. "'Well, I am answered,' said the pawnbroker, and yet I know that this is not the final answer. Dearer than any hope of heaven was that moment when awed surmises first awoke as to the new strange loveliness which I had seen in the face of Dorothy. It was then I noted the new faint flush suffusing her face from chin to brow, so often as my eyes encountered and found new lights in the shining eyes which were no longer entirely frank in meeting mine. Well, let that be, for I do not love

Starting point is 00:52:17 Heitman Michael's wife. It is a grief to remember how to remember how to be a little bit of her. we followed love and found his service lovely. It is bitter to recall the sweetness of those vows which proclaimed her mind eternally, vows that were broken in their making by prolonged and unforgotten kisses. We used to laugh at Heidman Michael then. We used to laugh at everything. Thus for a while, for a whole summer, we were as brave and comely and clean a pair of sweethearts as the world has known. But let that be, for I do not love Heitman Michael's wife. Our love was fair, but short-lived. There is none that may revive him since the small feat of Dorothy trot out this small love's life.

Starting point is 00:53:01 Yet, when this life of ours too is over, this parsimonious life which can allow us no more love for anybody, must we not win back somehow to that faith we vowed against eternity, and be content again in some fair-colored realm? Assuredly, I think this thing will happen. Well, but let that be. for I do not love Heitman Michael's wife. Why, this is excellent hearing, observed Dorothy, because I see that you are converting your sorrow into the raw stuff of verses.

Starting point is 00:53:33 So I shall be off to look for Juergen, since he makes love quite otherwise and far more amusingly. And again, whatever was the matter upon which this girl now meditated, her cheeks were tenderly colored by the thought of it, and in her knowledge of this thing her eyes took infinite joy. Thus it was for a moment only, for she left Jürgen now with the friendliest light waving of her hand, and so passed from him, not thinking of this old fellow any longer, as he could see even in the instant she turned from him. And she went toward the dawn in search of that young Jürgen whom she, who was perfect in all things, had loved, though only for a little while,

Starting point is 00:54:14 not undeservedly. End of Chapter 4. Chapter 5 of Yergan A Comedy of Justice by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yergan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 5. Requirements of bread and butter. Nessus, said Yergan, and am I so changed? For that Dorothy, whom I loved in youth, did not know me.

Starting point is 00:54:49 Good and evil keep very exact accounts, replied the centaur, and the face of every man is their ledger. Meanwhile, the sun rises. It is already another workday. And when the shadows of those two who come to take possession fall full upon the garden, I warn you, there will be astounding changes brought about by the requirements of bread and butter.

Starting point is 00:55:11 You will not have time to revive old memories by chatting with the others to whom you babbled a foretime in this garden. Ah, Centaur, in the garden between dawn and sunrise, there was never any other save Dorothy La Desiree. The centaur shrugged. It may be you forget. It is certain that you underestimate the local population. Some of the transient visitors you have seen,

Starting point is 00:55:37 and in addition hereabouts dwell the year-round all manner of imaginary creatures. The fairies live just southward, and the gnomes too. To your right is the realm of the Valkyries. The Amazons and the synocephaly are their allies. All three of these nations are continually at loggerheads with their neighbors, the Baba Yagas, who Morphé cooks for, and whose monarch is O, a person very dangerous to name. Northward dwell the leprechauns and men of hunger, whose king is clobhair.

Starting point is 00:56:10 My people, who are ruled by Chiron, live even further to the north. The Sphinx pastors on yonder mountain, and now the Camara is old and generally derided, they say that cerebus visits the Sphinx at twilight, although I was never the person to disseminate scandal. "'Sentar,' said Yergan, "'and what is Dorothy doing here?' "'Why, all the women that any man has ever loved live here,' replied the centaur, "'for very obvious reasons.' "'That is a hard saying, friend.' Nessus tapped with his forefinger upon the back of Yergan's hand.

Starting point is 00:56:48 "'Worms meat. This is the destined food. what you will, of small white worms. This by and by will be a struggling pale corruption, like seething milk. That too is a hard-say, Yergan, but it is a true saying. And was that Dorothy whom I loved in youth and imaginary creature? My poor Yorgon, you who were once a poet, she was your masterpiece, for there was only a shallow, stupid, and airy, high-nosed and light-haired miss, with no remarkable good looks. and consider what your ingenuity made from such poor material.

Starting point is 00:57:25 You should be proud of yourself. No, Centaur, I cannot very well be proud of my folly, yet I do not regret it. I have been befooled by a bright shadow of my own raising, you tell me, and I concede it to be probable. No less I served a lovely shadow, and my heart will keep the memory of that loveliness until life ends in a world where other men follow pantingly after shadows, are not even pretty. There is something in that, Juergen. There is also something in an old tale we used to tell in Thessaly

Starting point is 00:57:59 about a fox and certain grapes. Well, but look you, Nessus. There is an emperor that reigns now in Constantinople and occasionally does business with me. Yes, and I could tell you tales of by what shifts he came to the throne. Men's hands are by ordinary soiled in climbing, quote the centaur. And Yergen, this emperor says to me, not many months ago, as he sat in his palace, crowned and dreary and trying to cheat me out of my fair profit on some emeralds,

Starting point is 00:58:30 Yergan I cannot sleep of nights because of that fool Alexius, who comes into my room with staring eyes and the bowstring still about his neck. And my Varanjians must be in league with that silly ghost, because I constantly order them to keep Alexius out of my bedchamber, and they do not obey me, Yergan. To be king of the East is not to the purpose, Juergen, when one must submit to such vexations. Yes, it was Caesar Faramond himself said this to me, and I deduce the shadow of a crown has led him into an ugly pickle, for all that he is the mightiest monarch in the world. And I would not change with Caesar Faramond, not I who am a respectable pawnbroker,

Starting point is 00:59:11 with my home in fee and my bit of tilled land. Well, this is a queer world to be sure, and this garden is visited. by no stranger things than pop into a man's mind sometimes without his knowing how. Ah, but you must understand that the garden is speedily to be remodeled. Yonder, you may observe the two whose requirements are to rid the place of all fantastic, unremunitive notions, and who will develop the natural resources of this garden according to generally approved methods. And from afar, Yergan could see two figures coming out of the east, so tall that their

Starting point is 00:59:49 heads rose above the encircling hills and glistened in the rays of a sun which was not yet visible. One was a white, pasty-looking giant, with a crusty expression. He walked with the aid of a cane. The other was of a pale yellow color. His face was oily, and he rode on a vast cow that was called a Dumla. "'Make way there, brother, with your staff of life,' says the yellow giant, for there is much to do hereabouts. Aye, brother, this place must be altered a deal before it meets with our requirements, the other grumbled. May I be toasted if I know where to begin?

Starting point is 01:00:29 Then, as the giants turned dull and harsh faces toward the garden, the sun came above the circle of blue hills, so that the mingled shadows of these two giants fell across the garden. For an instant, Yergan saw the place oppressed by that attenuated mile-long shadow, as in heraldry you may see a black bar painted sheer across some brightly emblazing shield. Then the radiancy of everything twitched and vanished, as a bubble bursts. And Yergan was standing in the midst of a field, very neatly plowed, but with nothing as yet growing in it. And the centaur was with him still, it seemed, for there were the creature's hoofs,

Starting point is 01:01:09 but all the gold had been washed or rubbed away from them in traveling with Yergan. "'See Nessus!' Yergan cried. "'The garden is made desolate. "'Oh, Nessus, was it fair that so much loveliness should be thus wasted?' "'Nay,' said the centaur. "'Nay!' "'Long and wailingly he winnied. "'Nay!'

Starting point is 01:01:32 "'And when Yergan raised his eyes he saw that his companion was not a centaur, "'but only a strayed riding-horse.' "'Were you the animal then?' says Yergan. "'And was it a quite ordnation? animal that conveyed me to the garden between dawn and sunrise? And Yergan laughed disconsolately. At all events, you have clothed me in a curious fine shirt. And now I look, your bridle is marked with a coronet. So I will return you to the castle at Belgard, and it may be that Hightman Michael will reward me. Then Yergan mounted his horse and rode away from the plowed field

Starting point is 01:02:12 wherein nothing grew as yet. As they left the first first, they came to a signboard with writing on it in a peculiar red and yellow lettering. Ergen paused to decipher this. "'Read me,' was written on the signboard. "'Read me, and judge if you understand. So you stopped in your journey because I called, senting something unusual, something droll. Thus, although I am nothing, and even less, there is no one that sees me but lingers here. "'Stranger, I am a law of the universe.

Starting point is 01:02:46 "'Stranger, render the law what is due the law.' "'Yergan felt cheated. "'A very foolish signboard indeed, "'for how can it be a law of the universe "'when there is no meaning to it?' says Yergan. "'Why, for any law to be meaningless, would not be fair.' "'End of Chapter 5. "'Chapter 6.

Starting point is 01:03:15 "'Of Yurgan, a comedy of justice. by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yergan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 6. Showing that Cerita is feminine. Then, having snapped his fingers at that foolish signboard, Yergan would have turned easterly toward Belgard,

Starting point is 01:03:39 but his horse resisted. The pawnbroker decided to accept this as an omen. Forward, then, he said, in the name of Coté. and thereafter Yergan permitted the horse to choose its own way. Thus Yergan came through a forest, wherein he saw many things not salutary to notice, to a great stone house like a prison, and he sought shelter there, but he could find nobody about the place, until he came to a large hall newly swept. This was a depressing apartment, in its chill, neat emptiness,

Starting point is 01:04:12 for it was unfurnished save for a bare-deal table, upon which lay a yard, hard stick and a pair of scales. Above this table hung a wicker cage containing a blue bird, and another wicker cage containing three white pigeons. And in this hall, a woman, no longer young, dressed all in blue and wearing a white towel by way of headdress was assorting curiously colored cloths. She had very bright eyes with wrinkled lids, and now, as she looked up at Yergan, her shrunk jaws quivered. "'Ah,' says she, "'I have a visitor.

Starting point is 01:04:50 "'Good day to you in your glittering shirt. "'It is a garment I seem to recognize.' "'Good day, Grandmother. "'I'm looking for my wife, "'whom I suspect to have been carried off by a devil, poor fellow. "'Now, having lost my way, "'I have come to pass the night under your roof. "'Very good, but few come seeking Mother Serita

Starting point is 01:05:11 "'of their own accord.' "'Then Yergan knew with whom he talked. and inwardly he was perturbed, for all the leshy are unreliable in their dealings. So when he spoke it was very civilly. "'And what do you do here, Grandmother?' "'I bleach. In time I shall bleach that garment you are wearing, for I take the color out of all things. Thus you see these stuffs here, as they are now. Clotho spun the glowing threads, and the cheeses wove them as you observe in curious patterns,

Starting point is 01:05:45 very marvelous to see. But when I am done with these stuffs, there will be no more color or beauty or strangeness anywhere, apparent than in so many dish-clouts. "'Now I perceive,' says Juergen, "'that your power and dominion is more great than any other power which is in the world.' He made a song of this in praise of the Leshi and their days, but more especially in praise of the might of Mother Sarita and of the ruins that have fallen on Wednesday. To Chetverg and Utternik and Subota he gave their due. Piatinka and Nadelca also did Yergan command for such demolishments as have enregistered their names in the calendar of saints, no less.

Starting point is 01:06:29 Ah, but there was none like Mother Serita. Hers was the center of that power, which is the Leshys. The others did but nibble at temporal things, like furtive mice. She devastated, like a sandstorm, so that there were many dust-heaps where Mother Sarita had passed, but nothing else. And so on and so on. The song was no masterpiece, and would not be bettered by repetition. But it was all untrammeled eulogy, and the old woman beat time to it with her lean hands, and her shrunk jaws quivered, and she nodded her white-wrapped head this way and that way, with a rolling motion, and on her thin lips was a very proud and

Starting point is 01:07:09 foolish smile. "'That is a good song,' says she. "'Oh, yes, and you. And, and, an excellent song. But you report nothing of my sister Pandellis who controls the day of the moon. Monday, says Juergen. Yes, I neglected Monday. Perhaps because she is the oldest of you, but in part because of the exigencies of my rhyme scheme. We must let Pandellus go unhymed. How can I remember everything when I consider the might of Sarita? Why, but, says Mother Sarita, Pandellis may not like it. and she may take holiday from her washing some day to have a word with you. However, I repeat, that is an excellent song. And in return for your praise of me, I will tell you that,

Starting point is 01:07:57 if your wife has been carried off by a devil, your affair is one which co-chae alone can remedy. Assuredly, I think it is to him you must go for justice. But how may I come to him, Grandmother? Oh, as to that, it does not matter at all which road you follow. All highways, as the saying is, lead roundabout to Cotchet. The one thing needful is not to stand still. This much I will tell you also for your song's sake, because that was an excellent song, and nobody ever made a song in praise of me before today.

Starting point is 01:08:33 Now Yergan wondered to see what a simple old creature was this mother, Sarita, who sat before him, shaking and grinning and frail as a dead leaf, with her head wrapped in a common kitchen towel and whose power was so enormous. Think of it, Yergan reflected, that the world I inhabit is ordered by beings who are not one-tenth so clever as I am. I have often suspected as much, and it is decidedly unfair. Now let me see if I cannot make something out of being such a monstrous, clever fellow. Yergan said aloud, I do not wonder that no practicing poet ever presumed to make a song of you.

Starting point is 01:09:14 You were too majestical. You frightened these rhymesters, who feel themselves to be unworthy of so great a theme. So it remained for you to be appreciated by a pawnbroker, since it is we who handle and observe the treasures of this world after you have handled them. Do you think so, says she, more pleased than ever? Now, maybe that was the way of it. but I wonder that you, who are so fine a poet, should ever have become a pawnbroker. Well, and indeed, Mother Serita, your wonder seems to me another wonder,

Starting point is 01:09:50 for I can think of no profession better suited to a retired poet. Why, there is the variety of company, for high and low, and even the genteel are pressed sometimes for money. Then the ploughman slouches into my shop, and the duke sends for me privately. So the people I know, and the bits of their lives I pop into, give me a deal to romance about. Ah, yes indeed, said Mother Serita wisely. That well may be the case, but I do not hold with romance myself. Moreover, sitting in my shop, I wait there, quiet like, while tribute comes to me from the ends of the earth. Everything which men and women have valued anywhere come sooner or later to me,

Starting point is 01:10:34 and jewels and fine knick-knacks that were the pride of queens they bring me, and wedding rings, and the baby's cradle with his little tooth marks on the rim of it, and silver coffin handles, or it may be an old frying-pan they bring me, but all comes to Yergan. So that just to sit there in my dark shop, quiet-like, and wonder about the history of my belongings and how they were made mine is poetry, and is the deep and high an ancient thinking of a God who is dozing among what time has left of a dead world, if you understand me, Mother Sarita. I understand, oh, ho, I understand that which pertains to gods for a sufficient reason. And then another thing. You do not need any turn for business. People are glad to get whatever

Starting point is 01:11:22 you choose to offer, for they would not come otherwise. So you get the shining and rough-edged coins that you can feel the proud king's head on with his laurel wreath-like millet-seed under your fingers, and you'll get the flat and greenish coins that are smeared with the titles and the chins and hooked noses of emperors whom nobody remembers or cares about any longer. All just by waiting there quiet-like, and making a favor of it to let customers give you their belongings for a third of what they are worth, and that is easy labor, even for a poet. I understand, I understand all labor. And people treat you a deal more civilly than any real needs.

Starting point is 01:12:03 is, because they are ashamed of trafficking with you at all. I dispute if a poet could get such civility shown him in any other profession. And finally, there is the long idleness between business interviews, with nothing to do save sit there quiet-like and think about the queerness of things in general. And that is always rare employment for a poet, even without the tatters of so many lives and homes heaped up about him like Spillikins, so that I would say in all, Mother Serita, there is certainly no profession better suited to an old poet than the profession of pawnbroking.

Starting point is 01:12:40 Certainly there may be something in what you tell me, observes Mother Sarita. I know what the little gods are, and I know what work is, but I do not think about these other matters, nor about anything else. I bleach. Ah, and a great deal more I could be saying, too, Grandmother, but for the fear of wearing you. Nor would I have run on at all about my private affairs, were it not that we too are so close related, and Kith makes kind, as people say. But how can you and I be kin? Why, heyday, and was I not born upon a Wednesday? That makes you my godmother, does it not?

Starting point is 01:13:22 I do not know, dearie, I am sure. Nobody ever cared to claim kin with Mother Sarita before this, says she pathetically. There can be no doubt, though, on the point, no possible doubt. Sibelius states it plainly. Artemidorus Minor, I grant you, holds the question debatable, but his reasons for doing so are tolerably notorious. Besides, what does all this flimsy sophistry avail against Nichener's fine chapter on this very subject?

Starting point is 01:13:53 Crushing, I consider it. His logic is final and irrefutable. What can anyone say against Scylla? Sevious Nikoner. Ah, what indeed! demanded Yergan. And he wondered if there might not have been perchance some such person somewhere after all. Their names, in any event, sounded very plausible to Yergan. Ah, dearie, I was never one for learning. It may be, as you say. You say, it may be, Godmother. That embarrasses me, rather, because I was about to ask for my christening gift, which in the press of other matters you overlooked some forty years back.

Starting point is 01:14:31 You will readily conceive that your negligence, however unintentional, might possibly give rise to unkindly criticism, and so I felt I ought to mention it in common fairness to you. As for that, dearie, ask what you will within the limits of my power, for mine are all the sapphires and turquoises and whatever else in this dusty world is blue. and mine likewise are all the Wednesdays that ever have been or ever will be, and any one of these will I freely give you in return for your fine speeches and your tender heart. Ah, but Godmother, would it be quite just for you to accord be so much more

Starting point is 01:15:12 than as granted to other persons? Why, no, but what have I to do with justice? I bleach. Come now, then, do you make a choice, for I can assure you, that my sapphires are of the first water, and that many of my oncoming Wednesdays will be well worth seeing. No, Godmother, I never greatly cared for jewelry, and the future is but dressing and undressing and shaving and eating and computing percentages and so on. The future does not interest me now. So I shall modestly content myself with a second-hand Wednesday, with one that you have used and have no further need of. And it will be a Wednesday in the August.

Starting point is 01:15:54 of such and such a year. Mother Sarita agreed to this. But there are certain rules to be observed, says she, for one must have system. As she spoke, she undid the towel about her head, and she took a blue comb from her white hair, and she showed Yergan what was engraved on the comb. It frightened Yergan a little, but he nodded assent. "'First, though,' says Mother Sarita, "'here is the blue bird. Would you not rather have that, dearie, than your Wednesday? Most people would. Ah, but Godmother, he replied, I am Jorgon. No, it is not the blue bird I desire. So Mother Sarita took from the wall the wicker cage containing the three white pigeons, and going before him, with small hunched shoulders

Starting point is 01:16:43 and shuffling her feet along the flagstones, she led the way into a courtyard, where, sure enough, they found a tethered he-goat. Of a dark blue color this beast was, and his eyes were wiser than the eyes of a beast. Then Juergen said about that which Mother Sarita said was necessary. End of Chapter 6. Chapter 7 of Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 7. Of Compromises on a Wednesday. So it was that, riding upon a horse whose bridle was marked with a coronet, the pawnbroker returned to a place and to a moment which he remembered. It was rather queer to be a fine young fellow again,

Starting point is 01:17:39 and to foresee all that was to happen for the next twenty years. As it chanced, the first person he encountered was his mother, Azra, whom Coth had loved very greatly, but not long. And Yergan talked with Azra of what clothes he would be likely to need in Gatine, and Gatine. and of how often he would write to her. She disparaged the new shirt he was wearing, as was to be expected, since Azra had always preferred to select her son's clothing rather than trust to Juergen's taste. His new horse, she admitted, to be a handsome animal,

Starting point is 01:18:11 and only hoped he had not stolen it from anybody who would get him into trouble. For Azra, it must be recorded, had never any confidence in her son, and was the only woman Yergan felt who really understood him. And now, as his beautiful young mother impartially petted and snapped at him, poor Yurgan thought of that very real dissension and severance which in the oncoming years was to arise between them, and of how she would die without his knowing of her death for two whole months, and of how his life thereafter would be changed, somehow, and the world would become an unstable place in which you could no longer put cordial faith. And he forek knew all the remorse he was going to shrug away, after the

Starting point is 01:18:53 squandering of so much pride and love. But these things were not yet, and besides, these things were inevitable. And yet that these things should be inevitable is decidedly not fair, said Juergen. So it was with all the persons he encountered. The people whom he loved when at his best as a fine young fellow were so very soon, and through petty causes, to become nothing to him, and he himself was to be converted into a commonplace tradesman. and living seemed to Juergen a wasteful and inequitable process. Then Yergan left the home of his youth and rode toward Belgard, and tethered his horse upon the heath and went into the castle.

Starting point is 01:19:36 Thus Yergan came to Dorothy. She was lovely and dear, and yet by some odd turn, not quite so lovely and dear as the Dorothy he had seen in the garden between dawn and sunrise. And Dorothy, like everybody else, praised Yergan's wonderful new shirt. "'It is designed for such festivals,' said Yergan modestly. "'A little notion of my own. "'A bit extreme. Some persons might consider it, "'but there is no pleasing everybody,

Starting point is 01:20:05 "'and I like a trifle of color. "'For there was a mask that night at the castle of Belgard, "'and wildly droll and sad it was to Yergan "'to remember what was to befall so many of the participants. "'Yergan had not forgotten this Wednesday, "'this ancient Wednesday, upon which Monsieur de Monteur had brought the confraternity of St. Medard from Brune Belois to enact a mask of the birth of Hercules, as the vagabonds were now doing, to hilarious applause. Yergan remembered it was the day before Belgar discovered that Count Emmerich's guest, the Viscont de Pussange, was in reality the notorious outlaw, Perillon de la Foray.

Starting point is 01:20:47 Well, yonder the yet undetected impostor was talking very earnestly with Dame Melisant, and Yergan knew all that was in store for this pair of lovers. Meanwhile, as Juergen reflected, the real Viscont de Poucian was at this moment lying in a delirium, yonder at Benoise. Tomorrow the true Vycomte would be recognized, and within the year the Viscont would have married Felice de Souacour, and later Juergen would meet her in the orchard, and Juergne knew was to happen then also. And Monsieur de Montour was watching Dame Melisant, sidewise, while he joked with little Itar,

Starting point is 01:21:23 who as this night permitted to stay up later than usual in honor of the mask. And Yergan knew that this young bishop was to become Pope of Rome, no less, and that the child he joked with was to become the woman for possession of whom, Giron de Roque and the surly-looking small-boy wonder, Maggi de Agremont, would contend with each other until the country hereabouts had been devastated, and the castle wherein Yurga now was had been besieged, and this part of it burned. and wildly droll and sad it was to Juergen, thus to remember all that was going to happen to these persons, and to all the other persons who were frolicking in the shadow of their doom and laughing

Starting point is 01:22:03 at this trivial mask. For here, with so much of ruin and failure impending, and with sorrow prepared so soon to smite a many of these revelers in ways foreknown to Juergen, and with death resistlessly approaching so soon to make an end of almost all this company in some of unlovely fashion that Yergan four knew exactly. Here, laughter seemed unreasonable and ghastly. Why, but Rano yonder, who laughed so loud, with his cropped head flung back, would Reneau be laughing in quite this manner if he knew the round, strong throat be thus exposed, was going to be cut like the throat of a calf, while three Burgundians held him? Yergan knew this thing was to befall Renaud Vinsoff before October was out. So he looked

Starting point is 01:22:50 at Renault's throat, and shudderingly drew in his breath between set teeth. "'And he is worth a score of me, this boy,' thought Yergan. "'And it is I who am going to live to be an old fellow, with my bit of land in fee, years after dirt clogs those bright, generous eyes, and years after this fine, big-hearted boy is wasted. And I shall forget all about him, too. Marion Ledoll, that very pretty girl behind him, is to become a blotched and toothless haunter of alleys, a leering plucker at men's sleeves. And blue-eyed Cullen here, with his baby

Starting point is 01:23:26 mouth, is to be hanged for that matter of coin-clipping. Let me recall now. Yes, within six years of tonight. Well, but in a way these people are blessed in lacking foresight. For they laugh, and I cannot laugh, and to me their laughter is more terrible than weeping. Yes, they may be very wise in not glooming over what is inevitable. And certainly, I cannot go so. And I cannot go so far as to say they are wrong, but still at the same time. And assuredly, living seems to me in everything a wasteful and inequitable process. Thus Yergan, while the others passed a very pleasant evening. And presently, when the mass was over, Dorothy and Yurgan went out upon the terrace to the east of Belgard, and so came to an unforgettable world of moonlight. They sat upon a bench of carved stone

Starting point is 01:24:17 near the balustrade, which overlooked the highway. And the boy and the girl gazed wistfully beyond the highway over luminous valleys and treetops. Just so they had sat there, as Juergen perfectly remembered, when Mother Sarita first used this Wednesday. "'My heart's desire,' said Yergan, "'I am sad to-night, for I am thinking of what life will do to us and what awful the years will make of you and me.'

Starting point is 01:24:43 "'My own sweetheart,' says she, and do we not know very well what is to happen? And Dorothy began to talk of all the splendid things that Yurgan was to do, and of the happy life which was to be theirs together. "'It is horrible,' he said, "'for we are more fine than we shall ever be hereafter. We have a splendor for which the world has no employment. It will be wasted, and such wastage is not fair.'

Starting point is 01:25:11 "'But presently you will be so-and-so,' says she, and fondly predicts all manner of noble exploits, which, as Juergen remembered, had once seemed very plausible to him also. Now he had clearer knowledge as to the capacities of the boy of whom he had thought so well. No heart's desire, no, I shall be quite otherwise. And to think how proud I shall be of you, but then I always knew it, I shall tell everyone very condescendingly, No heart's desire, for you will not think of me at all. Ah, sweetheart, and can you really believe that I shall ever care a snap of my fingers for anybody but you? Then Yergan laughed a little, for Hightman Michael came now across the lonely terrace in search of

Starting point is 01:25:59 Madame Dorothy, and Yergan forek knew this was the man to whom within two months of this evening Dorothy was to give her love and all the beauty that was hers, and with whom she was to share the ruinous years which lay ahead. But the girl did not know this, and Dorothy gave a little shrugging gesture. I have promised to dance with him, and so I must. But the old fellow is a great plague. For Heitman Michael was nearing thirty, and this to Dorothy and Yergan was an age that bordered upon senility.

Starting point is 01:26:31 Now, by heaven, said Yergan, wherever Heitman Michael does his next dancing, it will not be hereabouts. Yirgin had decided what he must do. And then Heitman Michael saluted him civilly. But I fear I must rob you of this fair lady, Master Yergan, says he. Yergan remembered that the man had said precisely this a score of years ago, and that Yergan had mumbled polite regrets and had stood aside while Heitman Michael bore off Dorothy to dance with him,

Starting point is 01:27:01 and this dance had been the beginning of intimacy between Heitman Michael and Dorothy. Heitman, said Yergan, "'The bereavement which you threaten is very happily spared me, since, as it happens, the next dance is to be mine.' "'We can but leave it to the lady,' said Heitman Michael, laughing. "'Not I, said Yergan, for I know too well what would come of that. I intend to leave my destiny to no one.' "'Your conduct, Master Yergan, is somewhat strange,' observed Heitman Michael.

Starting point is 01:27:34 "'Ah, but I will show you a thing yet stranger. For look you, There seem to be three of us here on this terrace, yet I can assure you there are four. Read me the riddle, my boy, and have done. The fourth of us, Heitman, is a goddess that wears a speckled garment and has black wings. She can boast of no temples, and no priest cry to her anywhere, because she is the only deity whom no prayers can move or any sacrifices placate. I alludes her to the eldest daughter of Knox and Erebus. You speak of death, I take it.

Starting point is 01:28:11 Your apprehension, Heitman, is nimble. Even so, it is not quick enough, I fear, to forerun the whims of goddesses. Indeed, what person could have foreseen that this implacable lady would have taken such a strong fancy for your company? Ah, my young Bantam, replies Heitman, Michael. It is quite true that she and I are acquainted. I may even boast of having dispatched one or two stout warriors to serve her. her underground. Now, as I divine your meaning, you plan that I should decrease her obligation

Starting point is 01:28:44 by sending her a whippersnapper. My notion, Heitman, is that, since this dark goddess is about to leave us, she should not, in common gallantry, be permitted to go hence unaccompanied. I propose, therefore, that we forthwith decide who is to be her escort. Now Heitman Michael had drawn his sword. You are insane. But you extend an invitation which I have never yet refused. Heitman, cries Yergan, in honest gratitude and admiration, I bear you no ill will, but it is highly necessary you die tonight in order that my soul may not perish too many years before my body.

Starting point is 01:29:25 With that he too whipped out his sword. So they fought. Now Yergan was a very acceptable swordsman, but from the start he found in Hightman Michael his master. Yergan had never reckoned upon that, and he considered it annoying. If Hightman Michael perforated Yergan, the future would be altered, certainly, but not quite as Yergan had decided it ought to be remodeled. So this unlooked-for complication seemed preposterous, and Yergan began to be irritated

Starting point is 01:29:54 by the suspicion that he was getting himself killed for nothing at all. Meanwhile, his unruffled, tall antagonist seemed but to play with Yergan, so that Yergan was steadily forced back toward the balustrade. And presently, Juergen's sword was twisted from his hand and sent flashing over the balustrade into the public highway. "'So now, Master Yergan,' said Hightman, Michael, "'that is the end of your nonsense. Why, no, there is not any occasion to posture like a statue. I do not intend to kill you. Why the devil's name should I? To do so would only get me an ill name with your parents. and besides, it is infinitely more pleasant to dance with this lady, just as I first intended.

Starting point is 01:30:39 And he turned gaily toward Madame Dorothy. But Yerkin found this outcome affairs insufferable. This man was stronger than he. This man was of the sort that takes and uses gallantly all the world's prizes, which mere poets can but respectfully admire. All was to do again. Heidman Michael, in his own hateful phrase, would act just as he had first intended, and Juergen would be brushed aside by the man's brute strength. This man would take away

Starting point is 01:31:08 Dorothy and leave the life of Yurgan to become a business which Yergan remembered with distaste. It was unfair. So Yergan snatched out his dagger and drove it deep into the undefended back of Heitman Michael. Three times young Yergan stabbed and hacked the burly soldier, just underneath the left ribs. Even in his fury, Yergan remembered to strike on the left side. It was all very quickly done. Heidman Michael's arms jerked upward, and in the moonlight his fingers spread and clutched. He made curious gurgling noises. Then the strength went from his knees so that he toppled backward.

Starting point is 01:31:46 His head fell upon Yergen's shoulder, resting there for an instant fraternally. And as Yergan shuddered away from the abhorred contact, the body of Hightman Michael collapsed. Now he lay staring upward, dead at the feet of his murderer. He was horrible looking, but he was quite dead. "'What will become of you?' Dorothy whispered after a while. "'Oh, Yergan, it was fouly done. That which you did was infamous. What will become of you, my dear?' "'I will take my doom,' says Yergan, and without whimpering, so that I get justice.

Starting point is 01:32:23 But I shall certainly insist upon justice.' Then Yergan raised his face to the bright heavens. "'The man was stronger than I, and wanted what I. wanted. So I have compromised with necessity. In the only way I could make sure of getting that which was requisite to me. I cry for justice to the power that gave him strength and gave me weakness, and gave to each of us his desires. That which I have done, I have done. Now judge." Ben Yergan tugged and shoved the heavy body of Hightman Michael until it lay well out of sight, under the bench upon which Yergan and Dorothy had been sitting.

Starting point is 01:33:00 "'Rest there, brave, sir, until they find you. Come to me now my heart's desire. Good, that is excellent. Here I sit with my true love upon the body of my enemy. Justice is satisfied, and all is quite as it should be. For you must understand that I have fallen heir to a fine steed whose bridle is marked with a coronet. Profetically I take it, and upon this steed you will ride pillion with me to Lissuart. There we will find a priest to marry us. We will go together into Gatine. Meanwhile, there was a bit of neglected business to be attended to, and he drew the girl close to him.

Starting point is 01:33:40 For Yergan was afraid of nothing now, and Yergan thought, oh, that I could detain the moment, that I could make some fitting verses to preserve this moment in my own memory. Could I but get into words the odor and the thick softness of this girl's hair as my hands that are a quiver in every nerve of them caress her hair, and get into enduring words the glitter and the cloudy shadowings of her hair in this bedrenching moonlight. For I shall forget all this beauty, or at best I shall remember this moment very dimly. You have done very wrong, says Dorothy, says Juergen to himself. Already the moment passes this miserably happy moment wherein once more life shudders and stands

Starting point is 01:34:26 heart-stricken at the height of bliss. It passes, and I know even as I lift this girl's soft face to mine, and mark what faith and submissiveness and expectancy is in her face, that whatever the future holds for us, and whatever of happiness we too may know hereafter, we shall find no instant happier than this, which passes from us irretrievably while I am thinking about it, poor fool in place of rising to the issue. And heaven only knows what will become of you. Yergan? Says Yergan still to himself. Yes, something must remain to me of all this rapture, though it will be only guilt and sorrow. Something I mean to rest from this high moment, which was once wasted fruitlessly. Now I am wiser, for I know there is not any memory with

Starting point is 01:35:16 less satisfaction in it than the memory of some temptation we resisted. So I will not waste the one real passion I have known, nor leave unfed the one desire which ever caused me for a heartbeat to forget to think about Juergen's welfare. And thus whatever happens, I shall not always regret that I did not avail myself of this girl's love before it was taken from me. So Yurgan made such advances as seemed good to him, and he noted, with amusing memories of how much afraid he had once been of shocking his Dorothy's notions of decorum, that she did not repulse him very vigorously. Here, over a dead body! Oh, Yergan, this is horrible!

Starting point is 01:35:57 Now Yergan, remember that somebody may come any minute, and I thought I could trust you. Ah, and is this the respect you have for me? This much she said in duty. Meanwhile, the eyes of Dorothy were dilated and very tender. Faith, I take no chances this second time, and so, whatever happens, I shall not always regret that which I left undone. Now upon his lips was laughter, and his arms were about the submissive girl, and in his heart

Starting point is 01:36:27 was an unnameable depression and a loneliness, because it seemed to him that this was not the Dorothy whom he had seen in the garden between dawn and sunrise. For in my arms now there is just a very pretty girl who was not over-careful in her dealings with young men, thought Juergen, as their lips met. Well, all life is a compromise, and a pretty girl is something tangible at any rate. So he laughed triumphantly and prepared for the sequel. But as Juergen laughed triumphantly with his arm beneath the head of Dorothy and with the tender face of Dorothy passive beneath his lips and with unreasonable wistfulness in his heart, the castle bell told midnight. What followed was curious, for as Wednesday passed, the face of Dorothy altered, her face roughened under his touch

Starting point is 01:37:16 and her cheeks fell away, and fine lines came about her eyes, and she became about her eyes, and she became the Countess Dorothy, whom Yergan remembered as Hightman Michael's wife. There was no doubt about it, in that bedrenching moonlight. She was leering at him, and he was touching her everywhere, this horrible lascivious woman, who was certainly quite old enough to know better than to permit such liberties. And her breath was sour and nauseous. Yergan drew away from her with a shiver of loathing, and he closed his eyes to shut away that sensual face. "'No,' he said.

Starting point is 01:37:50 "'It would not be fair to what we owe to others. "'In fact, it would be a very heinous sin. "'We should weigh such considerations occasionally, madam.' "'Then Yergan left his tempteress with simple dignity. "'I go to search for my dear wife, madam, "'in a frame of mind which I would strongly advise you "'to adopt toward your husband.' "'And he went straightway down the terraces of Belgarde

Starting point is 01:38:14 "'and turned southward to where his horse was tethered upon Amner and Heath. and Jürgen was feeling very virtuous. End of Chapter 7. Chapter 8 of Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cable. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yergan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 8. Old toys and a new shadow. Yergan had behaved with conspicuous nobility,

Starting point is 01:38:50 Yergan reflected, but he had committed himself. I go in search of my dear wife, he had stated, in the exultation of virtuous sentiments. And now Yergan found himself alone in a world of moonlight just where he had last seen his wife. Well, well, he said, now that my Wednesday is done with, and I am again a reputable pawnbroker, let us remember the advisability of sometimes doing the manly thing. It was into this cave that Lisa went. So into this cave go I, for the same. second time, rather than home to my unsympathetic relatives-in-law. Or at least I think I am going.

Starting point is 01:39:31 I, said a squeaking voice, this is the time, ah ab her huss. High time, oh, more than time. Look, the man in the oak. Oh, ho, the fire drake. Thus many voices screeched and wailed confusedly, but Yergan, staring about him, could see nobody. And all the time tiny voices seemed to come from far overhead, where nothing was visible save the clouds which of a sudden were gathering, for a wind was rising, and already the moon was overcast. Now for a while that noise high in the air became like a wrangling of sparrows, wherein no words were distinguishable. Then said a small, shrill voice distinctly,

Starting point is 01:40:15 "'Not now, sweethearts, how high we pass over the wind vexed teeth, where the gallows burdened creaks and groans, swaying to and fro in the night. Now the rain breaks loose as a hawk from the fowler, and grave Queen Holda draws her tresses over the moon's bright shield. Now the bed is made, and the water drawn, and we the bridesmaids seek for the last who will be bride to scog." said another, "'Oh, search for a maid with golden hair, who is perfect, tender and pure, and fit for a king who is old as love, with no trace of love in him. Even now our grinning, dusty master wakes from sleep, and his yellow fingers shake to think of her flower's soft lips who comes to-night to his lank embrace and warms the ribs

Starting point is 01:41:06 that our eyes have seen. Who will be the bride to sclog? And a third said, The wedding-gown we have brought with us, we that a questing ride, and a maid will go hence on Forgamon in Cleopatra's shroud. Ha! Willa the Whisp will marry the couple. No, no, let Prakiotis. No, be it kit with the candlestick. Eman Hittan, a fight, a fight. Oh, ho, Tom-Tumbler, wear of Stadlin. Has thou the marmaritin tib? Ah, ab hur-hur-hus. Come, Bembo, come away! So they all fell to screeching and

Starting point is 01:41:48 whistling and wrangling high over Juergen's head, and Yergan was not pleased with his surroundings. For these are the witches of Amneron about some deviltry or another in which I prefer to take no part. I now regret that I flung away across in this neighborhood so very recently, and trust the action was understood. If my wife had not made a point of it and had not positively insisted upon it, I would never have thought of doing such a thing. I intended no reflection upon anybody. Even so, I consider this heath to be unwholesome, and upon the whole I prefer to seek whatever I may encounter in this cave. So in went Yergen for the second time. And the tale tells that all was dark there, and Yergan could see no one. But the cave stretched straight forward

Starting point is 01:42:37 and downward, and at the far end was a glow of light. Yergan went on and on, and so came to the place where he had found the centaur. This part of the cave was now vacant, but behind where Nessus had lain and wait for Yergan was an opening in the cave's wall, and through this opening streamed the light. Yergan stooped and crawled through the orifice. He stood erect. He caught his breath sharply. Here at his feet was, of all things, a tomb carved with the recumbent effigy of a woman. Now this part of the cave was lighted by lamps upon tall iron stands, so that everything was clearly visible, even to Jürgen, whose eyesight had of late years failed him. This was certainly

Starting point is 01:43:21 a low, flat tombstone, such as Yurgan had seen in many churches. But the tinted effigy thereupon was curious. Somehow Yergan looked more closely. He touched the thing. Then he recoiled, because there is no mistaking the feel of dead flesh. The effigy was not colored stone. It was the body of a dead woman. More unaccountable still, it was the body of Felista Pusage, whom Yergan had loved very long ago in Gatine, a great many years before he set up business as a pawnbroker. Very strange it was to Yergan again to see her face. He had often wondered what had become of this large brown woman, had wondered if he were really the first man for whom she had put a deceit upon her husband, and had wondered what sort of person Madame Felista Poussand.

Starting point is 01:44:10 had been in reality. Two months it was that we played at intimacy, was it not Felice? You comprehend, my dear, I really remember very little about you. But I recall quite clearly the door left just ajar, and how, as I opened it gently, I would see first of all the lamp upon your dressing-table, turned down almost to extinction, and the glowing dust upon its glass-shade. Is it not strange that our exceeding wickedness should have resulted in nothing save the memory of dust upon a lamp chimney. Yet you were very handsome, Felice. I dare say I would have liked you

Starting point is 01:44:48 if I had ever known you. But when you told me of the child you had lost and showed me his baby picture, I took a dislike to you. It seemed to me you were betraying that child by dealing over generously with me, and always between us afterward was his little ghost. Yet I did not at all mind the deceit you put upon your husband. It is true I knew your husband rather intimately. Well, and they tell me the good Viscont was vastly pleased by the son you bore him some months after you and I had parted. So, there was no great harm done after all. Then Yergan saw there was another woman's body lying like an effigy upon another low, low, flat tomb, and beyond that another, and then still others, and Yergan whistled. "'What, all of them?' he said. "'Am I to be confronted with

Starting point is 01:45:38 every pound of tender flesh I have embraced? Yes, here is grain, and Rosamund, and Markov, and Eleanor. This girl, though, I do not remember at all. And this one is, I think, the little Jewess I purchased from Hassan Bay in Sidon, but how can one be sure? Still, this is certainly Judith, and this is Marina. I have half a mind to look again for that mole, but I suppose it would be indecorous. Lord, how once women do add up. There must be several scores of them in all. It is the sort of spectacle that turns a man to serious thinking. Well, but it is a great comfort to reflect that I dealt fairly with every one of them. Several of them treated me most unjustly, too. But that has passed and done with,

Starting point is 01:46:25 and I bear no malice towards such fickle and short-sighted creatures as could not be contented with one lover, and he, the Yergan that was. Thereafter, Yergan, standing among his dead, spread out his arms in an embracing gesture. Hail to you, ladies, and farewell, for you and I have done with love. Well, love is very pleasant to observe as he advances, overthrowing all ancient memories with laughter. And yet, for each gay lover who conceives the lordship of love and wears intrepidly love's liveries, the end of all is death. Love's sewing is more agreeable than love's harvest. Or, let us put it, he allures us into byways leading no wither, among blossoms

Starting point is 01:47:12 which fall before the first rough wind. So, at the last, with much excitement and breath and valuable time quite wasted, we find that the end of all is death. Then, would it have been more shrewd, dear ladies, to have avoided love? To the contrary, we were unspeakably wise to indulge the high-hearted insanity that love induced. since love alone can lend young people rapture, however transient in a world wherein the result of every human endeavor is transient, and the end of all is death. Then Yergen courteously bowed to his dead loves, and left them and went forward as the cave stretched. But now the light was behind him, so that Yergen's shadow, as he came to a sharp turn in the cave, loom suddenly upon the cave wall,

Starting point is 01:48:01 confronting him. The shadow was clear-cut and unarguable. Yergan regarded it intently. He turned this way, then the other. He looked behind him, raised one hand, shook his head tentatively. Then he twisted his head sideways with his chin well-lifted and squinted so as to get a profile view of this shadow. Whatever Yergan did, the shadow repeated, which was natural enough. The odd part was that it in nothing resembled the shadow which ought to attend any man, and this was an uncomfortable discovery to make in loneliness deep underground. "'I do not exactly like this,' said Yergan.

Starting point is 01:48:43 "'Upon my word, I do not like this at all. It does not seem fair. It is perfectly preposterous.' "'Well—' And here he shrugged. Well, and what could anybody expect me to do about it? And what indeed? So I shall treat the incident with dignified contempt and contentious. continue my exploration of this cave. End of Chapter 8. Chapter 9. Of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 01:49:22 Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 9. The Orthodox Rescue of Guinevere. Now the tale tells how the cave narrowed and again turned sharply, so that Yergan came as through a corridor, into quite another sort of underground chamber. Yet this also was a discomfortable place. Here, suspended from the roof of the vault, was a kettle of quivering red flames. These lighted a very old and villainous-looking man in full armor, girded with a sword and crowned royally. He sat erect upon a throne, motionless, with staring eyes that saw nothing.

Starting point is 01:50:01 Back of him, Yergan noted many warriors seated in rows, and all staring at Yergan with wide-open eyes that saw nothing. The red flaming of the kettle was reflected in all these eyes, and to observe this was not pleasant. Yergan waited noncommittally. Nothing happened. Then Yergan saw that at this unengaging monarch's feet were three chests. The lids had been ripped from two of them, and these were filled with silver coins. Upon the middle chest, immediately before the king, sat a woman, with her face resting against the knees of the glaring, withered, motionless old rascal. And this is a young woman, obviously. Observe the glint of that thick coil of hair,

Starting point is 01:50:47 the rich curve of the neck. Oh, clearly, a tidbit fit to fight for against any moderate odds. So ran the thoughts of Ergen. Bold as a dragon now, he stepped forward and lifted the girl's head. Her eyes were closed. She was even so, the most beautiful creature Yergen had ever imagined. She does not breathe, and yet, unless memory fails me, this is certainly a living woman in my arms. Evidently, this is a sleep induced by necromancy. Well, it is not for nothing I have read so many fairy tales. There are orthodoxies to be observed in the awakening of every enchanted princess. And Lisa, wherever she may be, poor dear, is nowhere in this neighborhood, because I hear nobody talking. So I may consider myself at liberty to do the traditional thing by this princess.

Starting point is 01:51:41 Indeed, it is the only fair thing for me to do, and justice demands it. In consequence, Yergan kissed the girl. Her lips parted and softened, and they assumed a not-unpleasant sort of submissive ardor. Her eyes, enormous when seen thus closely, had languorously opened, had viewed him without wonder, and then the lids had fallen about halfway, just as Yergan remembered the eyelids of a woman ought to do when she is being kissed properly. She clung a little, and now she shivered a little, but not with cold. Yergan perfectly remembered that ecstatic shudder convulsing a woman's body. Everything in fine was quite as it should be. So Yergan put an end to the kiss, which, as you may surmise, was a tolerably

Starting point is 01:52:27 lengthy affair. His heart was pounding as though determined to burst from his body, and he could feel the blood tingling at his fingertips. He wondered what in the world had come over him, who was too old for such emotions. Yet truly this was the loveliest girl that Yergan had ever imagined. Fair was she to look on, with her shining gray eyes and small smiling lips. A fairer person might no man boast of having seen. And she regarded Yergan graciously, with her cheeks flushed by that red flickering overhead, and she was very lovely to observe. She was clothed in a robe of flame-colored silk, and about her neck was a collar of red gold. When she spoke, her voice was music. "'I knew that you would come,' the girl said happily. "'I am very glad that I came,'

Starting point is 01:53:20 observed Jirgin. But time presses. Time sets an admirable example, my dear princess. Oh, monsieur, but you do not perceive that you have brought life into this horrible place. You have given of this life to me, in the most direct and speedy fashion. But life is very contagious. Already it is spreading by infection. And Yergan regarded the old king, as the girl indicated.

Starting point is 01:53:47 The withered ruffian stayed motionless. but from his nostrils came slow augmenting jets of vapor, as though he were beginning to breathe in a chill place. This was odd because the cave was not cold. And all the others too are snorting smoke, said Juergen. Upon my word, I think this is a delightful place to be leaving. First, though, he unfastened the king's sword-belt and girded himself therewith, sword, dagger, and all.

Starting point is 01:54:16 "'Now I have arms befitting my fine shirt,' says Yergan. Then the girl showed him a sort of passageway, by which they ascended forty-nine steps, roughly hewn in stone, and so came to daylight. At the top of the stairway was an iron trap-door, and this door at the girl's instruction Yurgan lowered. There was no way of fastening the door from without. But Thragnar is not to be stopped by bolts or padlocks, the girl said. Instead, we must straightway mark this door with a cross, since that is a symbol which Thragnar cannot pass.

Starting point is 01:54:53 Yergan's hand had gone instinctively to his throat. Now he shrugged. My dear young lady, I no longer carry the cross. I must fight Thragnar with other weapons. Two sticks will serve, laid crosswise. Yergan submitted that nothing would be easier than to lift the trap-door and thus dislodge the stick. They will tumble apart without anyone having to touch them, and then what becomes of your crucifix.

Starting point is 01:55:21 Why, how quickly you think of everything, she said admiringly. Here is a strip from my sleeve, then. We will tie the twigs together. Yergan did this, and laid upon the trap-door a recognizable crucifix. Still, when anyone raises the trap-tor, whatever lies upon it will fall off. Without disparaging the potency of your charm, I cannot but observe. that, in this case, it is peculiarly difficult to handle. Magician or no, I would put hardier faith in a stout padlock. So the girl tore another strip from the hem of her gown

Starting point is 01:55:55 and then another from her right sleeve, and with these they fastened their cross to the surface of the trap-door, in such a fashion that the twigs could not be dislodged from beneath. They mounted the fine steed whose bridle was marked with the coronet, the girl riding pillion, and they turned westward, since the girl said this was best. For as she now told Yergan, she was Gwynnevere, the daughter of Gowgirvin, king of Galathian and the Red Islands.

Starting point is 01:56:22 So Yergan told her he was the Duke of Ligraeus, because he felt it was not appropriate for a pawnbroker to be rescuing princesses, and he swore too that he would restore her safely to her father, whatever Thragnor might attempt. And all the story of her nefarious capture and imprisonment by King Thragnar did Dame Gwain Renever relate to Juergen as they row together through the pleasant May morning. She considered the Troll King could not well molest them. For now you have his charmed sword, Caliburn, the only weapon with which Thragnar can be slain. Besides, the sign of the cross he cannot pass. He beholds and trembles.

Starting point is 01:57:03 My dear princess, he has but to push up the trap-door from beneath, and the cross, being tied to the trap-door, is promptly moved out of his way. Failing this expedient, he can always come out of the cave by the other opening, through which I entered. If this Thragnar has any intelligence at all and a reasonable amount of tenacity, he will presently be at hand. Even so, he can do no harm unless we accept a present from him. The difficulty is that he will come in disguise. Why, then, we will accept gifts from nobody. There is, moreover, a sign by which you may distinguish Thragnar. For if you did not, deny what he says, he will promptly concede you are right. This was the curse put upon him

Starting point is 01:57:47 by Miramon Luager for a detection and a hindrance. By that unhuman trait, says Yergan, Thragnar ought to be very easy to distinguish. End of Chapter 9. Chapter 10. Of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, a comedy of justice Chapter 10 Pitiful Disguises of Thragnar Next the tale tells that as Yergan and the princess were nearing Gien A man came writing toward them, full armed in black

Starting point is 01:58:31 and having a red serpent with an apple in its mouth painted upon his shield. Sir Knight, says he, speaking hollowly from the closed helmet. You must yield to me that lady. I think, says Yergan civilly, that you are mistaken. So they fought, and presently, since Caliburn was a resistless weapon, and he who wore the scabbard of Caliburn could not be wounded, Yergan prevailed, and he gave the strange night so heavy a buffet that the knight fell senseless. Do you think, says Yergan, about to unlace his antagonist's helmet, that this is Thragnar?

Starting point is 01:59:10 There is no possible way of telling. replied Dame Guinevere. If it is the Troll King, he should have offered you gifts, and when you contradicted him he should have admitted you were right. Instead he proffered nothing, and to contradiction he answered nothing, so that proves nothing. But silence is a proverbial form of assent. At all events, we will have a look at him.

Starting point is 01:59:35 But that too will prove nothing, since Ragnar goes about his mischief so disguised by enchantments, as invariably to resemble somebody else and not himself at all. Such dishonest habits introduce an element of uncertainty I grant you, says Juergen. Still, one can rarely err by keeping on the safe side. This person is, in any event, a very ill-bred fellow, with probably immoral intentions. Yes, caution is the main thing, and injustice to ourselves, we will keep on the safe side. So without elusing the helmet, he struck off the strange knight's head and left him thus. The princess was now mounted on the horse of their deceased assailant.

Starting point is 02:00:18 Assuredly, said Yergan then, a magic sword is a fine thing, and a very necessary equipment, too, for a knight-errant of my age. But you talk as though you were an old man, Monsieur de la Gras. Come now, thinks Yergan, this is a princess of rare discrimination. What, after all, is forty and something when one is well preserved? This uncommonly intelligent girl reminds me a little of Marquois, whom I loved in Artan. Besides, she does not look at me as women look at an elderly man. I like this princess. In fact, I adore this princess.

Starting point is 02:00:57 I wonder now what would she say if I told her as much? But Yergan did not tempt chance that time, for just then the encountering. encountered a boy who had frizzed hair and painted cheeks. He walked mincingly in a curious garb of black bespangled with gold lozenges, and he carried a gilded dung fork. Then Yergan and the princess came to a black and silver pavilion standing by the roadside. At the door of the pavilion was an apple tree in blossom. From a branch of this tree was suspended a black hunting horn, silver-mounted. A woman waited there alone. Before her was a chessboard, with his the ebony and silver pieces set ready for a game, and upon the table to her left hand glittered

Starting point is 02:01:42 flagons and goblets of silver. Eagerly this woman rose and came toward the travelers. "'Oh, my dear Yergen,' says she, "'but how fine you look in that new shirt you are wearing! But there was never a man who had better taste in dress, as I have always said. And it is long I have waited for you in this pavilion which belongs to a black gentleman who seems to be a great friend of yours. And he went into crim-tartary this morning, with some missionaries, by the worst piece of luck, for I know how sorry he will be to miss you, dear. Now, but I am forgetting that you must be very tired and thirsty, my darling, after your travels. So do you and the young lady have a sip of this, and then we will be telling one another of our adventures? For this woman had the appearance

Starting point is 02:02:30 of Juergen's wife, Dame Lisa, and of none other. Yergan regarded her with two minds. You certainly seem to be Lisa, but it is a long while since I saw Lisa in such an amiable mood. You must know, says she, still smiling, that I have learned to appreciate you since we are separated. The fiend who stole you from me may possibly have brought about that wonder. Nonetheless, you have met me writing at adventure with a young woman, and you have assaulted neither of us. You have not even raised your voice. No, quite decidedly, here is a miracle beyond the power of any fiend. Ah, but I have been doing a great deal of thinking, Yergan, dear, as to our difficulties

Starting point is 02:03:15 in the past, and it seems to me that you were almost always in the right. Gwynnever nudged Yergan. Did you note that? This is certainly Thragnar in disguise. I am beginning to think that, at all events, it is not Lisa. Then Yergan magisterially cleared his throat. "'Lisa, if you indeed be, Lisa, you must understand I am through with you. The plain truth is that you tire me.

Starting point is 02:03:44 You talk and talk. No woman breathing equals you at mere volume and continuity of speech. But you say nothing that I have not heard seven hundred and eighty times, if not oftener.' "'You are perfectly right, my dear,' says Dame Lisa piteously. But then I never pretended to be as clever as you. Spare me your beguilements, if you please. And besides, I am in love with this princess. Now spare me your recriminations also, for you have no real right to complain.

Starting point is 02:04:17 If you had stayed the person whom I promised the priest to love, I would have continued to think the world of you. But you did nothing of the sort. From a cuddlesome and merry girl who thought whatever I did was done to perfection, you elected to develop into an uncommonly plain and short-tempered old woman. And Jorgon paused. "'Eh?' says he. "'And did you not do this?'

Starting point is 02:04:39 "'Dame Lisa answered sadly. "'My dear, you are perfectly right, from your way of thinking. However, I could not very well help getting older.' "'But, oh, dear me,' says Jurgen, "'this is astonishingly inadequate impersonation, as any married man would see at once. Well, I may no contract to love any such plain and short-tempered person. I repudiate the claims of any such person as manifestly unfair,

Starting point is 02:05:09 and I pledge undying affection to this high and noble Princess Gwynnevere, who is the fairest lady that I have ever seen. "'You are right,' wailed Dame Lisa, and I was entirely to blame. It was because I loved you and wanted you to get on in the world and be a credit to my father's line of business that I was. I nagged you so. But you will never understand the feelings of a wife, nor will you understand that even now I desire your happiness above all else. Here is our wedding-ring, then, Yergan. I give you back your

Starting point is 02:05:43 freedom, and I pray that this princess may make you very happy, my dear, for surely you deserve a princess, if ever any man did.' Yergan shook his head. It is astounding that a demon so much talked about should be so poor an impersonator. It raises the staggering supposition that the majority of married women must go to heaven. As for your ring, I am not accepting gifts this morning from anyone. But you understand, I trust, that I am hopelessly enamored of the princess on account of her beauty. Oh, and I cannot blame you, my dear. She is the loveliest person I have ever seen. Ha! Thragnar, says Yergan. I have you now. A woman might. A woman might. just possibly, have granted her own homelessness.

Starting point is 02:06:32 But no woman that ever breathed would have conceded the princess had a ray of good looks. So with Calaburn he smote and struck off the head of this thing which foolishly pretended to be Dame Lisa. "'Well done! Oh, bravely done!' cried Gwynnevere. Now the enchantment is dissolved, and Thragnar is slain by my clever champion.

Starting point is 02:06:55 I could wish there were some sure sign of that, said Yergan. I would have preferred that the pavilion and the decapitated troll king had vanished with a peal of thunder and an earthquake, and such other phenomena as are customary. Instead, nothing is changed, except that the woman who was talking to me a moment since now lies at my feet in a very untidy condition. You conceive, madam, I used to tease her about that twisted little finger in the days before we began to squabble. And it annoys me that Thragnar should not have omitted

Starting point is 02:07:30 even Lisa's crooked little finger on her left hand. Yes, such pains taking carefulness worries me. For you conceive also, madam, it would be more or less awkward if I had made an error, and if the appearance were in reality would it seem to be, because I was pretty trying sometimes. At all events I have done that which seemed equitable, and I have found no comfort in the doing of it, and I do not like this place.

Starting point is 02:07:55 place. End of chapter 10. Chapter 11. Of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox according is in the public domain. Yergan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 11. Appearance of the Duke of Lagraeus.

Starting point is 02:08:21 So Yirgin brushed from the table the chessmen that were set there in readiness for a game, and he emptied the silver flagons upon the ground. His reasons for not. meddling with the horn he explained to the princess. She shivered and said that, such being the case, he was certainly very sensible. Then they mounted and departed from the black and silver pavilion. They came thus without further adventure to Gauir van Gar's city of Camilliard. Now there was shouting and the bells all rang when the people knew their princess was returned to them. The houses were hung with painted cloths and banners, and trumpets sounded,

Starting point is 02:08:57 as Guinevere and Yergan came to the king in his hall of judgment. And this Gowgirvin, that was king of Glafion and Lord of Enniscarth and Comwe and Sargill, came down from his wide throne, and he embraced first Gwynnevere, then Yurgan. And demand of me what you will, Duke of Ligreus, said Gowgirvin, when he had heard the champion's name. And it is yours for the asking, for you have restored to me the best loved daughter that ever was the pride of a high king. "'Sir,' replied Yergan reasonably, "'a service rendered so gladly should be its own reward. "'So I am asking that you do in turn restore to me the Princess Gwynivere in honorable marriage.

Starting point is 02:09:41 "'Do you understand, because I am a poor lone widower? I am tolerably certain. "'But I am quite certain I love your daughter with my whole heart.' Thus, Yergan, whose periods were confused by emotion. "'I do not see what the condition of your heart has to do with any such unreasonable request. And you have no good sense to be asking this thing of me when here are the servants of Arthur, that is now king of the Britons, come to ask for my daughter as his wife. That you are Duke of Lagraeus you tell me, and I concede a duke is all very

Starting point is 02:10:13 well. But I expect you in return to concede a king takes precedence, with any man whose daughter is marriageable. But to-morrow, or the next day it may be, you and I will talk over your reward more privately. Meanwhile, it is very queer and very frightened you are looking to be the champion who conquered Thragnar. For Yergan was staring at the great mirror behind the king's throne. In this mirror Yergan saw the back of Gaugervin's crowned head, and beyond this Yergan saw a queer and frightened-looking young fellow, with sleek black hair and an impudent nose, and wide-open, bright brown eyes which were staring hard at Yergan. And the lads very red and very red and very heavy lips were parted, so that you saw what fine, strong teeth he had, and he wore a glittering

Starting point is 02:11:03 shirt with curious figures on it. "'I was thinking,' said Yergan, and he saw the lad in the mirror was speaking too. "'I was thinking that is a remarkable mirror you have there.' "'It is like any other mirror,' replies the king, in that it shows things as they are. "'But if you fancy it is your reward, why take it and welcome?' "'And you are still talking of reward?' wards, cries Yergen. Why, if that mirror shows things as they are, I have come out of my borrowed Wednesday still twenty-one. Oh, but it was the clever fellow I was, to flatter Mother Sarita so

Starting point is 02:11:40 cunningly, and to fool her into such generosity. And I wonder that you, who are only a king, with bleared eyes under your crown and with a drooping belly under all your royal robes, should be talking of rewarding a fine young fellow of twenty-one, for there is nothing you have have which I need be wanting now. Then you will not be plaguing me any more with your nonsense about my daughter, and that is excellent news. But I have no requirement to be asking your good graces now, said Yergan, nor the good will of any man alive that has a handsome daughter or a handsome wife. For now I have the aid of a lad that was very recently made Duke of Lagraeus, and with his countenance I can look out for myself, and I can get justice done me everywhere,

Starting point is 02:12:27 in all the bedchambers of the world!' And Yergan snapped his fingers, and was about to turn away from the king. There was much sunlight in the hall, so that Yergan, in his half-turned, confronted his shadow as it lay plainly upon the flagstones, and Yergan looked at it very intently. "'Of course,' said Yergan presently, "'I only meant it in a manner of speaking, sir, and was paraphrasing the splendid, if hackney passage from Sornatius,

Starting point is 02:12:55 with which you are doubtless familiar, in which he goes on to say, so much more beautifully than I could possibly express without quoting him word for word, that all this was spoken jestingly, and without the least intention of offending anybody, oh, anybody whatever, I can assure you, sir.' "'Very well,' said Gowgir van Gar, and he smiled, for no reason that was apparent to Yergan, who was still watching his shadow sideways. "'Tomorrow, I repeat, I must talk with you more privately. Today I am giving a banquet, such as was never known in these parts,

Starting point is 02:13:30 because my daughter is restored to me, and because my daughter is going to be queen over all the Britons.' "'So said Golgirvin. That was King of Glathion and Lord of Eniskarth and Camwe and Sargill, and this was done.' And everywhere at the banquet Yergan heard talk of this King Arthur, who was to marry Dame Gwynnevere, and of the prophecy which Merlin Ambrosius had made as to the young monarch. For Merlin had predicted, He shall afford succor, and shall tread upon the necks of his enemies.

Starting point is 02:14:02 The isles of the ocean shall be subdued by him, and he shall possess the forests of Gaul. The house of Romulus shall fear his rage, and his acts shall be food for the narrators. Why then, says Juergen to himself, this monarch reminds me in all things of David of Israel, who was so splendid and famous, and so greedy in the ancient ages. For to these forests and islands and necks and other possessions, this Arthur Pendragon must be adding my one-you-lam, and I'd like a Nathan to convert him to repentance. Now but this, to be sure, is a very unfair thing. Then Yergan looked again into a mirror, and presently the eyes of the lead he found therein

Starting point is 02:14:45 began to twinkle. "'Have at you, David,' said Yergan. valorously, since, after all, I see no reason to despair. End of Chapter 11. Chapter 12. Of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Yergan, A Comedy of Justice.

Starting point is 02:15:15 Chapter 12. Excursus of Yolanda's undoing. Now Yergan, self-appointed Duke of Lagraeus, abode at the Court of King Ogirvin. The month of May passed quickly and pleasantly, but the monstrous shadow which followed Yergen did not pass. Still no one noticed it. That was the main thing. For himself he was not afraid of shadows, and the queerness of this one was not enough to distract his thoughts from Guinevere, nor from his love-making with Guinevere. For these were quiet times in Glathion, now that the war with Reince of North Gallus was satisfactorily ended, and love-making

Starting point is 02:15:54 was now everywhere in vogue. By way of diversion, gentlemen hunted and fished and rode a hawking and amicably slashed and battered one another in tournaments. But their really serious pursuit was love-making, after the manner of chivalrous persons, who knew that the king's trumpets would presently be summoning them into less softly furnished fields of action, from one or another of which they would return feet foremost on a beer. So Yergan sighed and warbled and made eyes with many excellent fighting men, and the princess listened with many other ladies whose hearts were not of flint.

Starting point is 02:16:30 And Gogirvin meditated. Now it was the kingly custom of Gogirvin when his dinner was spread at noontide, not to go to meet until all such as demanded justice from him had been furnished with a champion to redress the wrong. One day as the gaunt old king sat thus in his main hall, upon a seat of green rushes, cover with yellow satin, and with a cushion of yellow satin under his elbow, and with his barons ranged about him according to their degrees, a damsel came with a very heart-rending

Starting point is 02:17:00 tale of the oppression that was on her. Gogirvin blinked at her and nodded. "'You are the handsomest woman I have seen in a long while,' says he irrelevantly. "'You are a woman I have waited for. Duke Yergan of L'Graeus will undertake this adventure.' "'There being no help for it, Yergan rode off with this Dame Yolanda, not very well pleased. but as they rode he jested with her. And so, with much laughter, by the way, Yolanda conducted him to the Green Castle, of which she had been dispossessed by Grimagg,

Starting point is 02:17:35 a most formidable giant. "'Now prepare to meet your death, Sir Knight!' cried Grimagog, laughing horribly and brandishing his club. "'For all the knights who come hither I have sworn to slay!' "'Well, if truth-telling were a sin, you would be a very virtuous giant. says Juergen, and he flourished Thragnar's sword, resistless Caliburn. Then they fought, and Yergan killed Grimagog.

Starting point is 02:18:02 Thus was the green castle restored to Dame Yolanda, and the maidens who attended her aforetime were duly released from the cellarage. They were now maidens by courtesy only, but so tender as the heart of women that they all wept over Grimagg. Yolanda was very grateful and proffered every manner of reward. But no, I will take none of the men of the word. these fine jewels, nor money, nor lands either, says Juergen. For L'Ogras, I must tell you, is a fairly well-to-do duchy, and the killing of giants is by way

Starting point is 02:18:34 of being my favorite pastime. He is well-paid, that is well satisfied. Yet if you must reward me for such a little service, do you swear to do what you can to get me the love of my lady, and that will suffice. Yolanda, without any particular enthusiasm, consented to attempt this, and indeed Yolanda, at Yergan's request, made oath upon the four evangelists that she would do everything within her power to aid him. "'Very well,' said Yergan. You have sworn, and it is you whom I love.' Surprise now made her lovely. Yolanda was frankly delighted at the thought of marrying the young Duke of Ligreus, and offered to send for a priest at once. "'My dear,' said Juergen,

Starting point is 02:19:19 "'there is no need to bother a priest about our private affairs.' She took his meaning and sighed. "'Now I regret,' said she, "'that I made so solemn an oath. Your trick was unfair.' "'Oh, not at all,' said Jurgen, and presently you will not regret it, for indeed the game is well worth the candle.'

Starting point is 02:19:41 "'How is that shown, Monsieur de Ligreus?' Why, by candlelight, says Juergen, naturally. In that event, we will talk no further of it until this evening. So that evening Yolanda sent for him. She was, as Gowgirvin had said, a remarkably handsome woman, sleek and sumptuous and crowned with a wealth of copper-colored hair. Tonight she was at her best in a tunic of shimmering blue, with a circuit of gold embroidery,

Starting point is 02:20:10 and with gold-embroidered pendent sleeves that touched the floor. Thus she was when Yergen came to her. "'Now,' says Yolanda, frowning, "'you may as well come out straightforwardly with what you are hinting at this morning.' But first Yergan looked about the apartment, and it was lighted by a tall gilt stand whereon burned candles.

Starting point is 02:20:32 He counted these, and he whistled. "'Seven candles! Upon my word, sweetheart, you do me great honor, for this is a veritable illumination. to think of it now that you should honor me as people do saints with seven candles. Well, I am only mortal, but nonetheless I am Yergan, and I shall endeavor to repay this sevenfold courtesy without discount. "'O Monsieur de la Gras!' cried Dame Yolanda,

Starting point is 02:21:00 "'but what incomprehensible nonsense you talk! You misinterpret matters, for I can assure you I had nothing of that sort in mind. besides, I do not know what you are talking about. Indeed, I must warn you that my actions often speak more unmistakably than my words. It is what learned persons term an idiosyncrasy. And I certainly do not see how any of the saints can be concerned in this. If you had said the four evangelists now, for we were talking of the four evangelists you remember this morning.

Starting point is 02:21:33 Oh, but how stupid it is of you, Monsieur de Lagreus, to stand there grinning and looking at me in a way that makes me blush. Well, that is easily remedied, said Yergan, as he blew out the candles, since women do not blush in the dark. What do you plan, Mr. de Ligreus? Ah, do not be alarmed, said Yergan. I shall deal fairly with you. And in fact, Yulana confessed afterward that, considering everything, Mr. de

Starting point is 02:22:02 Ligreus was very generous. Yergan confessed nothing, and as the room was profoundly dark, Nobody else can speak with authority as to what happened there. It suffices that the Duke of Lagraeus and the Lady of the Green Castle parted later on the most friendly terms. "'You have undone me with your games and your candles and your scrupulous returning of courtesies,' said Yolanda, and yawned for she was sleepy. "'But I fear that I do not hate you as much as I ought to.' "'No woman ever does,' said Yergan, at this hour.

Starting point is 02:22:37 He called for breakfast, then kissed Yolanda, for this, as Juergen had said, was their hour of parting, and he rode away from the Green Castle in high spirits. "'Why would a thing it is again to be a fine young fellow?' said Juergen. "'Well, even though her big brown eyes protrude too much, something like a lobsters, she is a splendid woman, that dame Yolanda. And it is a comfort to reflect I have seen justice was done her.' Then he rode back to Camillard, singing with delight in the thought that he was writing toward the Princess Gwynivir, whom he loved with his whole heart. End of Chapter 12

Starting point is 02:23:18 Chapter 13 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yirgin, a Comedy of Justice. Chapter 13. Philosophy of Gogirvin Gar At Camillard, the young Duke of Legreus spent most of his time in the company of Guinevere, whose father made no objection overtly. Gogirvin had his promised talk with Yergan.

Starting point is 02:23:55 I lament that Dame Yolanda dealt over thriftily with you, the king said first of all, for I estimated you two would be as spark and tinder, kindling between you an amorous conflagration to burn up all this nonsense about my daughter. "'Thrift, sir,' said Juergen discreetly, "'is a proverbial virtue, and fires may not consume true love.' "'That is the truth,' Goirvin admitted. "'Whoever says it.' And he sighed.

Starting point is 02:24:25 Then for a while he sat in nodding meditation. Tonight the old king wore a disreputably rusty gown of black stuff, with fur about the neck and sleeves of it, and his scant white hair was covered by a very shabby black cap. so he huddled over a small fire in a large stone fireplace carved with shields. Beside him was white wine and red, which stayed untasted while Gogirvin meditated upon things that fretted him. "'Now then,' says Gogirvindgar,

Starting point is 02:24:57 "'this marriage with the High King of the Britons must go forward, of course. That was settled last year, when Arthur and his devilmongers, the Lady of the Lake and Merlin Ambrosius, were at some pains to rescue me at caroets. I estimate that Arthur's ambassadors, probably the devilmongers themselves, will come for my daughter before June is out. Meanwhile, you two have youth and love for playthings, and it is spring. "'What is the season of the year to me?' groaned Yergan, when I reflect that within a week or so the lady of my heart will be borne away from me forever. How can I be happy when

Starting point is 02:25:34 all the while I know the long years of misery and vain regret are near at hand? You are saying that, observed the king, in part because you drank too much last night, and in part because you think it is expected of you. For in point of fact, you are as happy as anyone is permitted to be in this world, through the simple reason that you are young. Misery, as you employ the word, I consider to be a poetical trove. But I can assure you that the moment you are no longer young, the years of vain regret will begin either way.

Starting point is 02:26:11 "'That is true,' said Juergen heartily. "'How do you know? Now then, put it I were insane enough to marry my daughter to a mere duke. You would grow damnably tired of her. I can assure you of that also, for indisposition Guinevere is her sainted mother all over again. She is nice looking, of course, because in that she takes after my side of the family. but between ourselves she is not particularly intelligent, and she will always be making eyes at some man or another. Today it appears to be your turn to serve as her target, in a fine glittering shirt of which the like was never seen in Glathion. I deplore, but even so I cannot

Starting point is 02:26:55 deny, your rights as the champion who rescued her, and I must bid you make the most of that turn. Meanwhile it occurs to me, sir, that it is unusual to betroth your daughter to one man and permit her to go freely with another. If you insist upon it, said Gauirvengar, I can, of course, lock up the pair of you in separate dungeons until the wedding day. Meanwhile, it occurs to me that you should be the last commentator to grumble. Why, I tell you plainly, sir, that critical persons would say you are taking very small care of your daughter's honor." To that there are several answers, replied the king.

Starting point is 02:27:37 One is that I remember my late wife as tenderly as possible, and I reflect I have only her word for it as to Guinevere's being my daughter. Another is that, though my daughter is a quiet and well-conducted young woman, I never heard King Thragnar was anything of this sort. "'Oh, sir,' said Yergan, horrified. "'Whatever are you hinting?' All sorts of things, however, happen in caves, things which it is wiser to ignore in sunlight. So I ignore. I ask no questions. My business is to marry my daughter acceptably,

Starting point is 02:28:15 and that only. Such discoveries as may be made by her husband afterward are his affair, not mine. This much I might tell you, Monsieur de la Greas, by way of answer. But the real answer is to bid you consider this, that a woman's honor is, is concerned with one thing only, and it is a thing with which the honor of a man is not concerned at all. But now you talk in riddles, King, and I wonder what it is you would have me do." Gogirvin grinned. Obviously, I advise you to give thanks you were born a man, because that sturdier sex has

Starting point is 02:28:52 so much less need to bother over breakage. "'What sort of breakage, sir?' says Yergan. Gogirvin told him. Duke Juergen for the second time looked properly horrified. Your aphorisms king are abominable, and of a sort unlikely to quiet my misery. However, we were speaking of your daughter, and it is she who must be considered rather than I. Now I perceive that you take my meaning perfectly. Yes, in all matters which concern my daughter, I would have you lie like a gentleman.

Starting point is 02:29:27 "'Well, I am afraid, sir,' said Juergen, after a pause, "'that you were a person of somewhat degraded ideals. Ah, but you are young. Youth can afford ideals, being vigorous enough to stand the hard knocks they earn their possessor. But I am an old fellow, cursed with a tender heart and tolerably keen eyes. That combination, Monsieur de Ligres, is one which very often forces me to jeer out of season, simply because I know myself to be upon the verge of far more untimely tears.

Starting point is 02:30:01 Thus, Gogirvin replied. He was silent for a while, and he contemplated the fire. Then he waved a shriveled hand toward the window, and Gogirvin began to speak meditatively. "'Missor de la Gras, it is night in my city of Camilliard. And somewhere one of those roofs harbors a girl whom we will call Annette. She has a lover. We will say he is called Sagrimor. The names do not matter. Tonight, as I speak with you, Lynette lies motionless in the carved wide bed that formerly was her mother's. She is thinking of

Starting point is 02:30:37 Sagrimor. The room is dark, save where moonlight silvers the diamond-shaped panes of ancient windows. In every corner of the room, mysterious, quivering suggestions lurk. "'Ah, sire,' says Yergan, "'you also are. a poet. Do not interrupt me, then. Lynette, I repeat, is thinking of Sagrimor. Again they sit near the lake under an apple tree older than Rome. The knotted branches of the tree are upraised, as in benediction, and petals, petals fluttering, drifting, turning, interminable white petals fall silently in the stillness. Neither speaks, for there is no need. Silently he brushes a pedal from the blackness of her hair, and silently he kisses her. The lake is dusky,

Starting point is 02:31:31 and hard-seeming as jade. Two lonely stars hang low in the green sky. It is droll that the chest of a man is hairy, oh very droll, and a bird is singing, a silvery needle of sound moves fitfully in the stillness. Surely high heaven is thus quietly colored, and thus strangely lovely. So at least, thinks little Lynette, lying motionless like a little mouse in the carved wide bed wherein Lynette was born. A very moving touch that, Yergan interpolated. Now there is another sort of singing. For now the pothouse closes, big shutters bang, feet shuffle, a drunken man hiccoffs in his singing. It is a love-song he is murdering. He sheds inexplicable tears as he lurches nearer and nearer.

Starting point is 02:32:24 to Lynette's window, and his heart is all magnanimity, for Sagrimor is celebrating his latest conquest. Do you not think that this or something very like this is happening tonight in my city of Camillard, Monsieur de Lagreus?' "'It happens momently,' said Yergan, everywhere, for thus is every woman for a little while, and thus is every man for all time.' "'That being a dreadful truth,' continued Gowgirvin, you may take it as one of the many reasons why I jeer out of season in order to stave off far more untimely tears. For this thing happens. In my city it happens, and in my castle it happens. King or no, I am powerless to prevent its happening. So I can but shrug and hearten my old blood

Starting point is 02:33:13 with a fresh bottle. No less, I regard the young woman, who is quite possibly my daughter, with considerable affection, and it would be salutary for you to remember that circumstance, Monsieur de Ligreus, if ever you are tempted to be candid. Yergan was horrified. But with the princess, sir, it is unthinkable that I should not deal fairly. King O'Girvin Garevin Gawr said nothing, and not a muscle of him moved. "'Although, of course,' said Yergan, "'I would, in simple justice to her,

Starting point is 02:33:50 "'not ever consider volunteering any information "'likely to cause pain.' "'Again I perceive,' said Gowgirvin, "'that you understand me. "'Yet I did not speak of my daughter only, "'but of everybody.' "'How then, sir, will you have me deal with everybody?' "'Why, I can but repeat my words,'

Starting point is 02:34:12 said Gugirvin very patiently. I would have you lie like a gentleman. And now be off with you, for I am going to sleep. I shall not be wide awake again until my daughter is safely married, and that is absolutely all I can do for you. Do you think this is reputable conduct king? Oh, no, says Gowgirvin surprised. It is what we call philanthropy.

Starting point is 02:34:40 End of Chapter 13. Chapter 14. of Jürgen, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Liberovox recording is in the public domain. Yergan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 14 Preliminary Tactics of Duke Yergan So Yergan abode at court, and was tolerably content for a little while.

Starting point is 02:35:10 He loved a princess, the fairest and most perfect of mortal women, and loved her, a circumstance to which he frequently recurred, as never any other man had loved in the world's history, and very shortly he was to stand by and see her married to another. Here was a situation to delight the chivalrous court of Gletheon, for every requirement of romance was exactly fulfilled. Now the appearance of Gwynnevere, whom Yergan loved with an entire heart, was this. She was of middling height, with a figure not yet wholly the figure of a woman. She had fine and very thick hair. and the color of it was the yellow of corn floss.

Starting point is 02:35:51 When Guinevere undid her hair, it was a marvel to Yergan to note how snugly this hair descended about the small head and slender throat, and then broadened boldly and clothed her with a loose soft foam of pallid gold. For Yergan delighted in her hair, and with increasing intimacy, love to draw great strands of it back of his head, crossing them there,

Starting point is 02:36:13 and pressing soft handfuls of her perfumed hair against his cheeks as he kissed the face. as he kissed the princess. The head of Gwynnevere, be it repeated, was small. You wondered at the proud, free-tossing movements of that little head, which had to sustain the weight of so much hair. The face of Gwynnevere was coloured tenderly and softly. It made the faces of other women seem the work of a sign-painter,

Starting point is 02:36:36 just splotched in anyhow. Grey eyes had Gwynnevier, veiled by incredibly long black lashes that curved incredibly. Her brows arched rather high. above her eyes. That was almost a fault. Her nose was delicate and saucy. Her chin was impenance made flesh, and her mouth was a tiny and irresistible temptation. And so on and so on. But indeed, there is no sense at all in describing this lovely girl as though I were taking an inventory of my shop window, said Yergan. Analogues are all very well, and they have the

Starting point is 02:37:14 unanswerable sanction of custom. Nonetheless, when I proclaim that my adored mistress's hair reminds me of gold, I am quite consciously lying. It looks like yellow hair, and nothing else. Nor would I willingly venture within ten feet of any woman whose head sprouted with wires of whatever metal. And to protest that her eyes are as gray in fathomeness as the sea is very well also, and this sort of thing which seems expected of me.

Starting point is 02:37:42 But imagine how horrific would be puddles of water slopping about in a lady's eye-sockets. If we poets could actually behold the monsters we rhyme of, we would scream and run. Still, I rather like this, servant. For he was making a servant in praise of Guinevere. It was the pleasant custom of Golgirvin's court that every gentleman must compose verses in honor of the lady of whom he was hopelessly enamored. As well as that in these verses, he should address the lady, as one whose name was too sacred to mention, otherwise than did her sponsors.

Starting point is 02:38:17 So, Duke Juergen of Lagraeus duly rhapsodized of his Felita. "'I borrow for my dear love the appellation of that noted but by much inferior lady who was beloved by Erephus of Belses,' he explained. "'You will remember, Pollager suspect she was a princess of the house of Sclerovace, and you, of course, recall Pissander's masterly summing up of the probabilities in his Heraclea.' "'Oh, yes,' they said. and the courtiers of Gorgirvin Gar, like Mother Sarita, were greatly impressed by young Duke Yergan's erudition.

Starting point is 02:38:53 For Yergan was Duke of Lagraeus nowadays, with his glittering shirt and the coronet upon his bridle to show for it. Awkwardly, this proved to be an Earl's coronet, but incongruities are not always inexplicable. It was Earl Giarmid's horse. You have doubtless heard of Giamid, but to ask that is insulting. Oh, not at all. It is humor. We perfectly understand your humor, Duke Juergen. And a very pretty fighter I found this famous Jarmid as I traveled westward.

Starting point is 02:39:25 And since he killed my steed in the heat of our conversation, I was compelled to take over his horse, after I had given this poor Giamet proper interment. Oh, yes, a very pretty fighter, and I had heard much talk of him in L'GRAIS. He was Lord of Orr and per se, you remember, though, of course, the estate came by his mother's side. "'Oh, yes,' they said, "'you must not think that we of Glafion are quite shut out from the great world. We have heard of all these affairs, and we have also heard fine things of your Duchy of L'Grayus, monsieur.'

Starting point is 02:39:57 Doubtless, said Yergan, and turned again to his singing. "'Lo, for I pray to thee resistless love,' he discanted. "'That thou to-day make cry unto my love, to Felida, whom I, poor Ligraeus, love so tenderly, not to deny me love. Asked why, say thou my drink and food is love, in days wherein I think and brood on love, and truly find naught good in aught save love,

Starting point is 02:40:26 since Felida hath taught me how to love. Here Yergan groaned with nicely modulated ardor, and he continued, If she avow such constant hate of love as would ignore my great and constant love, plead thou no more. With listless lure of love woo death resistlessly. Resistless love, in place of her that saith such scorn of love as lends to death the lure and grace I love.

Starting point is 02:40:54 Thus Juergen sang melodiously of his Felita, and met thereby, as everybody knew, the Princess Gwynivir. Since custom compelled him to deal in analogues, he dealt wholesale. Gems and metals, the blossoms of the field and garden, fires and wounds and sunrises, and perfumes, an armory of lethal weapons, ice and a concourse of mythological deities were his starting point. Then the seas and heavens were dredged a phenomena to be mentioned with disparagement, in comparison with one or another feature of Duke Juergen's Felita.

Starting point is 02:41:29 Zoology in history, and generally the remembered contents of his pawn-shop, were overhauled and made to furnish targets for depreciation. Whereas in dealing with the famous ladies loved by earlier poets, Duke Yergan was a woman who was positively insulting, allowing hardly a rag of merit. Still, he was careful to be just, and he allowed that these poor creatures might figure advantageously enough in eyes which had never beheld his Felita, and to all this information the lady whom he hemmed attended willingly. "'She is a princess,' reflected Yergan. She is quite beautiful. She is young, and whatever her father's opinion, she is reasonably intelligent, as women go.

Starting point is 02:42:11 could ask more. Why, then, am I not out of my head about her? Already she permits a kiss or two when nobody is around, and presently she will permit more, as she thinks I am quite the cleverest person living. Come, Yergan, man, is there no heart in this spry young body you have regained? Come, let us have a little honest rapture and excitement over this promising situation.' But somehow Yergan could not manage it. He was interested in a little bit of a little bit of afture and excitement in what he knew was going to happen. Yes, undoubtedly he looked forward to more intimate converse with this beautiful young princess, but it was rather as one anticipates partaking of a favorite dessert. Yergan felt that a liaison arranged for in this spirit was neither one thing or the other.

Starting point is 02:42:59 If only I could feel like a cold-blooded villain now, I would at worst be classifiable. But I intend the girl no harm. I am honestly fond of her. I shall talk my best, broaden her ideas, and give her, I flatter myself, considerable pleasure. Volgar prejudice is apart, I shall leave her no wit the worse. Why, the dear little thing, not for the ransom of seven emperors would I do her any hurt? And in these matters discretion is everything, simply everything. No, quite decidedly, I am not a cold-blooded villain, and I shall deal fairly with the princess. Thus, Yergan was disappointed by his own emotions, as he turned them from side to side and prodded them, and shifted to a fresh viewpoint, only to find it no more favorable than the one relinquished.

Starting point is 02:43:51 But he veiled the inadequacy of his emotions with very moving fervors. The tale does not record his conversations with Gwynnevere, for Yergan now discoursed plain idiocy, as one pervay sweetmeats to a child in fond astonishment at the pet's appetite. And leisurely, Yergen advanced, there was no hurry, with weeks wherein to accomplish everything. Meanwhile, this routine work had a familiar pleasantness. For the amateur coordinates matters, knowing that one thing axiomatically leads to another. There was no harm at all in respectful allusions to a love that comprehends its hopelessness. It was merely a fact which Yergan mentioned, and was about to pass on.

Starting point is 02:44:33 Only Guinevere, in modesty, was forced to disparage her own attractions, as an inadequate cause for so much misery. Common courtesy demanded that Juergen enter upon a rebuttal. To emphasize one point in this, the orator was forced to take the hand of his audience, but strangers did that every day, with nobody objecting. Moreover, the hand was here, not so much seized as displayed by its detainer as evidence of what he contended. What else was he to prove to—he was he to prove to the hand was here—not so much seized as displayed by its detainer, as evidence of what he contended. What else was he to prove the Princess of Glathion had the loveliest hand in the world? It was not a matter he could request Gwynnevere to accept on hearsay,

Starting point is 02:45:11 and Juergen wanted to deal fairly with her. Well, but before relinquishing the loveliest hand in the world, a connoisseur would naturally kiss each fingertip. This is merely a tribute to perfection, and has no personal application. Besides, a kiss, wherever deposited, as Juergen pointed out, is, when you think of it, but a ceremonial, of no intrinsic wrongfulness. The girl to murring against this apatham, as custom again exacted, was, still in common fairness, convinced of her error.

Starting point is 02:45:44 So now, says Yergan presently, you see for yourself. Is anything changed between us? Do we not sit here, just as we were before? Why, to be sure. A kiss is now attestedly a quite innocuous performance, with nothing very fearful about it one way or the other. It even has its pleasant side. Thus there is no need to make a pother over kisses or over an arm about you, when it is more comfortable sitting so. How can one reasonably deny to a sincere friend what is accorded to a cousin or an old cloak?

Starting point is 02:46:18 It would be nonsense, as Juergen demonstrated with a very apt citation from Napsicus. Then, sitting so, in the heat of conversation, a speaker naturally gesticulates, and a deal of his eloquence is dependent upon his hands. When anyone is talking, it is discourteous to interrupt, whereas to lay hold of a gentleman's hand outright, as Yergan parenthesized, is a little forward. No, he really did not think it would be quite proper for Guinevere to hold his hand. Let us preserve decorum, even in trifles. Ah, but you know that you were doing wrong, I, doing wrong? I, who am simply sitting here and talking my poor best in an effort to entertain you,

Starting point is 02:47:01 come now, princess, but tell me what you mean. You should know very well what I mean. But I protest to you I have not the least notion. How can I possibly know what you mean when you refuse to tell me what you mean? And since the princess declined to put into words just what she meant, things stayed as they were, for the while. Thus did Yergen coordinate matters, knowing that one thing axiomatically leads to another, and in short affairs sped very much as Yergan had anticipated.

Starting point is 02:47:33 Now, by ordinary, Yergan talked with Gwynivir in dimly lighted places. He preferred this, because then he was not bothered by that unaccountable shadow whose presence in sunlight put him out. Nobody ever seemed to notice this preposterous shadow. It was patent indeed that nobody could see it, save Yergan. Nonetheless, the thing worried him. So, even from the first, he remembered Gwynnevere as a soft voice and a delectable perfume in twilight, as a beauty not clearly visioned. And Gugirvin's people worried him. The hooked-nosed-old king had been by Yergan dismissed from thought, as an

Starting point is 02:48:13 enigma not important enough to be worth the trouble of solving. Gowgirvin at once seemed to be schooling himself to patience under some private annoyance and to be revolving in his mind some private jest. He was queer and probably abominable, but to grant the old rascally's due, he was not meddlesome. The people about Golgirvin, though, were perplexing. These men who considered that all you possess was loaned you to devote to the service of your God, your king, and every woman who crossed your path could hardly be behaving rationally. To talk of serving God sounded as sonorously and as inspiritingly as a drum. Yes, and a drum had nothing but air in it. The priest said so-and-so. But did anybody believe that Gallant Bishop of Marion, for example,

Starting point is 02:49:00 was always to be dependent upon? I would like the opinion of Prince Evrock's wife as to that, said Yergan with a grin, for it was well known that all affairs between this Dame Allendine and the Bishop were so discreetly managed as to afford no reason for any scandal whatever. As for serving the king, there in plain view was Golgir van Gar, for anyone who so elected, to regard and grow enthusiastic over. Golgirvin might be shrewd enough, but to Yergan he suggested very little of the Lord's anointed. To the contrary, he reminded you of Yergan's brother-in-law, the grocer, without being

Starting point is 02:49:39 graced by the tradesman's friendly interest in customers. Golgirvin Gar was a person whom Yergan simply could not imagine any intelligent deity selecting as steward. And finally, when it came to serving women, what sort of service did women most cordially appreciate? Yergan had his answer Pat enough, but it was an answer not suitable for utterance in a mixed company. No one of my honest opinions, in fact, is adapted to further my popularity in Glathion, because I am a monstrous, clever fellow who does justice to things as they are. Therefore, I must remember always injustice to myself that I very probably hold traffic with madmen. Yet Rome was a fine town, and it was geese who saved it.

Starting point is 02:50:24 These people may be right, and certainly I cannot go so far as to say they are wrong, but still at the same time. Yes, that is how I feel about it. Thus did Juergen abide at the chivalrous court of Glathion, and conformed to all its customs. In the matter of love-songs, nobody protested more movingly than the lady whom he loved, quite hopelessly, of course, embodied all divine perfections. And when it came to knightly service, the possession of Caliburn made the dispatching of thieves and giants and dragons seem hardly sportsmanlike. Still, Yergan fought a little now and then in order to conform to the customs of Glathion, and the Duke of Lagraeus was widely praised as a very

Starting point is 02:51:08 promising young knight. And all the while he fretted because he could just dimly perceive that ideal which was served in Glathion, and the beauty of this ideal, but could not possibly believe in it. Here was, again, a loveliness perceived in twilight, a beauty not clearly visioned. "'Yet, am I not a monstrous, clever fellow?' he would console himself, to take them all in so completely. It is a joke to which, I think, I do full justice. So you're going to boat among these persons to whom life was a high-hearted journeying homeward. God the Father awaited you there, ready to punish at need, but eager to forgive, after the manner of all fathers.

Starting point is 02:51:52 That one became a little soiled in traveling, and sometimes blundered into the wrong lane, was a matter which fathers understood. Meanwhile, here was an ever-present reminder of his perfection incarnated in woman, the finest and the noblest of his creations. Thus was every woman a symbol to be honored magnanimously and reverently. So said they all. Why, but to be sure, assented Juergen. And in support of his position, he very edifyingly quoted Ophelian and Fabianus Papyrus and Sexteus Niger to boot.

Starting point is 02:52:28 End of Chapter 14. Chapter 15 of Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yergan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 15 Of Compromises in Galatheon The tale records that it was not a great while before, in simple justice to Guinevere, Duke Yergan had afforded her the advantage of frank conversation in actual privacy.

Starting point is 02:53:04 For conventions have to be regarded, of course. Thus the time of a princess is not her own. And at any hour of day, all sorts of people are apt to request an audience just when some most improving conversation is progressing famously. But the hall of judgment stood vacant and unguarded at night. "'But I would never consider doing such a thing,' said Gwynnevere, "'and whatever must you think of me to make such a proposal. That, too, my dearest, is a matter which I can only explain in private.

Starting point is 02:53:37 And if I were to report your insolence to my father—' You would annoy him exceedingly, and from such griefs it is our duty to shield the aged. And besides, I am afraid. "'Oh, my dearest,' said Juergen, in his voice quavered, because his love and his sorrow seemed very great to him. "'But, oh, my dearest, can it be that you have not faith in me? For with all my body and soul I love you, as I have loved you ever since I first raised your face between my hands, and understood that I had never before known beauty.

Starting point is 02:54:13 Indeed, I love you, as I think, no man has ever loved any woman that lived in the long time that is gone, for my love is worship and no less. The touch of your hand sets me to trembling, dear, and the look of your gray eyes makes me forget there is anything of pain or grief or evil anywhere, for you are the loveliest thing God ever made, with joy in the new skill that had come to his fingers, and you have not faith in me. Then the princess gave a little sobbing laugh of content and repentance, and she clasped the hand of her grief-stricken lover. "'Forgive me, Yergan, for I cannot bear to see you so unhappy.' "'Ah, and what is my grief to you?' he asked of her bitterly.

Starting point is 02:54:58 "'Much, oh, very much, my dear,' she whispered. So in the upshot, Yergan was never to forget that moment wherein he waited behind the door, and through the crack between the half-open door and the door-frame, saw Gwyniver approach irresolutely, a wavering white blur in the dark corridor. She came to talk with him where they would not be bothered with interruptions, but she came delightfully perfumed in her night shift and in nothing else. Ergun wondered at the way of these women, even as his arms went about her in the gloom. He remembered always the feel of that warm and slender and yielding body, naked under the

Starting point is 02:55:37 thin fabric of the shift, as his arms first went about her. Of all their moments together, that last breathless minute before either of them had spoken, stayed in his memory as the most perfect. And yet what followed was pleasant enough, for now it was to the wide and softly cushioned throne of a king, no less, that Guinevere and Juergen resorted, so as to talk where they would not be bothered with interruptions. The throne of Gogurban was perfectly dark, under its canopy, in the unlighted hall,

Starting point is 02:56:07 and in the dark nobody can see what happens. Thereafter, these two contrived to talk together nightly upon the throne of Glathes, But what remained in Juergen's memory was that last moment behind the door, and the six tall windows upon the east side of the hall, those windows which were of commingled blue and silver, but were all in opulent glitter throughout that time in the night when the moon was clear of the treetops and had not yet risen high enough to be shut off by the eaves. For that was all which Juergen really saw in the hall of judgment. There would be a brief period wherein upon the floor beneath each window which show a

Starting point is 02:56:45 narrow quadrangle of moonlight. But the windows were set in a wall so deep that this soon passed. On the west side were six windows also, but about these was a porch, so no light ever came from the west. Thus in the dark they would laugh and talk with lowered voices. Yergan came to these encounters well primed with wine, and in consequence, as he quite comprehended, talked like an angel, without confining himself exclusively to celestial topics. He was often delighted by his own brilliance, and it seemed to him a pity there was no one handy to take it down. So much of his talking was necessarily just a little over the head of any girl, however

Starting point is 02:57:26 beautiful and adorable. And Guinevere, he found, talked infinitely better at night. It was not altogether the wine which made him think that either. The girl displayed aside she veiled in the daytime. A girl, far less a princess, is not supposed to know more than agrees with a man's notion of maidenly ignorance. she contended. Nobody ever told me anything about so many interesting matters. Why, I remember, and Guinevere narrated a quaintly pathetic little story, here irrelevant, of what had

Starting point is 02:57:57 befallen her some three or four years earlier. My mother was living then, but she had never said a word about such things, and frightened as I was, I did not go to her. Yergan asked questions. Why, yes, there was nothing else to do. I cannot talk. I cannot talk. I was not freely with my maids and ladies even now. I cannot question them, that is. Of course, I can listen as they talk among themselves. For me to do more would be unbecoming in a princess, and I wonder quietly about so many things. She induced instances. After that, I used to notice the animals and the poultry, so I worked out problems for myself after a fashion. But nobody ever told me anything directly. Yet I dare say that Thragnar, well, the Troll King, being very wise, must have made zoology

Starting point is 02:58:51 much clearer. Thragnar was a skilled enchanter, says a demure voice in the dark, and through the potency of his abominable arts I can remember nothing whatever about Thragnar. Yergan laughed ruefully. Still he was tolerably sure about Thragnar now. So they talked, and Yergan marveled, as millions of men have done. done a foretime, and have done since, at the girl's eagerness, now that barriers were down, to discuss in considerable detail all such matters as etiquette had previously compelled

Starting point is 02:59:25 them to ignore. About her ladies-in-waiting, for example, she afforded him some very curious data, and concerning men in general she asked innumerable questions that Yergan found delicious. Such innocence combined, upon the whole, with a certain moral obtuseness seemed inconceivable. For to Juergen, it now appeared that Gwyniver was behaving with not quite the decorum which might fairly be expected of a princess. Contrition, at least, one might have looked for, over this hole and corner business, whereas it worried him to note that Gwynnevere was coming to accept affairs almost as a matter of course. Certainly, she did not seem to think at all of any wickedness anywhere. The utmost she suggested was the necessity of being very careful.

Starting point is 03:00:12 And while she never contradicted him in these private conversations and submitted in everything to his judgment, her motive now appeared to be hardly more than a wish to please him. It was almost as though she were humoring him in his foolishness. And all this within six weeks, reflected Yergan, and he nibbled at his fingernails with a mental side-glance toward the opinions of King O'Girvin Gar. But in daylight the princess remained unchanged. In daylight, Yergan adored her. but with no feeling of intimacy. Very rarely did occasion serve for them to be actually alone in the

Starting point is 03:00:49 daytime. Once or twice, though, he kissed her in open sunlight, and then her eyes were melting but wary, and the whole affair was rather flat. She did not repulse him, but she stayed a princess, appreciative of her station, and seemed not at all the invisible person who talked with him at night in the hall of judgment. Presently, by common consent, they began to avoid the avoid each other by daylight. Indeed, the time of the princess was now preoccupied, for now had come into Glathion a ship with saffron-colored sails, and having for its figurehead a dragon that was painted with thirty colors. Such was the ship which brought Monsieur Merlin Ambrosius and Dame Anaidas, the Lady of the Lake, with a great retinue, to fetch young Guinevere to

Starting point is 03:01:36 London, where she was to be married to King Arthur. First there was a week of feasting and tourneys, high mirth of every kind. Now the trumpets blared, and upon a scaffolding that was gay with penance and smart tapestries, King O'Girvin sat nodding and blinking in his brightest raiment, to judge who did the best, and into the field came joyously a press of dukes and earls and barons and many famous knights to contend for honor and a trumpery chaplet of pearls. Yergan shrugged and honored custom. The Duke of Lagraeus acquitted himself. with credit in the opening tournament, on horsing Sir Dodness Lesavage, Earl Roth of Melio, Sir Epinogres, and Sir Hector de Marie. Then Earl Damas of Lestinese smote like a whirlwind,

Starting point is 03:02:25 and Juergen slid contentedly down the tail of his fine horse. His part in the tournament was ended, and he was heartily glad of it. He preferred to contemplate rather than share in such festivities, and he now followed his bent with a most exquisite misery, because he considered that never had any other poet occupied a situation more picturesque. By day he was the Duke of Lagraeus, which in itself was a notable advance upon pawnbroking. After nightfall he discounted the peculiar privileges of a king. It was the secrecy, the deluding of everybody which he especially enjoyed. And in the thought of what a monstrous clever fellow was Yurgen,

Starting point is 03:03:07 he almost lost sight of the fact that he was miserable over the impending men. of the lady he loved. Once or twice he caught the tail end of a glance from Gogirvin's bright old eye. Yergan by this time aboard Gowgirvin as a person of abominably unjust dealings. To take no better care of his own daughter, Yergan considered, is infamous. The man is neglecting his duties as a father, and to do that is not fair. End of Chapter 15. Chapter 16. of Juergen, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Liberovox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice.

Starting point is 03:03:59 Chapter 16. Diverse Embrolios of King Smoit. Now it befell that for three nights in succession, the Princess Gwynnevere was unable to converse with Yergan in the Hall of Judgment. So upon one of these disengaged evenings, Duke Yurgan held a carouse with Ereber and Eurion, Two of Gowgirvins barons, who had just returned from Peng Wade-Gir, and had queer tales to narrate of the trooping fairies who garrisoned that place. All three were seasoned toopers, so Yergan went to bed prepared for anything. Later he sat up in bed and found it was much as he had suspected.

Starting point is 03:04:38 The room was haunted, and at the foot of his couch were two ghosts, one an impudent-looking leering phantom in a suit of old-fashioned armor, and the other a big one of big one of his couch. beautiful pale lady in the customary flowing white draperies. "'Good morning to you both,' says Yergan. "'And sorry am I that I cannot truthfully observe I am glad to see you, though you are welcome enough if you can manage to haunt the room quietly.' Then, seeing that both phantoms looked puzzled, Yergan proceeded to explain.

Starting point is 03:05:10 Last year, when I was traveling upon business in Westphalia, it was my grief to spend a night in the haunted castle of Noydensburg, for I could not get any sleep at all in that place. There was a ghost in charge who persisted in rattling very large iron chains and in groaning dismally throughout the night. Then toward morning he took the form of a monstrous cat and climbed upon the foot of my bed, and there he squatted yowling until daybreak.

Starting point is 03:05:37 And as I am ignorant of German, I was not able to convey to him any idea of my disapproval of his conduct. Now I trust that as compatriots, or as I might say with more, exactness, as former compatriots, you will appreciate that such behavior is out of all reason. "'Messor,' says the male ghost, and he oozed to his full height, "'you are guilty of impertinence in harboring such a suspicion. I can only hope it proceeds from ignorance.' "'For I am sure,' put in the lady, "'that I always disliked cats, and we never had them about the castle.' "'And you must pardon my frankness, monsieur,' continue the

Starting point is 03:06:17 the male ghost, but you cannot have moved widely in noble company if you are indeed unable to distinguish between members of the feline species and of the reigning family of Glathion. Well, I have seen Dowager queens who justified some confusion, observed Yergan. Still, I entreat the forgiveness of both of you, for I had no idea that I was addressing royalty. "'I was King Smoit,' explained the male phantom, and this was my ninth white. Queen Sylvia Teru." Yergan bowed as gracefully, he flattered himself, as was possible in his circumstances.

Starting point is 03:06:56 It is not easy to bow gracefully while sitting erect in bed. Often and over again have I heard of you, King Smoit, says Yergan. You were the grandfather of Gogir van Gar, and you murdered your ninth wife, and your eighth wife, and your fifth wife, and your third wife, too. and you went under the title of the Black King, for you were reputed the wickedest monarch that ever reigned in Galathian and the Red Islands. It seemed to Yergen that King Smoyt evanced embarrassment, but it is hard to be quite certain when a ghost is blushing.

Starting point is 03:07:31 "'Perhaps I was spoken of in such terms,' says Smoyt, for the neighbors were censorious gossips, and I was not lucky in my marriages, and I regret, I bitterly regret, to confess, that, in a moment of extreme, yet not quite unprovoked excitement, I assassinated the lady whom you now behold. "'And I am sure, through no fault of mine,' says Sylvia Tarou, "'sertainly, my dear, you resisted with all your might. I only wish that you had been a larger

Starting point is 03:08:03 and a brawnier woman. But you, missour, can now perceive, I suppose, the folly of expecting a high king of Galathian and the queen that he took delight in to sit upon your be bed and howl?" So then upon reflection, Yergan admitted he had never had the experience, nor, he handsomely added, could he recall any similar incident among his friends. The notion is certainly preposterous, went on King Smoit, and very grimly he smiled. We are drawn hither by quite other intentions. In fact, we wish to ask of you, as a member of the family, your assistance in a delicate affair.

Starting point is 03:08:42 I would be delighted, Yergan stated, to aid you in any possible way. But why do you call me a member of the family? Now, to deal frankly, says Smoit with a grin, I am not claiming any alliance with the Duke of Lagraeus. Sometimes, says Yergan, one prefers to travel incognito. As a king, you ought to understand that. My interest is rather in the grandson of Steinvore. Now you will remember your grandmother Steinvore as, I do not doubt, a charming old lady.

Starting point is 03:09:17 But I remember Steinvore, the wife of Ludwig, as one of the loveliest girls that a king's eyes ever lighted on. "'Oh, sir,' says Yergan horrified. "'And what is this you are telling me?' "'Merely that I had always an affectionate nature,' replied King Smoyt, "'and that I was a fine, upstanding young king in those days.' And one of the results of my being these things was your father, whom men called Coth the son of Ludwig. But I can assure you, Ludwig had done nothing to deserve it. "'Well, well,' said Yergan, "'all this is very scandalous, and very upsetting, too. It is to have a

Starting point is 03:09:59 brand-new grandfather foisted upon you at this hour of the morning. Still, it happened a great while ago, and if Ludwig did not fret over it, I see no reason why I should do so. And besides King Smoit, it may be that you are not telling me the truth. If you doubt my confession, monsieur, my grandson, you have only to look into the next mirror. It is precisely on this account that we have ventured to dispel your slumbers, for to me you bear a striking resemblance. You have the family face. Now Yergan consider the liniments of King Smoit of Glathian. Really, said Yergan, of course it is very flattering to be told that your appearance is regal. I do not at all know what to say in reply to the implied compliment, without seeming uncivil.

Starting point is 03:10:47 I would never for a moment question that you were much admired in your day, sir, and no doubt very justly so. Nonetheless, well, my nose now, from such glimpses of it as mirrors have hitherto afforded, does not appear to be a snub-nose. Ah, but appearances are proverbially deceitful, observed King Smoit. And about the left-hand corner, protested Queen Sylvia Taru. I detect a distinct resemblance. Now I may seem unduly obtuse, said Yergan, for I am a little obtuse. It is a habit with me, a very bad habit formed in early infancy, and I have never been able

Starting point is 03:11:27 to break myself of it. And so I have not any notion at what you two are aiming.' Replied the ghost of King Smoit, "'I will explain. Just sixty-three years ago to-night, I murmur, I murmur. murdered my ninth wife in circumstances of peculiar brutality, as you with rather questionable taste have mentioned." Then Yurgen was somewhat abashed, and felt that it did not become him, who had so recently cut off the head of his own wife to assume the heirs of a precision. "'Of course,' says Yergan, more broad-mindedly, these little family differences are always

Starting point is 03:12:04 apt to occur in married life. "'So be it! though by the so-and-sos of Ursula's eleven thousand traveling companions, there was a time wherein I would not have brook such criticism. Ah, well, that time is overpast, and I am a bloodless thing that the wind sweeps at the wind's will through the lands in which, but yesterday, King Smoit was dreaded. So I let that which has been be.' "'Well, that seems reasonable,' said Yergan. And to be a trifle rhetorical is the privilege of grandfathers.

Starting point is 03:12:36 therefore I entreat you, sir, to continue. Two years afterward I followed the Emperor Lucrine in his expedition against the Suavetti, an evil and luxurious people who worship Gozeran peculiarly by means of little boats. I must tell you, grandson, that was a goodly raid,

Starting point is 03:12:55 conducted by a band of tidy fighters in a land of wealth and of fine women. But, alack, as the saying is, in our return from Oznak, my loved General Lucrine was, captured by that arch-feigned Duke Coronas of Cornwall. And I, among many others who had followed the Emperor, paid for our merry larcenies and throat-cuttings of very bitter price. Coronas was not at all broad-minded, not what you would call a man of the world. So it was

Starting point is 03:13:25 in a noisome dungeon that I was incarcerated. I, smoit of Glathian, who conquered Eniscarth and Sargill in open battle, and fearlessly married the heiress of Camwe. but I spare you the unpleasant details. It suffices to say that I was dissatisfied with my quarters. Yet, feigned to leave them as I became, there was but one way. It involved the slaying of my jailer, a step which was, I confess to me, distasteful. I was getting on in life, and had grown tired of killing people. Yet, to mature deliberation, the life of a graceless varlet, void of all gentleness and with no

Starting point is 03:14:04 bowels of compassion and deaf to suggestions of bribery appeared of no overwhelming importance. I can readily imagine, Grandfather, that you were not deeply interested in either the nature or the anatomy of your jailer. So you did what was unavoidable. Yes, I treacherously slew him, and escaped in an impenetrable disguise to Glathion, where, not long afterward I died. My dying just then was most annoying, for I was on the point of being married, and she was a remarkably attractive girl. King Tiernog's daughter, from Crate Norway. She would have been my 13th wife, and not a week before the ceremony I tripped and fell down my own castle steps and broke my neck. It was a humiliating end for one who had been a warrior

Starting point is 03:14:53 of considerable repute. Upon my word, it may be think there might be something, after all, in those old superstitions about 13 being an unlucky number. But what was I said? saying? Oh, yes, it was also unlucky to be careless about one's murders. You will readily understand that, for one or two such affairs, I am condemned nearly to haunt the scene of my crime on its anniversary. Such an arrangement is fair enough, and I make no complaint, though, of course, it does rather break into the evening. But it happened that I treacherously slew my jailer with a large cobblestone on the 15th of June. Now, the unfortunate part, the really awkward feature, was that this was to an hour the anniversary of the death of my ninth wife.

Starting point is 03:15:41 "'And you murdering insignificant strangers on such a day,' said Queen Sylvia, "'you climbing out of jail windows figged out as a lady abbess, and on an anniversary you ought to have kept on your knees in unavailing repentance. But you were a hard man, smite, and it was little loving courtesy you showed your wife at a time when she might reasonably look to be remembered, and that is a fact.' "'My dear, I admit it was heedless of me. I could not possibly say more. At any rate, grandson, I discovered after my decease that such heedlessness entailed my haunting on every 15th of June

Starting point is 03:16:18 at three in the morning two separate places.' "'Well, but that was justice,' says Juergen. "'It may have been justice,' Smoyt admitted, but my point is that it happened to be impossible. However, I was aided by my great-great-grandfather, Pepin'an Fritvras, Ap Milwan, Glacenif. He too had the family face, and in every way resembled me so closely that he impersonated me to everyone's entire satisfaction, and with my wife's assistance reenacted my disastrous crime upon the scene of its occurrence, June after June. Indeed, said Queen Sylvia, he handled his sword infinitely better than you, my dear. It was a thrilling pleasure to be murdered by Pemingon-Fritras-Ap Milwan-Glasinif,

Starting point is 03:17:07 and I shall always regret him. For you must understand, grandson, that the term of King Penpingon-Frize-Ap Milwan-Glasinif stay in purgatory has now run out, and he has recently gone to heaven. That was pleasant for him, I dare say, so I do not complain. Still, it leaves me with no one to take my place. Angels, as you will read understand, are not permitted to perpetrate murders, even in the way of kindness. It might be thought to establish a dangerous precedent. All this, said Yergan, seems regrettable, but not strikingly explicit. I have a heart and a half to serve you, sir, with not seven-eighths of a notion as to what

Starting point is 03:17:51 you want of me. Come, put a name to it. You have, as I have said, the family face. You are, in fact, the living counterpart of small. of Glathion. So I beseech you, monsieur, my grandson, for this one night to impersonate my ghost, and with the assistance of Queen Sylvia Teru, to see that at three o'clock the white turret is haunted to everyone's satisfaction. Otherwise, said Smoit gloomily, the consequences will be deplorable. But I have no experience at haunting, Yergan confessed. It is a pursuit in which I do not pretend to

Starting point is 03:18:30 competence, and I do not even know just how one goes about it. That matter is simple, although mysterious preliminaries will be, of course, necessitated in order to convert a living person into a ghost. The usual preliminary, sir, are out of the question. I must positively decline to be stabbed or poisoned or anything of that kind, even to humor my grandfather. Both Smoid and Sylvia protested that any such radical step would be superfluous, since Juergen's ghost chip was to be transient.

Starting point is 03:19:03 In fact, all Yergan would have to do would be to drain the embossed goblet which Sylvia Turu held out to him, with druidical invocations. And for a moment Yergan hesitated. The whole business seemed rather improbable. Still, the ties of kin are strong, and it is not often one gets the chance to aid, however slightly, one's long-dead grandfather. Besides, the potion smelt very invitingly. "'Well,' said Yergan,

Starting point is 03:19:30 "'I am willing to taste any drink once.' Then Yergan drank. The flavor was excellent, yet the drink seemed not to affect Yergan at first. Then he began to feel a trifle light-headed. Next he looked downward and was surprised to notice there was nobody in his bed. Closer investigation revealed the shadowy outline of a human figure through which the bed-clothing had collapsed. This, he decided, was all that was left of Yergan.

Starting point is 03:19:57 And it gave him a queer sensation. Yergan jumped like a startled horse, and so violently that he flew out of bed, and found himself floating imponderably about the room. Now Yergan recognized the feeling perfectly. He had often had it in his sleep, in dreams wherein he would bend his legs at the knees so that his feet came up behind him, and he would pass through the air without any effort. Then it seemed ridiculously simple, and he would wonder why he never thought of it before. And then he would reflect,

Starting point is 03:20:29 "'This is an excellent way of getting around. I will come to breakfast this way in the morning and show Lisa how simple it is, how it will astonish her to be sure, and how clever she will think me.' And then Yergan would wake up and find that somehow he had forgotten the trick of it. But just now this manner of locomotion was undeniably easy.

Starting point is 03:20:51 So Yergan floated around his bed once or twice, then to the ceiling for practice. Through inexperience he miscalculated the necessary force and popped through into the room above, where he found himself hovering immediately over the Bishop of Marion. His eminence was not alone, but as both occupants of the apartment were asleep, Yergan witnessed nothing unapiscible. Now Yergan rejoined his grandfather and girded on charmed Caliburn and demanded what must next be done. The assassination will take place in the white turret as usual.

Starting point is 03:21:25 Queen Sylvia will instruct you in the details. You can invent most of the affair, however, as the Lady of the Lake, who occupies this room tonight, is very probably unacquainted with our terrible history. Then King Smoyt observed that it was high time he kept his appointment in Cornwall, and he melted into air, with an easy confidence that bespoke long practice, and Yergan followed Queen Sylvia Teru. End of Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Of Yergan A Comedy of Justice

Starting point is 03:22:03 By James Branch Cabell This Libervox recording is in the public domain Yergan A Comedy of Justice Chapter 17 About a cock that crowed too soon Next the tale tells of how Yergan and the ghost of Queen Sylvia Teru came into the white turret

Starting point is 03:22:24 The Lady of the Lake was in bed. She slept unaccompanied, as Juergen noted with approval, for he wished to intrude upon no more tete-a-tets. And Dame Ana Edis did not at first awake. Now this was a gloomy and high-paneled apartment, with exactly the traditional amount of moonlight streaming through two windows. Any ghost, even an apprentice, could have acquitted himself with credit in such surroundings, and Yergan thought he did extremely well. He was out of realistically brutal, and to improvise the accompanying dialogue he did not find difficult. So everything went smoothly, and with such spirit that Anaetus was presently wakened by Queen Sylvia's very moving wails for mercy, and sat erect in bed, as though a little startled.

Starting point is 03:23:11 Then the Lady of the Lake leaned back among the pillows and witnessed the remainder of the terrible scene with remarkable self-possession. So it was that the tragedy swelled to its appalling climax, and subsided handsomely. With the aid of Caliburn, Yergan had murdered his temporary wife. He had dragged her incensate body across the floor by the hair of her head, and had carefully remembered first to put her comb in his pocket, as Queen Sylvia had requested, so that it would not be lost. He had given Vent to several fiendish ha-haz, and all the old high imprecations he remembered. And in short, everything had gone splendidly when he left the white turret with a sense of self-appropriation.

Starting point is 03:23:54 and Queen Sylvia Taru. The two of them paused in the winding stairway, and in the darkness, after he had restored her comb, the queen was telling Yergan how sorry she was to part with him. "'For it is back to the cold grave I must be going now, Monsieur Yergan, and to the tall flames of purgatory, and it may be that I shall not ever see you any more.' "'I shall regret the circumstance, madam,' says Yergan, "'for you are the loveliest person I have ever seen, The Queen was pleased. That is a delightfully boyish speech, and one can see it comes from the heart. I only wish that I could meet with such unsophisticated persons in my present abode.

Starting point is 03:24:37 Instead, I am herded with battered sinners who have no heart, who are not frank and outspoken about anything, and I detest their affections. Ah, then you are not happy with your husband, Sylvia. I suspect it as much. I see very little of Smoit. It is true he has eight other wives all resident in the same flame, and cannot well show any partiality. Two of his queens, though, went straight to heaven, and his eighth wife, Godroon, we are compelled to fear, must have been an unrepentant sinner, for she has never reached purgatory. But I always distrusted Godroon myself. Otherwise,

Starting point is 03:25:18 I would never have suggested to Smoit that he have her strangled in order to make me his queen. You see, I thought it a fine thing to be a queen in those days, Yergan, when I was an artless lip of a girl, and smoyt was all honey and perfume and velvet in those days, Yergan, and little did I suspect the cruel fate that was to befall me. Indeed, it is a sad thing, Sylvia, to be murdered by the hand which, so to speak, is sworn to keep an eye on your welfare, and which rightfully should serve you on its knees. It was not that I minded. It was not that I minded. Smoit killed me in a fit of jealousy, and jealousy is in its blundering way a compliment. No worse thing than that befell me, Yergan, and embittered all my life in the flesh.

Starting point is 03:26:03 And Sylvia began to weep. And what was that thing, Sylvia? Queen Sylvia whispered the terrible truth. My husband did not understand me. Now, by heaven, says Yergan, when a woman tells me that, even though the woman be dead, I know what it is she expects of me. So Yergan put his arm about the ghost of Queen Sylvia Teru, and comforted her. Then, finding her quite willing to be comforted, Yergan sat for a while upon the dark steps,

Starting point is 03:26:34 with one arm still about Queen Sylvia. The effect of the potion had evidently worn off, because Yergan found himself to be composed no longer of cool, imponderable vapor, but of the warmest and hardest sort of flesh everywhere. But probably the effect of the wine which Juergen had drunk earlier in the evening had not worn off. For now Yergan began to talk wildishly in the dark, about the necessity of his in some way avenging the injury inflicted upon his nominal grandfather Ludwig, and Yergan drew his sword, charmed Caliburn. "'For as you perceive,' said Yergan,

Starting point is 03:27:10 "'I carry such weapons as are sufficient for all ordinary encounters. And am I not to use them to requite King Smoit for the injustice he did poor Ludwig? Why, certainly I must. It is my duty. Ah, but Smoit by this is back in purgatory, Queen Sylvia protested. And to draw your sword against a woman is cowardly. The avenging sword of Juergen, my charming Sylvia, is the terror of envious men, but it is the comfort of all pretty women. It is undoubtedly a very large sword, said she. Oh, a magnificent sword! as I can perceive even in the dark. But Smoit, I repeat, is not here to measure weapons with you.

Starting point is 03:27:55 Now your arguments irritate me, whereas an honest woman would see to it that all the legacies of her dead husband were duly satisfied. Oh, oh, and what do you mean? Well, but certainly a grandson is, at one remove, I grant you, a sort of legacy. There is something in what you advance. There is a great deal in what I advance, I can assure you. It is the most natural and most penetrating kind of logic, and I wish merely to discharge a duty. But you upset me with that big sword of yours. You make me nervous, and I cannot argue so long as you are flourishing it about.

Starting point is 03:28:35 Come now, put up your sword. Oh, what is anybody to do with you? Here is the sheath for your sword, says she. At this point they were in the sword. interrupt it. Duke of Lagraeus, says the voice of Dame Anaides, do you not think it would be better to retire before such antics at the door of my bedroom give rise to a scandal? For Anaeus had half opened the door of her bedroom, and with a lamp in her hand was peering out into the narrow stairway. Yergan was a little embarrassed,

Starting point is 03:29:06 for his apparent intimacy with a lady who had been dead for 63 years would be he felt a matter difficult to explain. So Yergan rose to his feet and hastily put up the weapon he had exhibited to Queen Sylvia and decidedly to pass airily over the whole affair. And outside, a cock crowed,

Starting point is 03:29:25 for it was now dawn. I bid you a good morning, Dame Anaides, said Yergan. But the stairways hereabouts are confusing, and I must have lost my way. I was going for a stroll. This is my distant relative, Queen Sylvia Teru,

Starting point is 03:29:41 who kindly offered to accompany me. We were going out to gather mushrooms and to watch the sunrise you conceive. Monsieur de Ligraeus, I think you had far better go back to bed. To the contrary, madam, it is my manifest duty to serve as Queen Sylvia's escort.

Starting point is 03:29:59 For all that, monsieur, I do not see any Queen Sylvia. Yergan looked about him, and certainly his grandfather's ninth wife was no longer visible. Yes, she has vanished. But that was to be expected that cock-crow. Still, that cock-crew just at the wrong moment, said Yergan ruefully.

Starting point is 03:30:20 It was not fair. And Dame Anaida said, Gowgirvin's cellar is well stocked, and you sat late with Urien and Arabear. And doubtless, they also were lucky enough to discover a queen or two in Gau-Girvin-cellar. No less, I think you are still a little drunk. Now answer me this, Dame Aeneidus. Were you not visited by two ghosts to-night?' "'Why, that is as it may be,' she replied.

Starting point is 03:30:48 "'But the white turret is notoriously haunted, and it is few quiet nights I have passed there, for Gogirvin's people were a bad lot.' "'Upon my word,' wonders Juergen, "'what manner of person is this Dame Anaetis, who remains unstirred by such a brutal murder as I have committed and makes no more of ghosts than I would of moths?' I have heard she is an enchantress.

Starting point is 03:31:12 I am sure she is a fine figure of a woman. And in short, here is a matter which would repay looking into, were not young Gwynnevere the mistress of my heart. Aloud, he said, Perhaps then I am drunk, madame. Nonetheless, I still think the cock crew just at the wrong moment. Someday you must explain the meaning of that, says she. Meanwhile, I am going back to bed,

Starting point is 03:31:38 and I again advise you to do the same. Then the door closed, the bolt fell, and Yergen went away, still in considerable excitement. This Dame Ana-Etis is an interesting personality, he reflected. And it would be a pleasure now to demonstrate to her my grievance against the cock did occasion serve. Well, things less likely than that have happened. Then, too, she came upon me when my sword was out, and in consequence, knows I wheeled respectable weapon. She may feel the need of a good swordsman someday, this handsome lady of the lake who has no husband. So let us cultivate patience. Meanwhile, it appears that I am of royal

Starting point is 03:32:22 blood. Well, I fancy there is something in the scandal, for I detected me a deal in common with this king smoit. Twelve wives, though. No, that is too many. I would limit no man's liaisons, but twelve wives, in lawful matrimony bespeaks an optimism unknown to me. No, I do not think I am drunk, but it is unquestionable that I am not walking very straight. Certainly, too, we did drink a great deal. So I had best go quietly back to bed and say nothing more about tonight's doings. As much he did, and this was the first time that Juergen, who had been a pawnbroker, held any discourse with Dame Anaetis, whom men called the Lady of the Lake. End of Chapter 17.

Starting point is 03:33:17 Chapter 18. Of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Liberovox recording is in the public domain. Yergan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 18. Why Merlin Talked in Twilight. It was two days later that Yergan was sent for by Merlin Ambrosius. The Duke of Ligreus came to the magician in twilight, for the windows of

Starting point is 03:33:43 this room were covered with sheets which shut out the full radiance of day. Everything in the room was thus visible in a diffused and tempered light that cast no shadows. In his hand Merlin held a small mirror, about three inches square, from which he raised his dark eyes puzzlingly. "'I have been talking to my fellow ambassador, Dame Anaidis, and I have been wondering, Monsieur de LaGraeus, if you have ever reared white pigeons.' Yergan looked at the little mirror. There was a woman of the Leshi who not long ago showed me an employment to which one might put the blood of white pigeons. She too used such a mirror.

Starting point is 03:34:25 I saw what followed, but I must tell you candidly that I understood nothing of the ins and outs of the affair. Merlin nodded. I suspected something of the sort. So I elected to talk with you in a room wherein, as you perceive, there are no shadows. Now upon my word, says Yergan, but here at last is somebody who can see my attendant. Why is it, pray, that no one else can do so?

Starting point is 03:34:54 It was my own shadow which drew my notice to your follower, for I too have had a shadow given me. It was the gift of my father, of whom you have probably heard. It was Yergan's turn to nod. everybody knew who had begotten Merlin ambrosious, and sensible persons preferred not to talk of the matter. Then Merlin went on to speak of the traffic between Merlin and Merlin's shadow. "'Thus and thus,' says Merlin, "'I humor my shadow, and thus my shadow serves me. There is give and take, such as requisite everywhere.'

Starting point is 03:35:33 "'I understand,' says Yergan. "'But has no other person ever perceived this shawl? of yours? Once only, when for a while my shadow deserted me, Merlin replied. It was on a Sunday my shadow left me, so that I walked unattended in naked sunlight, for my shadow was embracing the church steeple where churchgoers knelt beneath him. The churchgoers were obscurely troubled without suspecting why, for they looked only at each other.

Starting point is 03:36:04 The priest and I alone saw him quite clearly. the priest because this thing was evil, and I because this thing was mine. Well, now I wonder what did the priest say to your bold shadow. But you must go away, and the priest spoke without any fear. Why is it they seem always without fear, these dull and calm-eyed priests? Such conduct is unseemly, for this is high God's house, and far-off peoples are admonished by its steadfast spire. pointing always heavenward, that the place is holy, said the priest.

Starting point is 03:36:42 And my shadow answered, But I only know that steeples are of phallic origin. And my shadow wept, wept ludicrously, clinging to the steeple where church-goers knelt beneath him. Now, and indeed that must have been disconcerting, Monsieur Merlin. Still, as you got your shadow back again, there was no great harm done. But why is it that such attendance follow some men, while other men, are permitted to live in decent solitude. It does not seem quite fair. Perhaps I could explain it to you, friend, but certainly I shall not. You know too much as it is,

Starting point is 03:37:19 for you appear in that bright garment of yours to have come from a land and a time which even I, who am a skilled magician, can only cloudily foresee and cannot understand at all. What puzzles me, however, and Merlin's forefinger shout out, "'How many feet had the first wearer of your shirt? "'And were you ever an old man?' says he. "'Well, four, and I was getting on,' says Juergen. "'And I did not guess. But certainly that is it. An old poet loaned at once a young man's body and the centaur's shirt.

Starting point is 03:37:56 Adairus has loosed a new jest into the world for her own reasons. But you have things backwards. It was Sarita whom I could "'Kedjold so nicely. "'Names that are given by men amount to very little in a case like this. "'The shadow which follows you I recognize and revere as the gift of a Dary's, "'a dreadful mother of small gods. "'No doubt she has a host of other names. "'And you cajoled her, you consider.

Starting point is 03:38:25 "'I would not willingly walk in the shirt of any person who considers that, "'but she will enlighten you, my friend, at her appointed time.' "'Well, so that she deals justly,' Yergan said and shrugged. "'Now Merlin put aside the mirror. "'Meanwhile, it was another matter entirely that Dame Anaetis and I discussed, "'and about which I wish to be speaking with you. "'Kogirvin is sending to King Arthur, along with Gogirvin's daughter, "'that round table which other pandragon gave Gogirvin,

Starting point is 03:38:58 "'and a hundred knights to fill the sieges of this table. "'Go Gorgirvin, who, with due respect, possesses a deplorable sense of humor, "'has numbered you among these knights. "'Now it is rumored the princess is given to conversing a great deal with you in private, "'and Arthur has never approved of garrulity. "'So I warn you that for you to come with us to London would not be convenient.' "'I hardly think so either,' said Juergen, with appropriate melancholy. "'For me to pursue the affair any further would a little.

Starting point is 03:39:31 only result in mooring but otherwise will always be a perfect memory of diverse, very pleasant conversations. "'Old poet, you are well advised,' said Merlin, especially now that the little princess whom we know is about to enter queenhood and become a symbol. I am sorry for her, for she will be worshipped as a revelation of heaven's splendor, and being flesh and blood she will not like it. And it is to no effect I have forewarned King Arthur, for that must happen which will always have happen, so long as wisdom is impotent against human stupidity. So wisdom can but make the best of it, and be content to face the facts of a great mystery.

Starting point is 03:40:12 Thereupon Merlin arose, and lifted the tapestry behind him, so that Yergan could see what hitherto hit this tapestry head-screen. "'You have embarrassed me horribly,' said Yergan. "'And I can feel that I am still blushing about the ankles. Well, I was wrong, so let us say no more concerning it.' "'I wish to show you,' Merlin returned, "'that I know what I am talking about. "'However my present purpose is to put Gwynnevere out of your head,

Starting point is 03:40:43 "'for in your heart I think she never was, old poet, "'who goes so modestly in the centaur's shirt. "'Come, tell me now, and does the thought of her approaching marriage really disturb you?' "'I am the unhappiest man that breathes,' said Yergan with unction. "'All night I lie awake in my teeth. tumbled bed, and think of the miserable day which has passed, and of what is to happen in that equally miserable day whose dawn I watch with a sick heart. And I cry aloud, in the immortal words of Apollonius Mironides, of whom? Says Merlin. I allude to the author of the Mierrasis,

Starting point is 03:41:21 Yergan explained, whom so many persons rashly identify with Apollonius herophilius. Oh, yes, of course. Your quotation is very apt. Why, then your condition. You're condition is sad, but not incurable, for I am about to give you this token, with which, if you are bold enough, you will do thus and thus.' But indeed, this is a somewhat strange token, and the arms and legs, and even the head of this little man, are remarkably alike. Well, and you tell me thus and thus, but how does it happen, Monsieur Merlin, that you have never used this token in the fashion you suggest to me? Because I was afraid. You forget, I am only a magician, whose conjuring raises nothing more formidable than devils. But this is a bit of the old

Starting point is 03:42:07 magic that is no longer understood, and I prefer not to meddle with it. You, to the contrary, are a poet, and the old magic was always favorable to poets. "'Well, I will think about it,' says Juergen. If this will really put Dame Guinevere out of my head. "'Be assured it we'll do that,' said Merlin. "'For with reason does the Durga Gama declare, the brightness of the glow-worm cannot be compared to that of a lamp. A very pleasant little work, the Durga Gama, said Yerga Gama, said Yergan tolerantly, though superficial, of course. Then Merlin Ambrosius gave Yergan the token and some advice. So that night, Yergan told Gwynivir he would not go in her train to London. He told her

Starting point is 03:42:54 candidly that Merlin was suspicious of their intercourse. And therefore, in order to protect you and to protect your fame, my dearest dear, said Yergan. It is necessary that I sacrifice myself and everything I prize in life. I shall suffer very much. But my consolation will be that I have dealt fairly with you, whom I love with an entire heart, and shall have preserved you through my misery. But Gwynnever did not appear to notice how noble this was of Yergan.

Starting point is 03:43:24 Instead, she wept very softly, in a heart-broken way that Yergan found unbearable. For no man, whether emperor or peasant, says the princess, has ever been loved more dearly, or faithfully, or more holy, without any reserve or forethought than you, my dearest, have been loved by me. All that I had I have given you. All that I had you have taken, consuming it. So now you leave me with not anything more to give you, not even any anger or contempt, now that you turn me adrift. for there is nothing in me anywhere save love of you who are unworthy.

Starting point is 03:44:06 But I die many deaths, said Yergan, when you speak thus to me. And in point of fact he did feel rather uncomfortable. I speak the truth, though. You have had all, and so you are a little weary, and perhaps a little afraid of what may happen if you do not break off with me. Now you misjudge me, darling. No, I do not misjudge you, Juergen. Instead, for the first time, I judge both of us. You, I forgive, because I love you.

Starting point is 03:44:37 But myself, I do not forgive, and I cannot ever forgive, for having been a spendthrift fool. And Yergan found such talking uncomfortable and tedious and very unfair to him. For there is nothing I can do to help matters, says Yergan. Why, what could anybody possibly expect me to do about it? it. And so why not be happy while we may? It is not as though we had any time to waste. For this was the last time but one before the day that was set for Gwynnevere's departure. End of Chapter 18. Chapter 19 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 03:45:29 Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 19. The Brown Man with queer feet. Early in the following morning, Yergan left Camel yard, traveling toward Carraways, and went into the Druid forest there, and followed Merlin's instructions.

Starting point is 03:45:46 "'Not that I for a moment believe in such nonsense,' said Yergan. But it will be amusing to see what comes of this business, and it is unjust to deny even nonsense a fair trial. So he presently observed a sun-brown brawny fellow who sat upon the bank of a stream, dabbling his feet in the water, and making music with a pipe constructed of seven reeds of irregular lengths. To him, Yergen displayed, in such a manner as Merlin had prescribed, the token which Merlin had given. The man made a peculiar sign and rose. Yergan saw that this man's feet were unusual. Yergan bowed low, and he said, as Merlin had bidden,

Starting point is 03:46:28 Now praise be to thee, thou lord of the two truths, I have come to thee, O most wise, that I may learn thy secret. I would know thee, and would know the forty-two mighty ones who dwell with thee in the hall of the two truths, and who are nourished by evil-doers, and who partake of wicked blood each day of the reckoning before Weneffrey. I would know thee for what thou art." The brown man answered, I am everything that was and that is to be. Never has any mortal been able to discover what I am. Then this brown man conducted Yurkin to an open glen at the heart of the forest.

Starting point is 03:47:09 Merlin dared not come himself because, observed the brown man, Merlin is wise, but you are a poet, so you will presently forget that which you are about to see, or at worst you will tell pleasant lies about it, particularly to yourself. I do not know about that, says Yergan, but I am willing to taste any drink once. What are you about to show me?' The brown man answered, All. So it was near evening when they came out of the glen.

Starting point is 03:47:40 It was dark now, for a storm had risen. The brown man was smiling, and Yergan was in a flutter. It is not true, Yergan protested. What you have shown me is a pack of nonsense. It is the degraded lunacy of a so-called realist. It is sorcery and pure childishness and abominable blasphemy. It is, in a word, something I do not choose to believe. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Starting point is 03:48:07 Even so, you do believe me, Yergan. I believe that you're an honest man, and that I am your cousin, so there are two more lies for you. The brown man said, still smiling, "'Yes, you are certainly a poet, you who have borrowed the apparel of my cousin, for you come out of my glen, and from my candor, as sane as when you entered.' That is not saying much, to be sure, in praise of a poet's sanity at any time. But Merlin would have died, and Merlin would have died without regret,

Starting point is 03:48:38 if Merlin had seen what you have seen, because Merlin receives facts reasonably. "'Facts, sanity, and reason,' Yergan raged. but what nonsense you are talking. Were there but a bit of truth in your silly puppetry, this world of time and space and consciousness would be a bubble, a bubble which contained the sun and moon and the high stars, and still was but a bubble in fermenting swill. I must go cleanse my mind of all this foulness.

Starting point is 03:49:09 You would have me believe that men, that all men who have ever lived or shall ever live her after, that even I am of no importance, Why, there would be no justice in any such arrangement, no justice anywhere. That vexed you, did it not? It vexes me at times, even me, who under Cotche's will alone am changeless. I do not know about your variability, but I stick to my opinion about your veracity, says Yergan. For all that he was upon the verge of hysteria. Yes, if lies could choke people, that shaggy throat would certainly be sore.

Starting point is 03:49:46 Then the brown man stamped his foot, and the striking of his foot upon the moss made a new noise such as Juergen had never heard. For the noise seemed to come multitudinously from every side, at first as though each leaf in the forest were tinnally cackinating. And then this noise was swelled by the mirth of larger creatures, and the echoes played with this noise, until there was a reverberation everywhere like that of thunder. The earth moved under their feet very much, as a beast twitches its skin under the annoyance of flies. And another queer thing Yergan noticed, and it was that the trees about the glen had rived and arched their trunks, and so had bended, much as candles bend in very hot weather, to lay their topmost foliage at the feet of

Starting point is 03:50:34 the brown man. And the brown man's appearance was changed as he stood there, terrible in a continuous brown glare from the low-hanging clouds, and with the forest making obeisance and with shivering and laughter everywhere. Make answer, you who chatter about justice! How if I slew you now? Says the brown man, I being what I am! Slay me then, says Yergan, with shut eyes, for he did not at all like the appearance of things. Yes, you can kill me if you choose, but it is beyond your power to make me believe that

Starting point is 03:51:09 there is no justice anywhere and that I am unimportant. For I would have you know I am a monstrous, clever fellow. As for you, you are either a delusion or a God or a degraded realist. But whatever you are, you have lied to me, and I know that you have lied, and I will not believe in the insignificance of Yergan.' Chillingly came the whisper of the brown man. "'Poor fool! Oh, shuddering, stiff-necked fool!

Starting point is 03:51:37 And have you not just seen that which you may not ever quite forget?' Nonetheless, I think there is something in me which will endure. I am fettered by cowardice. I am enfeebled by disastrous memories, and I am maimed by old follies. Still, I seem to detect in myself something which is permanent and rather fine. Underneath everything, and in spite of everything, I really do seem to detect that something. What role that something is to enact after the death of my body, and upon what stage I cannot guess. When fortune knocks, I shall open the door. Meanwhile, I am I. I tell you candidly, you, brown man, there is something in Juergen far too admirable for any

Starting point is 03:52:21 intelligent arbiter ever to fling into the dust-heap. I am, if nothing else, a monstrous, clever fellow, and I think I shall endure somehow. Yes, cap-in-hand goes through the land, as the saying is, and I believe I can contrive some trick to cheat oblivion when the need arises,' said Yergan, trembling and gulping, and with his eyes shut tight, but even so with his mind quite made, up about it. Of course, you may be right, and certainly I cannot go so far as to say you are wrong, but still, at the same time. Now, but before a fool's opinion of himself, the brown man cried, the gods are powerless. Oh, yes, and envy is too. And when Yergan very cautiously opened his eyes, the brown man had left him physically unharmed, but the state of Yergan's nervous system

Starting point is 03:53:13 was deplorable. End of Chapter 19. Chapter 20 of Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 20.

Starting point is 03:53:37 Efficacy of Prayer. Yergan went in a tremble to the cathedral of the sacred thorn and chameleard. All night Yurgan prayed there, not in repentance, but in terror. For his dead he prayed, that they should not have been blotted out in nothingness, for the dead among his kindred whom he had loved in boyhood, and for these only. About the men and women whom he had known since then he did not seem to care,

Starting point is 03:54:03 or not at least so vitally. But he put up a sort of prayer for Dame Lisa. "'Wherever my dear wife may be, and, oh God, grant that I may come to her at last and be forgiven!' He wailed and wondered if he really may be forgiven. meant it. He had forgotten about Gwynnevere, and nobody knows what were that night the thoughts of the young princess, nor if she offered any prayers in the deserted hall of judgment. In the morning a sprinkling of persons came to early Mass. Yergan attended with fervor, and started doorward with the others. Just before him, a merchant stopped to get a pebble from his

Starting point is 03:54:42 shoe, and the merchant's wife went forward to the holy water-fant. "'Madame, permit me,' said a handsome young Esquire, and offered her holy water. "'At eleven,' said the merchant's wife in low tones, "'he will be out all day.' "'My dear,' says her husband, as he rejoined her, "'and who was the young gentleman? "'Why, I do not know, darling. I never saw him before. "'He was certainly very civil.

Starting point is 03:55:10 "'I wish there were more like him, and a fine-looking young fellow, too.' Was he? I did not notice, said the merchant's wife indifferently. And Yergan saw and heard and regarded the departing trio ruefully. It seemed to him incredible the world should be going on just as it went before he ventured into the Druid forest. He paused before a crucifix, and he knelt and looked up wistfully. "'If one could only know,' says Yergan, what really happened in Judea, How immensely would matters be simplified if anyone but knew the truth about you, man upon the cross?

Starting point is 03:55:50 Now the Bishop of Marion passed him, coming from celebration of the early Mass. "'My Lord Bishop,' said Juergen simply, "'can you tell me the truth about this Christ?' "'Why, indeed, M. de Greas,' replied the bishop. "'One cannot but sympathize with Pilate in thinking that the truth about him is very hard to get at, even nowadays. Was he Melchizedek, or Shem, or Adam? Or was he verily the Logos? And in that event, what sort of a something was the Logos? Granted, he was a god. Were the Aryans or the civilians in the right? Had he existed always, co-substantial with the Father

Starting point is 03:56:31 and the Holy Spirit? Or was he a creation of the Father, a kind of Israelitic Zagraeus? Was he the husband of Akarimoth that degraded Sophia as the Valentinians of her, or the son of Pantheras as say the Jews, or Calicau as contends the Basilides, or was it as the dosate is taught only a tinted cloud in the shape of a man that went from Jordan to Golgotha? Or were the Marintians right? These are a few of the questions, Monsieur de Lagreus, which naturally arise, and not all of them are to be settled out of hand. Thus speaking, the gallant prelate bowed, then raised three fingers in benediction, and

Starting point is 03:57:13 so quitted Juergen, who was still kneeling before the crucifix. "'Ah, ah!' says Yergan to himself. "'But what a variety of interesting problems are, in point of fact, suggested by religion? And what delectable exercise would be the settling of these problems, once and for all, afford the mind of a monstrous, clever fellow? Come now, it might be well for me to enter the priesthood. It may be that I have a call." But people were shouting in the street. So Yergan rose and dusted his knees. And as Yurgan came out of the Cathedral of the Sacred Thorn, the cavalcade was passing that bore away Dame

Starting point is 03:57:53 Gwynivir to the arms and throne of her appointed husband. Yergan stood upon the cathedral porch, his mind in part preoccupied by theology, but still not fixed. failing to observe how beautiful was this young princess, as she rode by on her white palfrey, green-garbed and crowned and a glitter with jewels. She was smiling as she passed him, bowing her small, tenderly-colored young countenance this way and that way, to the shouting people and not seeing Yergan at all. Thus she went to her bridle, that Gwynnevere, who was the symbol of all beauty and purity to the chivalrous people of Galatheon. The mob worshipped her, and they spoke as though it were an angel who passed.

Starting point is 03:58:37 "'Our beautiful young princess! Ah, there is none like her anywhere! And never a harsh word for anyone, they say. Oh, but she is the most admirable of ladies! And so brave, too, that lovely smiling child who is leaving her home forever! And so very, very pretty! So generous!

Starting point is 03:58:59 King Arthur will be hard put to deserve her!' said Yergan. Now it is droll that to these truths I have but to add another truth in order to have large paving stones flung at her, and to have myself tumultuously torn into fragments, by those unpleasantly sweaty persons who, thank heaven, are no longer jostling me. For the cathedral porch had suddenly emptied, because as the procession passed, heralds were scattering silver among the spectators. "'Arthur will have a very lovely queen,' says a soft, lazy voice.

Starting point is 03:59:34 And Yergan turned and saw that beside him was Dame Anaedis, whom people called the Lady of the Lake. "'Yes, he is greatly to be envied,' said Yergan politely. "'But do you not ride with them to London?' "'Why no,' says the Lady of the Lake, "'because my part in this bridle was done when I mixed the stirrup cup of which the princess and young Lancelot drank this morning. He is the son of King Ban of Benwick, that tall young fellow in blue armour. I am partial to Lancelot, for I reared him at the bottom of a lake that belongs to me,

Starting point is 04:00:10 and I consider he does me credit. I also believe that Madame Guinevere by this time agrees with me. And so, my part being done to serve my creator, I am off for cocaine. And what is this cocaine? It is an island wherein I rule. I did not know you were a queen, madam. Why, indeed, there are many things unknown to you, Misser. de Ligreus, in a world where nobody gets any assuredness of knowledge about anything.

Starting point is 04:00:39 For it is a world wherein all men that live have but a little while to live, and none knows his fate thereafter. So that a man possesses nothing, certainly save a brief loan of his body, and yet the body of a man is capable of much curious pleasure. "'I believe,' said Juergen, as his thoughts shuddered away from what he had seen and heard in the Druid Forest, that you speak wisdom. Then in cocaine we are all wise, for that is our religion. But of what are you thinking, Duke of Lagreus? I was thinking, said Yergan, that your eyes are unlike the eyes of any other woman that I have ever seen. Smilingly, the dark woman asked him wherein they differed, and smilingly he said he did not know. They were looking at each other

Starting point is 04:01:29 warily. In each glance an experienced gamester acknowledged a worthy opponent. "'Why, then you must come with me into cocaine,' says Anaetis, and see if you cannot discover wherein lies that difference, for it is not a matter I would care to leave unsettled.' "'Well, that seems only just to you,' says Juergen. "'Yes, certainly, I must deal fairly with you.' Then they left the cathedral of the Sacred Thorn walking together. The folk went toward London were now well out of sight and hearing, which possibly accounts for the fact that Juergen was now in no wise thinking of Gwynnevere. So it was that Gwynnevere rode out of

Starting point is 04:02:10 Yergan's life for a while, and as she rode she talked with Lanselot. End of Chapter 20. Chapter 21 of Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice Chapter 21 How Anaides Voyaged Now the tale tells that Yurgan and this lady of the lake came presently to the wars of Camilliard

Starting point is 04:02:46 and went aboard the ship which had brought Anaeatus and Merlin into Glathian. This ship was now to every appearance deserted, yet all its saffron-colored sails were spread, as though in readiness for the ship's departure. The crew are scrambling it may be for the last, large s, and fighting over Golgirvin's silver pieces, says Annaedis. But I think they will not be long in returning, so we will sit here upon the prow and await their leisure.

Starting point is 04:03:14 But already the vessel moves, says Juergen, and I hear behind us the rattling of silver chains and the flopping of shifted saffron-colored sails. They are roguish fellows, says Anna Edithes, smiling. Evidently they hid from us, pretending there was nobody aboard. now they think to give us a surprise when the ship sets out to sea as though it were of itself. But we will disappoint these merry rascals by seeming to notice nothing unusual. So Yergan sat with Anaetis in the two tall chairs that were in the prow of the vessel, under a canopy of crimson stuff embroidered with gold dragons,

Starting point is 04:03:52 and just back of the ship's figurehead, which was a dragon painted with thirty colors, and the ship moved out of the harbor and so into the open sea. Thus they passed Eniskarth. And it is a queer crew that serve you, Anaetis, who are queen of cocaine, for I can hear them talking far back of us, and their language is all a cheeping and a twittering, as though the mice and the bats were holding conference. Why, you must understand that these are outlanders who speak a dialect of their own, and are not like any other people you have ever seen.

Starting point is 04:04:28 Indeed now, that is very probable, for I have seen none of your crew. Sometimes it is as though small flickerings passed over the deck, and that is all. It is but the heat waves rising from the deck, for the day is warmer than you would think, sitting here under this canopy, and besides, what call have you and I to be bothering over the pranks of common mariners as long as they do their proper duty? I was thinking, old woman with unusual eyes, that these are hardly common mariners. And I was thinking, Duke Yergan, that I would tell you, a tale of the old gods to make the time speed more pleasantly as we sit here untroubled as a god

Starting point is 04:05:07 and a goddess. Now they had passed Camry, and Anaedis began to narrate the history of Anastar and Kalmura, and of the unusual concessions they granted each other, and of how Kalmura contented her five lovers, and Yergan found the tale perturbing. While Annaedis talked, the sky grew dark, as though the sun were ashamed and veiled his shame with clouds. And they went forward in a gray twilight, which deepened steadily over a tranquil sea. So they passed the lights of Sargill, most remote of the red islands,

Starting point is 04:05:43 while Anaetis talked of Prochus and King Minus and Pacyphi. As color went out of the air, new colors entered into the sea, which now assumed the varied gleams of water that has long been stagnant. And a silence brooded over the sea, so that there was no noise anywhere, except the sound of the voice of Anaedus, saying, All men that live have but a little while to live, and none knows his fate thereafter,

Starting point is 04:06:09 so that a man possesses nothing, certainly save a brief loan of his own body, and yet the body of man is capable of much curious pleasure. They came thus to a low-lying, naked beach, where there was no sign of habitation. Ana-Etis said this was the land they were seeking, and they went to show. shore. Even now, says Juergen, I have seen none of the crew who brought us hither. And the beautiful dark woman shrugged and marveled why he need perpetually be bothering over the doings of common sailors. They went forward across the beach, through sand hills to a moor, seeing no one and walking in a gray fog. They passed many gray, fat, sluggish worms and some

Starting point is 04:06:53 curious gray reptiles, such as Juergen had never imagined to exist. But Anaida said these need not trouble them. So there is no call to be fingering your charmed sword as we walk here, Duke Yergan, for these great worms do not ever harm the living. For whom then do they lie here in wait in this gray fog, wherethrough the green lights flutter, and where through I hear at times a thin and far-off wailing. What is that to you, Duke Yergan, since you and I are still in the warm flesh?

Starting point is 04:07:26 surely there was never a man who asked more idle questions. Yet this is an uncomfortable twilight. To the contrary, you should rejoice that it is a fog too heavy to be penetrated by the moon. But what have I to do with the moon? Nothing as yet. And that is well for you, Duke Yergan, since it is authentically reported you have derided the day which is sacred to the moon. Now the moon does not love derision, as I well know,

Starting point is 04:07:55 for in part I served the moon. "'A?' says Juergen, and he began to reflect. So they came to a wall that was high and gray, and to the door which was in the wall. "'You must knock two or three times,' says Annaedus, to get into cocaine. Yergan observed the bronze knocker upon the door, and he grinned in order to hide his embarrassment.

Starting point is 04:08:19 "'It is a quaint fancy,' said he, and the two constituents of it appear to have been modeled from life. They were copied very exactly from Adam and Eve, says Annaedus, who were the first persons to open this gateway. "'Why, then?' says Yergan. There is no earthly doubt that men degenerate, since here under my hand is the proof of it.' With that he knocked, and the door opened, and the two of them entered. End of Chapter 21. Chapter 22 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yergan, a Comedy of Justice. Chapter 22. As to a veil they broke.

Starting point is 04:09:13 So it was that Yergan came into cocaine, wherein is the bedchamber of time. And time, they report, came in with Yergan, since Yergan was mortal. And time, they say, rejoiced in this respite from the slow toil of dilapidating city stone by stone, and with his eyes tired by the finicky work of etching in wrinkles, went happily into his bedchamber, and fell asleep just after sunset on this fine evening in late June, so that the weather remained fair and changeless, with no glaring sun-rays anywhere, and with one large star shining alone in clear daylight. This was the star of Venus mechanitis, and Yergan later derived considerable amusement from noting how this star was trundled about the dome of heaven by a largeish beetle

Starting point is 04:10:00 named Keper. And the trees everywhere kept their first fresh foliage, and the birds were about their indolent evening songs all during Yergan's stay in cocaine. For time had gone to sleep at the pleasantest hour of the year's most pleasant season. So tells the tale. And Yergan's shadow also went in with Yergan.

Starting point is 04:10:20 But in cocaine, as in Glathion, nobody, save Yergan, seemed to notice this curious shadow which now followed Yurgen everywhere. In cocaine, Queen Adaitis had a palace, where domes and pinnacles beyond numbering glimmered with a soft whiteness above the top of an old twilight forest, wherein the vegetation was unlike that which is nourished by ordinary earth. There was to be seen in these woods, for instance, a sort of moss which made Yergan shudder. So Annaetus and Yergan came through narrow paths, like murmuring green caverns, into a courtyard walled and paved with yellow marble,

Starting point is 04:10:58 wherein was nothing save the dimly colored statue of a god with ten heads and thirty-four arms. He was represented as very much engrossed by a woman, and with his unoccupied hands was holding yet other women. "'It is Jigsbied,' said Anaedis, said Yergen. "'I do not criticize. Nevertheless, I think this Jigsbiet is carrying matters to extremes.' Then they passed the statue of Tangaro Loloquang, and afterward the statue of Legba. Yergan stroked his chin and his color heightened.

Starting point is 04:11:34 Now certainly, Queen Anaetis, he said, you have unusual taste in sculpture. Vence Yergan came with Anaeatus into a white room, with copper plaques upon the walls, and there were four girls heating water in a brass tripod. They bathed Yergan, giving him astonishing caresses, meanwhile, with the tongue, the hair, the fingernails, and the tips of the breasts, and they anointed him with four oils, then dressed him again in his glittering shirt.

Starting point is 04:12:02 Of Caliburn, said Annaedus, there was no present need, so Yergan's sword was hung upon the wall. These girls brought silver bowls containing wine mixed with honey, and they brought pomegranates and eggs and barley-corn and triangular red-colored loaves, whereon they sprinkled sweet-smelling little seeds with formal gestures. Then Anaetus and Yergan broke their fast, eating together. while the four girls served them. "'And now,' says Juergen, "'and now, my dear,

Starting point is 04:12:33 I would suggest that we enter into the pursuit of those curious pleasures of which you were telling me.' "'I am very willing,' responded Anaetis, "'since there is no one of these pleasures but is purchased by some diversion of man's nature. Yet first, as I need hardly inform you, there is a ceremonial to be observed.' "'And what prey is this ceremonial?

Starting point is 04:12:56 Why, we call it the breaking of the veil. And Queen Anaeotis explained what they must do. Well, says Yergan, I am willing to taste any drink once. So Anaetus led Yergan into a sort of chapel, adorned with very unchurch-like paintings. There were four shrines, dedicated severally to St. Cosmo, to St. Damienis, to St. Gwyniol of Brest, and to St. Fotin de Varai. In this chapel were a hooded man, clothed in long garments that were striped with white and yellow,

Starting point is 04:13:31 and two naked children, both girls. One of the children carried a censor, the other held in one hand a vividly blue pitcher half filled with water, and in her left hand a cellar of salt. First of all, the hooded man made Yergan ready. "'Behold the lance,' said the hooded man, "'which must serve you in this adventure.' "'I accept the adventure,' Juergen replied, "'because I believe the weapon to be trustworthy,' said the hooded man. "'So be it, but as you are, so once was I.'

Starting point is 04:14:05 Meanwhile Duke Yergan held the lance erect, shaking it with his right hand. This lance was large, and the tip of it was red with blood. "'Behold,' said Yergan, "'I am a man born of a woman incomprehensibly. Now I, who am miraculous, have found worthy to perform a miracle, and to create that which I may not comprehend." Anaedis took salt and water from the child and mingled these. Let the salt of earth enable the thin fluid to assume the virtue of the teeming sea.

Starting point is 04:14:38 Then kneeling, she touched the lance, and began to stroke it lovingly. To Yergan she said, "'Now may you be fervent of soul and body. May the endless serpent be your crown, and the fertile flame of the sun your strength." Said the hooded man again, "'So be it!' His voice was high in bleeding, because of that which had been done to him. "'That, therefore, which we cannot understand, we also invoke,' said Yergan.

Starting point is 04:15:06 "'By the power of the lifted lance—' And now with his left hand he took the hand of Anaeatus. "'I, being a man born of a woman incomprehensibly, now seize a man. upon that which alone I desire with my whole being. I lead you toward the east. I upraise you above the earth and all of the things of earth." Then Yergan raised Queen Ana-Etis so that she sat upon the altar, and that which was there before tumbled to the ground. Ana-edis placed together the tips of her thumbs and of her fingers, so that her hands made an open triangle, and waited thus. Upon her head was a network

Starting point is 04:15:44 of red coral, with branches radiating downwinds. Her gauzy tunic had twenty-two openings, so as to admit all imaginable caresses, and was of two colors, being shot with black and crimson curiously mingled. Her dark eyes glittered, and her breath came fast. Now the hooded men and the two naked girls performed their share in the ceremonial, which part it is not essential to record, but Yergan was rather shocked by it. Nonetheless, Yergan said, O cord that binds the circling of the stars, O cup which holds all time, all color, and all thought, O soul of space, not unto any image of thee do we attain unless thy image show in what we are about to do. Therefore, by every plant which scatters its seed,

Starting point is 04:16:34 and by the moist warm garden which receives and nourishes it, by the co-minglement of bloodshed with pleasure, by the joy that mimics anguish with sighs and shudderings, and by the contentment which mimics death, by all these do we invoke thee. O thou, continuous one, whose will these children attend, and whom I now adore in this fair-colored and soft woman's body, it is thou whom I honor, not any woman, in doing what seems good to me, and it is thou who art about to speak and not she. Then Annaida said, Yea, for I speak with the tongue of every woman,

Starting point is 04:17:14 and I shine in the eyes of every woman when the lance is lifted. To serve me is better than all else. When you invoke me with a heart wherein is kindled the serpent flame, if but for a moment you will understand the delights of my garden, what joy unwordable pulsates therein, and how potent is the sole desire,

Starting point is 04:17:36 which uses all of a man. To serve me, you will then be eager to surrender whatever else is in your life, and other pleasures you will take with your left hand, not thinking of them entirely. For I am the desire which uses all of a man, and so wastes nothing. And I accept you, I yearn toward you, I, who am daughter, and somewhat more than daughter to the sun. I, who am all pleasure, all ruin, and a drunkenness of the inmost sense desire you. Now Yergan held his lance erect before Anaeus. O secret of all things, hidden in the being of all which lives, now that the lance is exalted, I do not dread thee,

Starting point is 04:18:21 for thou art in me, and I am thou. I am the flame that burns in every beating heart and in the core of the farthest star. I too am life and the giver of life. and in me too is death. Wherein art thou better than I? I am alone, my will is justice, and there comes no other God where I am." said the hooded man behind Yergan, "'So be it, but as you are, so once was I!' The two naked children stood one at each side of Anaeetus, and waited there trembling. These girls, as Yergan afterward learned, were

Starting point is 04:18:59 Alecto and Tysphony, two of the Humanities. And now Yergan shifted the red point of the lance so that it rested in the open triangle made by the fingers of Anaeatus. "'I am life and the giver of life,' cried Yergan. "'Thou that art one that makest use of all. I, who am a man born of woman, I in my station, honor thee in honoring this desire which uses all of a man. Make open, therefore, the way of creation. Encourage the flaming dust which is in our hearts, and aid us in that flame's perpetuation. For is that not thy law?

Starting point is 04:19:39 An Aetis answered, There is no law in cocaine save, do that which seems good to you. Then said the naked children, Perhaps it is the law, but certainly it is not justice. Yet we are little and quite helpless. So presently we must be left. made as you are, for now you two are no longer two, and your flesh is not shared merely with each other. For your flesh becomes our flesh, and your sins our sins, and we have no choice."

Starting point is 04:20:12 Yergan lifted Anaeidas from the altar, and they went into the chancel and searched for the additum. There seemed to be no doors anywhere in the chancel, but presently Yergan found an opening screened by a pink veil. with his lance and broke this veil. He heard the sound of one brief wailing cry. It was followed by soft laughter. So Yergan came into the additum. Black candles were burning in this place, and sulfur too was burning there, before a scarlet cross, of which the top was a circle, and whereon was nailed a living toad, and other curious matters Yergan likewise noticed. He laughed and turned to Anaetis, now that the candles were behind him.

Starting point is 04:20:57 him, she was standing in his shadow. "'Well, well, but you are a little old-fashioned with these equivocal mummeries. And I did not know that civilized persons any longer retained sufficient credulity to ring a thrill from God-baiting. Still, women must be humored, bless them. And at last, I take it, we have quite fairly fulfilled the ceremonial requisite to the pursuit of curious pleasures.' Queen Anaetis was very beautiful, even under his bedimbing shadow.

Starting point is 04:21:27 Triumphant, too, was the proud face beneath that curious choral network, and yet this woman's face was sad. "'Dear fool,' she said, "'it is not wise when you sang of the leshy to put an affront upon Monday. But you have forgotten that.' "'And now you laugh because that which we have done you do not understand, and equally that which I am you do not understand.' "'No matter what you may be, my dear, I am.

Starting point is 04:21:56 I am sure that you will presently tell me all about it, for I assume that you mean to deal fairly with me. I shall do that which becomes me, Duke Yergan. That is it, my dear, precisely. You intend to be true to yourself, whatever happens. The aspiration does you infinite honor, and I shall try to help you. Now I have noticed that every woman is most truly herself, says Yergan, oracularly, in the dark.

Starting point is 04:22:24 Then Juergen looked at her for a moment with twinkling eyes. Then Anaetus, standing in his shadow, smiled with glowing eyes. Then Yergan blew out those black candles, and then it was quite dark. End of Chapter 22. Chapter 23 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cable. This Liber Vox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, a Comedy of Justice. Chapter 23. Shortcomings of Prince Yurgan

Starting point is 04:23:02 Now the happenings just recorded befell on the eve of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, and thereafter Yergan abode in cocaine, and complied with the customs of that country. In the Palace of Queen Anaeatus, all manner of pastimes were practiced without any cessation. Yergan, who considered himself to be somewhat of an authority upon such contrivances, was soon astounded by his own innocence. For Anaeitus showed him whatever was being done in cocaine to this side and to that side, under the direction of Anaetis, whom Yergan found to be a natural myth of doubtful origin connected with the moon,

Starting point is 04:23:42 and who, in consequence, ruled not merely in cocaine, but furtively swayed the tides of life everywhere the moon keeps any power over tides. It was the mission of Anaeatus to divert and turn aside and deflect. In this the jealous moon abetted her because sunlight makes for straightforwardness. So Anaetis and the moon were staunch allies. These mysteries of their private relations, however, as revealed to Yergan, are not very nicely repeatable. But you dishonored the moon, Prince Yirgin, denying praise to the day of the moon, or so at least

Starting point is 04:24:19 I have heard. I remember doing nothing of the sort, but I remember considering it undulying it unethers. just to devote one paltry day to the moon's majesty. For night is sacred to the moon, each night that ever was the friend of lovers, night the renewer and begetter of all life. Why, indeed, there is something in that argument, says Annaedis dubiously. Something do you say? Why, but to my way of thinking, it proves the moon is precisely seven times more honorable than any of the leshy. It is merely, my dear, a question of Arithmetic.

Starting point is 04:24:55 Was it for that reason you did not praise Pandellus and her Mondays with the other leshy? Why, to be sure, said Yergen glibly. I did not find it at all praiseworthy that such an insignificant leshy as Pandellas should name her day after the moon. To me it seemed blasphemy. Then Yergan coughed and looked sideways at his shadow. Had it been Sir Rita now, the case would have been different, and the moon might well have appreciated the delicate compliment. An Aedis appeared relieved. I shall report your explanation.

Starting point is 04:25:31 Candidly, there were ill things in store for you, Prince Yergan, because your language was misunderstood. But that which you now say puts quite a different complexion upon matters. Yergan laughed, not understanding the mystery, but confident he could always say whatever was required of him. Now let us see a little more of cocaine, cries Yergan. for Yergan was greatly interested by the pursuits of cocaine, and for a week or ten days participated therein industriously. Anaetus, who reported the moon's honor to be satisfied, now spared no effort to divert him, and they investigated innumerable pastimes together. "'For all men that live have but a little while to live,' said Anaetus, and none knows his fate

Starting point is 04:26:17 thereafter, so that a man possesses nothing, certainly save a brief loan of his body. And yet the body of a man is capable of much curious pleasure, as thus and thus, says Annaedis, and she revealed devices to her prince consort. For Yergan found that unknowingly he had in due and proper form espoused Queen Anaetis by participating in the breaking of the veil, which is the marriage ceremony of cocaine. His earlier relations with Dame Lisa had, of course, no legal standing in cocaine, where the church is not Christian, and the law is, do that which seems good to you. Well, when in Rome, said Yergan, one must be romantic.

Starting point is 04:27:02 But certainly this proves that nobody ever knows when he is being entrapped into respectability, and never did a fine young fellow marry a high queen with less premeditation. Ah, my dear, says Annaedis, you were controlled by the finger of fate. I do not altogether like that figure of speech. It makes one seem too trivial, to be controlled by a mere finger. No, it is not quite complimentary to call what prompted me a finger. By the long arm of coincidence, then? Much more appropriate, my love, says Juergen complacently.

Starting point is 04:27:38 It sounds more dignified and does not wound my self-esteem. Now, this Anaetus, who is queen of cocaine, was a delicious, tall, dark woman, thinnish and lovely and very restless. From the first her new prince consort was puzzled by her fervors, and presently was fretted by them. He humbly failed to understand how anyone could be so frantic over Yergan. It seemed unreasonable. And in her more affectionate moments, this nature myth positively frightened him.

Starting point is 04:28:12 For transports such as these could not but rouse discomfortable reminiscences of the female spider, who ends such recreations by devouring her partner. Thus to be loved is very flattering, he would reflect, and I again am Juergen asking odds of none, but even so I am mortal. She ought to remember that in common fairness. Then the jealousy of Anaetis, while equally flattering,

Starting point is 04:28:40 was equally out of reason. She suspected everybody, seemed assured that every bosom cherished a mad passion for Yurgan, and that not for a moment could he be trusted. Well, as Juergen frankly conceded, his conduct towards Stella, that ill-starred Yogi of Induati, had in point of fact displayed, when viewed from an especial and quite unconscionable point of view,

Starting point is 04:29:05 an aspect which, when isolated by persons judging hastily, might just possibly appear to approach remotely in one or two respects to temporary forgetfulness of Anaedis, if indeed there were people anywhere so mentally deficient as to find such forgetfulness conceivable. But the main thing, the really important feature, which Anaedis could not be made to understand, was that she had interrupted her consort in what was, in effect, a philosophical experiment, necessarily attempted in the dark. The mantras requisite to the Sakti-Sodana were always performed in darkness. Everybody knew that.

Starting point is 04:29:48 For the rest, this Stella had asserted so-and-so. In simple equity, she was entitled to a chance to prove her allegations if she could. So Yergan had proceeded to deal fairly with her. Besides, why keep talking about this Stella, after a vengeance so spectacular and thorough as that to which Anna Ediths had out-of-hand resorted? Why keep reverting to a topic which was repugnant to Yergan, and visibly upset the dearest nature myth in all legend? Was it quite fair to anyone concerned?

Starting point is 04:30:19 That was the sensible way in which Juergen put it. Still, he became honestly fond of Anaedis. Barring her eccentricities when roused to passion, she was a generous and kindly creature, although, in Juergen's opinion, somewhat narrow-minded. "'My love,' he would say to her, "'you appear positively unable to keep away from virtuous persons. You are always seeking out the people

Starting point is 04:30:44 who endeavor to be upright and straightforward, and you are perpetually laying plans to divert these people. Ah, but why bother about them? What need have you to wear yourself out, and to devote your entire time to such proselytizing when you might be so much more agreeably employed? You should learn, injustice to yourself, as well as to others, to be tolerant of all things, and to acknowledge that in a being of man's mingled nature, a strain of respectability is apt to develop every now and then, whatever you might prefer. But Anaetis had high notions as to her mission, and merely told him that he ought not to speak with levity of such matters.

Starting point is 04:31:26 "'I would be much happier staying at home with you and the children,' she would say, but I feel that it is my duty.' "'And your duty to whom in Heaven's name?' "'Please do not employ such distasteful expressions, Juergen. It is my duty to the power I serve, my very manifest duty to my very manifest duty to my creator. But you have no sense of religion, I'm afraid, and the reflection is often a considerable grief to me. Ah, but, my dear, you are quite certain as to who made you, and for what purpose you were made. You nature myths were created in the mythopoic age by the perversity of old

Starting point is 04:32:05 heathen nations, and you serve your creator religiously. That is quite as it should be. But I have no such authentic information as to my origin and mission and life. I appear at all events to have no natural talent for being diverted. I do not take to it wholeheartedly, and these facts we have to face. Now Yerkin put his arm around her. My dear Anaetis, you must not think it mere selfishness on my part. I was born with a something lacking that is requisite for anyone who aspires to be as thoroughly misled as most people, and you will have to live. love me in spite of it. I almost wish I had never seen you as I saw you in that corridor, Juergen, for I felt

Starting point is 04:32:50 drawn toward you then and there. I almost wish I had never seen you at all. I cannot help being fond of you, and yet you laugh at the things I know to be required of me, and sometimes you make me laugh too. But, darling, are you not just the least, littlest, littlest, tiniest, very weeest trifle-bigoted? For instance, I can see that you think I ought to advance more interest in your striking dances and your strange pleasures and your surprising caresses and all your other elaborate diversions. And I do think they do you credit, great credit, and I admire your inventiveness no less than

Starting point is 04:33:29 your industry. You have no sense of reverence, Yergan. You seem to have no sense at all of what is due to one's creator. I suppose you cannot help that, but you might at least remember it troubles me to hear you talk so flippantly of my religion. But I do not talk flippantly. Indeed you do, though, and it does not sound at all well, let me tell you. Instead, I but point out that your creed necessitates upon the whole an ardor I lack. You, my pet, were created by perversity, and everyone knows it is the part of piety to worship one's creator in fashions acceptable to that creator. So I do not

Starting point is 04:34:10 criticize your religious connections, dear, and nobody admires these ceremonials of your faith more heartily than I do. I merely confess that to celebrate these rights so frequently requires a sustenion of enthusiasm which is beyond me. In fine, I have not your fervent temperament. I am more skeptical. You may be right, and certainly I cannot go so far as to say you are wrong, but still, at the same time. That is how I feel about it, my precious. And that is why I find, with constant repetition of these ceremonials, a certain lack of firmness developing in my responses. And finally, darling, that is all there is to it. I never in my whole incarnation had such a prince consort. Sometimes I think you do not care a bit

Starting point is 04:34:59 about me one way or the other, Yergan. Ah, but I do care for you very much. And to prove it, come now, let us try some brand-new diversion, at sight of which the sky, will be blackened and the earth will shudder, or something of that sort, and then I will take the children fishing as I promised. No, Yergan, I do not feel like diverting you just now. You take all the solemnity out of it with your jeering. Besides, you are always with the children, Juergen. I believe you are fonder of the children than you are of me. And when you are not with them, you are locked up in the library. Well, and was there ever such a treasury as the library of cocaine?

Starting point is 04:35:40 the diversions that you nature myths have practiced I find recorded there, and to read of your ingenious devices delights and maddens me. For it is eminently interesting to meditate upon strange pleasures, and to make verses about them is the most amiable of avocations. It is merely the pursuit of them that I would discourage, as disappointing and mussy. Besides, the library is the only spot I have to myself in the palace, what with your fellow nature myths making the most of life all over the place, It is necessary, Juergen, for one in my position to entertain more or less, and certainly I cannot close the doors against my own relatives. Such riffraff, though, my darling, such odds and ends.

Starting point is 04:36:24 I cannot congratulate you upon your kindred, for I do not get on at all but these patchwork combinations that are one-third man and the other two-thirds a vulgar fraction of bull or hawk or goat or serpent or ape or jackal or whatnot. Priypus is the only male myth who comes here in anything like the semblance of a complete human being, and I had infinitely rather he stayed away, because even I, who am Yergan, cannot but be envious of him. And why, pray? Well, where I go reasonably equipped with Caliburn, Priypus carries a lance I envy. Like all the Bacic myths, he usually carries a thyrsus,

Starting point is 04:37:06 and it is a showy weapon, certainly, but it is not of much use in actual conflict. My darling, and how do you know? Why, Yergan, how do women always know these things? By intuition, I suppose. You mean that you judge all affairs by feeling rather than reason? Indeed, I dare say that is true of most women, and men are daily chafed and delighted about equally by your illogical method of putting things together. But to get back to the congenial task of criticizing your kindred, your cousin Apis, for example, may be a very good sort of fellow, but say what you will, it is ill-advised of him to be going about in public with a bull's head. It makes him needlessly conspicuous, if not

Starting point is 04:37:51 actually ridiculous, and it puts me out when I try to talk to him. Now, Yergan, pray remember that you speak of a very generally respected myth, and that you are being irreverent. And moreover, I take liberty of repeating, my darling, that even though this Ba of Mendis is your cousin, it honestly does embarrass me to have to meet three-quarters of a goat socially. But, Yergen, I must, as a master of course, invite prolific Ba to my feasts of the Sassi. Even so, my dear, in issuing invitations, a hostess may fairly presuppose that her guest will not make beasts of themselves. I often wish that this mere bit of ordinary civility were more rigorously observed by Ba and Hortannus and Frico and Vull and Balpior and by

Starting point is 04:38:39 all your other cousins who come to visit you in such a zoologically muddled condition. It shows a certain lack of respect for you, my darling. Oh, but it is all in the family, Juergen. Besides, they have no conversation. They merely bellow, or twitter, or bleat, or low, or gibber, or purr, according to their respective incarnations, about unspeakable mysteries and monstrous pleasures until I am driven to the verge of virtue by their imbecility.

Starting point is 04:39:07 If you were more practical, Juergen, you would realize that it speaks splendidly for anyone to be really interested in his vocation. And your female relatives are just as annoying, with their eternal whispered enigmas, and their crescent moons and their mystic roses that change color and require continual gardening, and their pathetic belief that I have time to fool with them, and the entire pack practices symbolism until the house is positively littered with Asheras and combs and fallaces and lingams and yarmes, and lingums and yonies and argas and pulliars and talas, and I do not know what other idiotic toys that I'm continually stepping on.

Starting point is 04:39:45 Which of those minxes has been making up to you? Says Anna Edis, her eyes snapping. Ah, ah, now many of your female cousins are enticing enough. I knew it. Oh, but you need not think you deluded me. My darling, pray consider, be reasonable about it. Your feminine guests at present are Sechmet in the form of a lioness, Eo incarnated as a cow, hecht as a frog,

Starting point is 04:40:12 Decredo as a sturgeon, and—ah yes, Thaurus as a hippopotamus. I leave it to your sense of justice, dear Anaetis, if, of ladies with such tastes in dress, a lovely myth like you can reasonably be jealous. And I know perfectly well who it is. It is that Ephesian hussy, and I had several times noticed her behavior. Very well, oh, very well indeed.

Starting point is 04:40:38 Nevertheless, I shall have a plain word or two with her at once, and the sooner she gets out of my house the better, as I shall tell her quite frankly. And as for you, Yergan, But, my dear Lisa, what do you call me? Lisa was never an epithet of mine. Why do you call me Lisa? It was a slip of the tongue, my pet,

Starting point is 04:40:58 an involuntary, but not a natural association of ideas. As for the Ephesian Diana, she reminds me of an animated pine cone, with that eruption of breasts all over her, and I can assure you of you're having no particular reason to be jealous of her. It was merely of the female myths in general, I spoke. Of course they all make eyes at me. I cannot well help that, and you should have anticipated as much when you selected such an attractive prince consort. What do these poor and enamored creatures matter when to you my heart is ever faithful. It is not your heart I am worrying over, Juergen, for I believe you have none.

Starting point is 04:41:37 Yes, you have quite succeeded in worrying me to distraction, if that is any comfort to you. However, let us not talk about it, for it is now necessary, absolutely imperative, that I go to Armenia to take part in the morning for Tammuz. People would not understand it at all if I stayed away from such important orgies. And I shall get no benefit whatever from the trip, much as I need the change. because, without speaking of that famous heart of yours, you are always up to some double-dealing, and I shall not know into what mischief you may be thrusting yourself." Yergan laughed and kissed her.

Starting point is 04:42:13 Be off and attend to your religious duties, dear, by all means. And I promise you I will stay safe locked in the library till you come back. Thus Yergan abode among the offspring of heathen perversity, and conform to their customs. Death ends all things for all they contended. and life is brief, for how few years do men endure, and how quickly is the most subtle and appalling nature myth explained away by the philologists. So the wise person, and equally the foreseeing nature myth, will take his glut of pleasure while there is yet time to take anything, and will waste none of his short lean upon desire and vigor by asking questions.

Starting point is 04:42:54 "'Oh, but by all means,' said Yergan, and he dossily crowned himself with a rose garland and drank his wine and kissed his annaedus. Then, when the feast of the sassy was at full tide, he would whisper to annaedis, "'I will be back in a moment, darling,' and she would frown fondly at him as he very quietly slipped from his ivory dining-couch and went with the merest suspicion of a reel into the library. She knew that Juergen had no intention of coming back, and she despaired of his ever taking the position in the social life of cocaine to which he was entitled, no less by his rank as Prince Consort, than by his personal abilities. For Anaetis did not really think that, as went natural endowments, her Yergan had much reason

Starting point is 04:43:39 to envy even such a general favorite as Priapus, say, from what she knew of both. So it was that Yergan honored custom. Because these beastly nature myths may be right, said Yergan, and certainly I cannot go so far as to say they are wrong, but still still. Still, at the same time! For Yergan was content to dismiss no riddle with Amir I do not know. Yergan was no more able to give up questioning the meaning of life than could a trout relinquish swimming.

Starting point is 04:44:11 Indeed, he lived submerged in a flood of curiosity and doubt as his native element. That death ended all things might very well be the case. Yet, if the outcome proved otherwise, how much more pleasant it would be, for everyone concerned, to have a foretime established amicable relations with the overlords of his second life, by having done whatever it was they expected of him here. "'Yes, I feel that something is expected of me,' says Juergen. And without knowing what it is, I am tolerably sure somehow that it is not an indulgence in endless pleasure. Besides, I do not think death is going to end all for me.

Starting point is 04:44:52 If only I could be quite certain my encounter with King Smoit, and with that charming little Sylvia Taru, was not a dream. As it is, plain reasoning assures me I am not indispensable to the universe. But with this reasoning somehow does not travel my belief. No, it is only fair to my interest to go graveward a little more open-mindedly than do these nature myths, since I lack the requisite credulity to become a freethinking materialist. To believe that we we know nothing assuredly, and cannot ever know anything assuredly, is to take too much on faith. And Yergan paused to shake his sleek black head two or three times very sagely. "'No, I cannot believe in nothingness being the destined end of all. That would be too futile

Starting point is 04:45:41 a climax to content a dramatist clever enough to make invented Yergan. No, it is just as I said to the brown man, I cannot believe in the annihilation of Yergan by any really thrifted. overlords. So I shall see to it that Yergan does nothing which he cannot, more or less plausibly excuse, in case of supernal inquiries. That is far safer. Now Yergan was shaking his head again, and he sighed, for the pleasures of cocaine do not satisfy me. They are all well enough in their way, and I admit the truism that in seeking bed and board, two heads are better than one. Yes, Anaides makes me an excellent wife. Nevertheless, her diversions do not satisfy me, and gallantly to make the most of life is not enough. No, it is something else that I desire,

Starting point is 04:46:36 and Anaetus does not quite understand me. End of Chapter 23. Chapter 24 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, a comedy of justice. Chapter 24. Of Compromises in Cocaine. Thus Yergan abode for a little over two months in cocaine, and complied with the customs of that country. Nothing altered in cocaine.

Starting point is 04:47:15 But in the world wherein Yergan was reared, he knew it would by this time be September, with the leaves flaring gloriously, and the birds flocking southward, and the hearts of Yergan's fellows turning to not unpleasant regrets. But in cocaine there was no regret and no variability, but only an interminable flow of curious pleasures, illumined by the wandering star of Venus mechanitis. "'Why is it then that I am not content?' said Yergan. "'And what thing is this which I desire?' It seems to me there is some injustice being perpetrated upon Yergan somewhere. Meanwhile, he lived with Ana Edith's daughter very much as he had lived with Lisa, who was

Starting point is 04:47:59 daughter to a pawnbroker. Ana Edis displayed upon the whole a milder temper, in part because she could confidently look forward to several centuries more of life, before being explained away by the philologists, and so had less need than Dame Lisa to worry over temporal matters, and in part because there was less to ruin one's disposition in two months than in ten years of Yule. Ergun's company. Anaedas nagged and sulked for a while when her prince-consorts slackened in the pursuit of strange delights, as he did very soon, with frank confession that his taste were simple and that these outlandish refinements poured him. Later, Anna Eda seemed to despair

Starting point is 04:48:41 of his ever-becoming proficient and curious pleasures, and she permitted Juergen to lead a comparatively normal life, with only an occasional and half-hearted remonstrance. What puzzled Yergan was that she did not seem to tire of him, and he would often wonder what this lovely myth, so skilled and potent in arts wherein he was the merest bungler, could find to care for in Yurgen. For now they live together like any other humdrum married couple, and their occasional exchange of endearments was as much a matter of course as their meals, and hardly more exciting. Poor dear, I believe it is simply because I'm a monstrous, clever fellow.

Starting point is 04:49:21 She distrusts my cleverness. She very often disapproves of it, and yet she values it as queer, as a sort of curiosity. Well, but who can but deny that cleverness is truly a curiosity in cocaine? So Annaedis petted and pampered her prince consort, and took such open pride in his queerness as very nearly embarrassed him sometimes. She could not understand his attitude of polite amusement toward his associates and the events which befell him, and even toward his own doings and traits. Whatever happened, Yergen shrugged, and delicately avoiding actual laughter, evinced amusement.

Starting point is 04:50:02 Anaedis could not understand this at all, of course, since Asian myths are remarkably destitute of humor. To Yergan, in private, she protested that he ought to be ashamed of his levity. But, nonetheless, she would draw him out when among the bestial and grim nature myths, and she would glow visibly with fond pride in Juergen's queerness. "'She mothers me,' reflected Yurgan. "'Upon my word, I believe that in the end this is the only way in which females are capable of loving. And she is a dear and lovely creature, of whom I am sincerely fond. What is this thing, then, that I desire?

Starting point is 04:50:43 Why do I feel life is not treating me quite justly?' So the summer had passed. and Ana-Etis traveled a great deal, being a popular myth in every land. Her sense of duty was so strong that she endeavored to grace in person all the peculiar festivals held in her honor. And this, now the harvest season was at hand, left her with hardly a moment disengaged. Then, too, the mission of Ana-Etis was to divert. And there were so many people whom she had personally to visit, so many notable ascetics who were advancing straight to canonization, and whom her underlings were unable to divert, that Anaedis was compelled to

Starting point is 04:51:26 pass night after night in unwholesomely comfortless surroundings, in monasteries and in the cells and caves of hermits. "'You are wearing yourself out, my darling,' Juergen would say, and does it not seem, after all, a game that is hardly worth the candle? I know that, for my part, before I would travel so many miles into a desert and then climb a hundred-foot pillar just to whisper diverting notions into an anchorite's very dirty ear, I would let the gaunt rascal go to heaven. But you associate so much with saintly persons that you have contracted their incapacity for seeing the humorous side of things. Well,

Starting point is 04:52:05 you are a dear even so. Here is a kiss for you. And do you come back to your adoring husband as soon as you conveniently can without neglecting your duty? They report that this Stylites is very far gone in rectitude, said Anaetis absent-mindedly as she prepared for the journey. But I have hopes for him. Then Anna Edis put purple powder on her hair, and hastily got together a few beguiling devices, and went into the Thebed. Yergan went back to the library, and the system of worshipping a girl, and the unique manuscripts of Asthenasa and Elephantis and Sotides, and the Dionysic Formuli, and the chart

Starting point is 04:52:47 of postures, and the litany of the center of delight, and the sprintry and treatises, and the 32 gratifications, and innumerable other volumes which he found instructive. The library was a vaulted chamber, having its walls painted with the twelve asan of Sirene, the ceiling was frescoed with the arched body of a woman, whose toes rested upon the cornice of the east wall, and whose outstretched fingertips touched the cornice of the western wall. The clothing of this painted woman was remarkable, and to Yergen her face was not unfamiliar. "'Who is that?' he inquired of Anaedis. Looking a little troubled, Anaedis told him this was Isrid.

Starting point is 04:53:30 "'Well, I have heard her called otherwise, and I have seen her in quite other clothing.' "'You have seen Isrid?' "'Yes, with a kitchen towel about her head, and otherwise unostentatiously apparelled, but very becomingly I can assure you. Here Yergan glanced sideways at his shadow, and he cleared his throat. Oh, and a most charming, and a most estimable old lady I found this Isrid to be, I can assure you also. I would prefer to know nothing about it, said Anaedis hastily.

Starting point is 04:54:03 I would prefer, for both our sakes, that you say no more of Isrid. Yergan shrugged. Now in the library of cocaine was garnered a record of all that the nature met had invented in the way of pleasure. And here, with no companion save his queer shadow, and with Isrid arched above and bleakly regarding him, Yergan spent most of his time, rather agreeably, in investigating and meditating upon the more curious of these recreations. The patent assin were, in all conscience, food for wonder. But over and above these dozen surprising pastimes, the books of Anaetis revealed to Yergan, without disguise or reticence,

Starting point is 04:54:44 every other far-fetched frolic of heathenry. Hitherto unheard-of forms of diversion were unveiled to him, and every recreation which ingenuity had been able to contrive for the gratifying of the most subtle and the most strong-stomicked tastes. No possible sort of amusement would have seemed to have been omitted in running the quaint gamut of refinements upon nature which Anaetis and her cousins had at odd moments invented to satiate their desire for some more suave or more strange or more sanguinary pleasure.

Starting point is 04:55:18 Yet the deeper Yergen investigated and the longer he meditated, the more certain it seemed to him that all such employment was a peculiarly unimaginative pursuit of happiness. I am willing to taste any drink once, so I must give diversion a fair trial. But I am afraid these are the games of mental children. Well, that reminds me I promised the children to play with them for a while before supper. So he came out, and presently, brave in the shirt of Nessus, and mimicked in every action by that incongruous shadow, Prince Juergen was playing tag with the three little Huminities, the daughters of Anaedus by her former marriage with Ackaron, the King of Midnight.

Starting point is 04:56:01 Anaedis and the dark potentate had parted by mutual consent. Akaron meant well, she would say, with the king of midnight. the forgiving sigh. And that in the moon's absence he occasionally diverted travelers I do not deny, but he did not understand me. And Yergan agreed that this tragedy sometimes befell even the irreproachably diverting. The three humidities at this period were half-grown girls, whom their mother was carefully tutoring to drive guilty persons mad by the stings of conscience. And very quaint it was to see the young furies at practice in the schoolroom, black-robed and waving-lighted torches, and crowned each with her garland of pet serpents. They became attached to Juergen,

Starting point is 04:56:47 who was always fond of children, and who had frequently regretted that Dame Lisa had borne him none. "'It is enough to get the poor deer a name for eccentricity,' he had been used to say. So Yergan now made much of his stepchildren, and indeed he found their innocent prattle quite as intelligent in essentials as the talk of the full-grown nature myths who infested the palace of Anaeatus. And the four of them, Yergan and critical Alecto,

Starting point is 04:57:17 and grave tisiphany, and fairy-like little Magira, would take long walks and play with their dolls, though Alecto was a trifle condescending toward dolls, and romped together in the eternal evening of cocaine. And discuss what sort of dresses and trinkets mother would probably bring them when she came back from Ekbatana or Lesbos, and would generally enjoy themselves.

Starting point is 04:57:42 Rather pathetically earnest and unimaginative little lasses, Juergen found the young humanities. They inherited much of their mother's narrow-mindedness, if not their father's brooding and gloomy tendencies. But in them, narrow-mindedness showed merely as amusing. And Yergan loved them, and would often reflect with a pity it was that these dear little girls were destined when they reached maturity, to spend the rest of their lives in haunting criminals and adulterers and parasites, and generally such persons as must inevitably tarnish the girl's outlook upon life, and lead them to see too much of the worst side of human nature. So Yergan was content enough, but still he was not actually happy,

Starting point is 04:58:26 not even among the endless pleasures of cocaine. And what is this thing that I desire? he would ask himself again and again. And still he did not know. He merely felt he was not getting justice. And a dim sense of this would trouble him even while he was playing with the humanities. End of Chapter 24.

Starting point is 04:58:56 Chapter 25 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Yergan A Comedy of Justice Chapter 25 Cantraps of the Master Philologist But now, as has been recorded, it was September, and Yergan could see that Anaidas too was worrying over something.

Starting point is 04:59:22 She kept it from him as long as possible. First said it was nothing at all, then said he would know it soon enough, then wept a little over the possibility that he would probably be very glad to hear it and eventually told him. For in becoming the consort of a nature myth connected with the moon, Yergan had of course exposed himself to the danger of being converted into a solar legend by the philologists, and in that event would be compelled to leave cocaine with the equinox, to enter into autumnal exploits elsewhere,

Starting point is 04:59:53 and Annaedus was quite heartbroken over the prospect of losing Yergan. For I have never had such a prince consort in cocaine, so maddening and so helpless and so clever. And the girls are so fond of you, although they have not been able to get on at all with so many of their stepfathers. And I know that you are flippant and heartless, but you have quite spoiled me for other men. No, Juergen, there is no need to argue, for I have experimented with at least a dozen lovers lately when I was traveling, and they bored me insufferably. They had, as you put it dear, no conversation, and you are the only young man I have found

Starting point is 05:00:35 in all these ages who could talk interestingly. There is a reason for that, since like you, Anaetis, I am not so youthful as I appear. I do not care a straw about appearances,' wept Anaedis, but I know that I love you and that you must be leaving me with the equinox unless you can settle matters with the master philologist. "'Well, my pet,' says Yergan, "'the Jews got into Jericho by trying.' He armed and girded himself with Caliburn, drank a couple of bottles of wine,

Starting point is 05:01:09 put on the shirt of Nessus overall, and then went to seek this thaumaturgist. Anaida showed him the way to an unpretentious residence, where a week's washing was drying and flapping in the side yard. Yergan knocked boldly, and after an interval the door was opened by the master philologist himself. "'You must pardon this informality,' he said, blinking through his great spectacles, which had dust on them. But time was by ill luck arrested hereabouts on a Thursday evening, and so the maid is out indefinitely. I would suggest, therefore, that the lady weighed outside upon the porch. For the neighbors to see her go in would not be respectable.

Starting point is 05:01:50 "'Do you know what I have come for?' says Yergan, blustering and splendid in his glittering shirt and his gleaming armor. for I warn you, I am justice. I think you are lying, and I am sure you are making an unnecessary noise. In any event, justice is a word, and I control all words. You will discover very soon, sir, that actions speak louder than words. I believe that is so, said the master philologist, still blinking, just as the Jewish mob spoke louder than he whom they crucified. But the word endures.

Starting point is 05:02:26 You are a quibbler. You are my guest, so I advise you, in pure friendliness, not to impugn the power of my words,' said Juergen scornfully. "'But is justice, then, a word?' "'Oh, yes, it is one of the most useful. It is the Spanish Eustisia, the Portuguese Joustica, the Italian Justizia, all from the Latin Joustas. Oh, yes, indeed, but justice is one of the Spanish.

Starting point is 05:02:56 my best-connected words, and one of the best trained also, I can assure you. Aha, and to what degraded uses do you put this poor, enslaved, intimidated justice? There is but one intelligent use, said the master philologist, unruffled, for anybody to make of words. I will explain it to you, if you will come in out of this treacherous draft. One never knows what a cold may lead to. Then the door closed upon them, and Anaeus waited outside in some trepidation. Presently Yergan came out of that unpretentious residence, and so back to Ana-Etis, discomfited.

Starting point is 05:03:35 Yergan flung down his magic sword, charmed Caliburn. This, Anaetis, I perceive to be an outmoded weapon. There is no weapon like words, no armor against words, and with words the master philologist has conquered me. It is not at all equitable, but the man showed me a huge book wherein were the names of everything in the world, and justice was not among them. It develops that, instead, justice is merely a common noun, vaguely denoting an ethical idea of conduct proper to the circumstances, whether of individuals or communities. It is, you observe, just a grammarian's notion.

Starting point is 05:04:18 But what has he decided about you, Yergan? Alas, dear Anaedis, he has decided, in spite of all that I could do, to derive Yergen from jargon, indicating a confused chattering such as birds give forth at sunrise. Thus ruthlessly does the master philologist convert me into a solar legend. So the affair is settled, and we must part, my darling. Anna Edas took up the sword. But this is valuable, since the man who wields it is the mightiest of warriors. It is a rush, a rotten twig, a broom-straw, against the insidious weapons of the master philologist.

Starting point is 05:04:58 But keep it if you like, my dear, and give it to your next Prince-consort. I am ashamed to have trifled with such toys, says Juergen in Fredd had discussed. And besides, the master philologist assures me I shall mount far higher through the aid of this. But what is on that bit of parchment? 32 of the master philologist's own words that I begged of him. See, my dear, he made this cantrap for me with his own hand and ink. And Yergan read from the parchment impressively. At the death of Adrian V, Pedro Giuliani, who should be named John the twentieth,

Starting point is 05:05:36 was through an error in the reckoning elevated to the papal chair as John the twenty-first. Said Anaetus blankly, And is that all? Why, yes, and surely thirty-two whole words should be enough for the most exacting. But is it magic? Are you certain it is authentic magic? I have learned that there is always magic in words. Now, if you ask my opinion, Juergen, your cantrap is nonsense, and can never be of any earthly use to anybody. Without boasting, dear, I have handled a great deal of black magic in my day, but I never encountered a sceptive. spell it all like this.

Starting point is 05:06:16 Nonetheless, my darling, it is evidently a cantrap, for else the master philologist would never have given it to me. But how are you to use it, pray? Why, as need directs, said Yergan, and he put the parchment into the pocket of his glittering shirt. Yes, I repeat, there is always something to be done with words, and here are 32 authentic words from the master philologist himself, not to speak of three commas and a full stop. Oh, I shall certainly go far with this."

Starting point is 05:06:48 We women have firmer faith in the sword," replied Anaedis. At all events, you and I cannot remain upon this Thamaturgist's porch indefinitely. So Anna Edis put up Caliburn and carried it from the Thamaturgist's unpretentious residence to her fine palace in the old twilight wood, and afterward, as everybody knows, she gave this sword to King Arthur, who with its aid rose to be hailed as one of the nine. worthies of the world. So did the husband of Gwynnevere win for himself eternal fame with that which Yurgen flung away. End of Chapter 25. Chapter 26 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yergan, a comedy of justice.

Starting point is 05:07:43 Chapter 26. In Times Hourglass. "'Well, well,' said Juergen, when he had taken off all that foolish ironmongery, and had made himself comfortable in his shirt, "'Well beyond doubt, the situation is awkward. I was content enough in cocaine, and it is unfair that I should thus be ousted. Still, a sensible person will manage to be content anywhere. But wither, pray, am I expected to go?' "'into whatever land you may elect, my dear,' said Annaedas fondly. "'That much at least I can manage for you.

Starting point is 05:08:19 and the interpretation of your legend can be arranged afterward. But I grow tired of all the countries I have ever seen, dear Anaedis, and in my time I have visited nearly all the lands that are known to men. That too can be arranged, and you can go instead into one of the countries which are desired by men. Indeed, there are a number of such realms which no man has ever visited except in dreams, so that your choice is wide. But how am I to make a choice without having seen any of these things? countries. It is not fair to be expecting me to do anything of the sort.

Starting point is 05:08:54 Why, I will show them to you, Annaedis replied. The two of them then went together into a small blue chamber, the walls of which were ornamented with gold stars placed Helter Skelter. The room was entirely empty, save for an hourglass near twice the height of a man. "'It is Time's own glass,' said Annaetus, which was left in my keeping when time went to sleep. Anaedus opened a little door of carved crystal that was in the lower half of the hourglass, just above the fallen sands. With her fingertips, she touched the sand that was in Times hourglass, and in the sand she drew a triangle with equal sides, she who was strangely gifted and perverse. Then she drew just such another figure, so that the tip of it penetrated the first

Starting point is 05:09:41 triangle. The sand began to smolder there, and vapors rose into the upper part of the hourglass, and Juergens saw that all the sand in times hourglass was kindled by a magic generated by the contact of these two triangles, and in the vapors a picture formed. I see a land of woods and rivers, Anaitis. A very old fellow, regally crowned, lies asleep under an ash-tree, guarded by a watchman who has more arms and hands than Jigsbyet. It is Atlantis, you behold, and the sleeping of ancient time, time to whom this glass belongs, while Brierius watches. Time sleeps quite naked, Anaedus, and though it is a delicate matter to talk about, I notice he has met with a deplorable accident. So that time begets

Starting point is 05:10:31 nothing any more, Ergen, the while he brings about old happenings over and over, and changes the name of what is ancient, in order to persuade himself he has a new plaything. There is really no more tedious and wearing old dotard anywhere, I can assure you, but Atlantis is the the only western province of cocaine. Now do you look again, Juergen. Now I behold a flowering plain in three steep hills, with a castle upon each hill. There are woods wherein the foliage is crimson, shining birds with white bodies and purple heads feed upon the clusters of golden berries that grow everywhere, and people go about in green clothes, with gold chains about their necks, and with broad bands of gold upon their arms, and all these people have untroubled faces.

Starting point is 05:11:19 That is Inis Loka, and to the south is Inis Dhalab, and to the north Inis Erkendra. And there is sweet music to be listening to eternally, could we but hear the birds of Riannon, and there is the best of wine to drink, and their delight is common. For thither comes nothing hard nor rough, and no grief, nor any regret, nor sickness, nor age, nor death, for this is the land of women, a land of many-colored hospitality. Why, then, it is no different from cocaine. And into no realm where pleasure is endless will I ever venture again of my own free will, for I find that I do not enjoy pleasure.

Starting point is 05:12:00 Then Anaida showed him Ogigia and Trifamy and Sudarsana and the fortunate islands, and Ieiaa and Cairis and Invalus and the Asperides and Meripus, and Planesia and Utara and Avalon and Tier Nambayo and the lemi, and a number of other lands to enter which men have desired. And Yergan groaned. "'I am ashamed of my fellows,' says he, "'for it appears their notion of felicity is to dwell eternally in a glorified brothel. "'I do not think as a self-respecting young prince I would care to inhabit any of these earthly paradises, for were there nothing else, I would always be looking for an invasion by the police.

Starting point is 05:12:41 There remains then but one other realm, which I have not shown you, in part because it is an obscure little place, and in part because, for a reason that I have, I shall not assist you to go thither. Still there is Lucie where Queen Helen rules, and Lucie is that you behold. But Lucie looks like any other country in autumn, and appears to be reasonably free from the fantastic animals and overgrown flowers, which made the other paradises look like. childish. Come now. There is an attractive simplicity about Luky. I might put up with Luky, if the local bylaws allowed me a rational amount of discomfort. Discomfort you would have full measure, for the heart of no man remains untroubled after he has once viewed Queen

Starting point is 05:13:29 Helen and the beauty that is hers. It is for that reason, Juergen, I shall not help you to go into Lukie, for in Lucie you would forget me, having seen Queen Helen. Why, what not? You are Nonsense you are talking, my darling. I will wager she cannot hold a candle to you. See for yourself, said Annaedis sadly. Now through the rolling vapors came confusedly a gleaming and a surging glitter of all the loveliest colors of heaven and earth. And these took order presently, and Yergan saw before him in the hourglass that young Dorothy, who was not Hightman Michael's wife, and long and wistfully he looked at her, and the blinding tears came to his eyes.

Starting point is 05:14:11 for no reason at all, and for the while he could not speak. Then, Yergan yawned and said, But certainly this is not the Helen who was famed for beauty. I can assure you that it is, said Anaetus. And that is she who rules in Lucie, whither I do not intend you shall go. Why, but, my darling, this is preposterous. The girl is nothing to look at twice, one way or the other. She is not actually ugly, I suppose.

Starting point is 05:14:41 If one happens to admire that washed-out blonde type, as of course some people do, but to call her beautiful is out of reason, and that I must protest is simple justice. Do you really think so?' says Anaetis brightening. "'I most assuredly do. Why, you remember what Calpurnius Bassus says about blondes? No, I believe not. What did he say, dear?' I would only spoil the splendid passage by quoting it inaccurately from memory. But he was quite right, and his opinion is mine in every particular. So if that is the best Luke he can offer, I heartily agree with you I had best go into some other country.

Starting point is 05:15:22 I suppose you already have your eyes upon some minks or other? Well, my love, those girls in the disparities were strikingly like you, with even more wonderful hair than yours. And the girl Ailey, whom we saw in Tiernambio, likewise resembled you remarkably, except that I thought she had the better figure. So I believe in either of those countries I could be content enough after a while. Since part from you I must, said Yergen tenderly, I intend, in common fairness to myself, to find a companion as like you as possible.

Starting point is 05:15:56 You conceive I can pretend it as you at first, and then, as I grow fonder of her for her own sake, you will gradually be put out of my mind without my incurring any intolerable anguish. Anaida's was not pleased. "'So you are already hankering after those hussies, and you think them better looking than I am, and you tell me so to my face.' "'My darling, you cannot deny we have been married all of three whole months, and nobody can maintain an infatuation for any woman that long,

Starting point is 05:16:29 in the teeth of having nothing refused him. Infatuation is largely a matter of curiosity, and both of these emotions die when they are fed.' "'Yergan,' said Anaedis with conviction, "'you are lying to me about something. I can see it in your eyes.' "'There is no deceiving a woman's intuition. "'Yes, I was not speaking quite honestly

Starting point is 05:16:51 "'when I pretended I had as leave to go into the Asperides as Tier Nambeo. "'It was wrong of me, and I ask your pardon. "'I thought that by affecting indifference I could manage you better. "'But you saw through me at once, and very rightly, became angry. So I fling my cards upon the table. I no longer beat about the bushes of equivocation. It is Ailey, the daughter of Carmack whom I love, and who can blame me. Did you ever in your life behold a more enticing figure Anaetis?

Starting point is 05:17:21 Certainly I never did. Besides, I noticed— But never mind about that. Still, I could not help seeing them. And then such eyes. Twin beacons that light my way to comfort for my nose. not inconsiderable regret at losing you, my darling. Oh, yes, assuredly, it is to Tirnambayo I elect to go. Whether you go, my fine fellow, is a matter in which I have the choice,

Starting point is 05:17:48 not you, and you are going to Lucie. My love, now do be reasonable. We both agreed that Lukie was not a bit suitable. Why, were there nothing else, in Lucie there were no attractive women? Have you no sense except Book Sense? It is for that, reason I am sending you to Lucie." And thus speaking, Ana Edis set about a strong magic that hastened the coming of the equinox. In the midst of her charming she wept a little, for she was fond of Yergan. And Yergan preserved a hurt and angry face as well as he could, for at the sight of Queen Helen, who was so like young Dorothy La Desiree, he had ceased to care for Queen Anaeidas

Starting point is 05:18:30 and her diverting ways, or to care for aught else in the world save only Queen Helen, the delight of gods and men. But Yergan had learned that Anaetis required management. For her own good, as he put it, and in simple justice to the many admirable qualities which she possesses. End of Chapter 26. I... Chapter 27 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 05:19:09 Yergan, A Comedy of Justice Chapter 27 Vexacious Estate of Queen Helen But how can I travel with the equinox with a fictitious thing, with a mere convention? Yergan had said. To demand any such proceeding of me is preposterous. Is it any more preposterous than to travel

Starting point is 05:19:32 with an imaginary creature like a centaur? They had retorted. Why, Prince Yurgan, we wonder how you, who have done that perfectly unheard, heard of thing, can have the effrontery to call anything else preposterous. Is there no reason at all in you? Why, conventions are respectable, and that is a deal more than can be said for a great many centaurs. Would you be throwing stones at respectability, Prince Juergen? Why, we are unutterably astounded at your objection to any such well-known

Starting point is 05:20:02 phenomenon as the equinox." And so on, and so on, and so on, said they. And in fine they kept at him until Yurgen was too confused to argue, and his head was in a whirl, and one thing seemed as preposterous as another. And he ceased to notice any especial improbability in his traveling with the equinox, and so passed without any further protest or argument about it, from cocaine to Lucie. But he would not have been thus readily flustered had Yergan not been thinking all the while of Queen Helen and of the beauty that was hers. So he inquired forthwith the way that one might quicklyest come into the presence of Queen Helen.

Starting point is 05:20:42 Why, you will find Queen Helen, he was told, in her palace at Sudopolis. His informant was a Hamadryad, whom Yurgan encountered upon the outskirts of a forest overlooking the city from the west. Beyond broad sloping stretches of ripe corn, you saw Sudopolis as a city built of gold and ivory, now all a dazzling glitter under a hard seeming sky, that appeared unusually remote from earth. "'And is the queen as fair as people report?' asks Yergan. "'Men say that she excels all other women,' replied the Hamadryad, "'as immeasurably as all we women perceive her husband to surpass all other men.'

Starting point is 05:21:24 "'But, oh, dear me,' says Yergan. "'Although, for one, I see nothing remarkable in Queen Helen's looks, and I cannot but think that a woman who has been so much talked about all to be more careful in the way she dresses. So this Queen Helen is already provided with a husband. Yergan was displeased, but saw no reason for despair. Then Yergan inquired as to the queen's husband and learned that Achilles, the son of Pilius,

Starting point is 05:21:52 was now wedded to Helen, the swan's daughter, and that these two ruled in Sudopolis. For they report, said the Hamadryad, that in Aedes' dreary kingdom, Achilles remembered her beauty, and by this memory was heartened to break the bonds of Aedes. So did Achilles, king of men, and all his ancient comrades, come forth resistlessly upon a second quest of this Helen, whom people call, and as I think with considerable exaggeration, the wonder of this world. Then the gods fulfilled the desire of Achilles, because they said, the man who has once beheld Queen Helen will never any more regain contentment

Starting point is 05:22:32 so long as his life lacks this wonder of the world. Personally, I would dislike to think that all men are so foolish. Men are not always rational, I grant you. But then, said Juergen slyly, so many of their ancestruses are feminine. But an ancestress is always feminine. Nobody ever heard of a man being an ancestress. Men are ancestors. Why, whatever are you talking about? Well, we were speaking, I believe, of Queen Helen's marriage. To be sure we were, and I was telling you about the gods when you made that droll mistake about ancestors. Everybody makes mistakes sometimes, however, and foreigners are always apt to get words confused. I could see it once you were a foreigner.

Starting point is 05:23:18 Yes, said Yergan, but you were not telling me about myself, but about the gods. Why, you must know the aging gods' desired tranquility. So, We will give her to Achilles, they said. And then it may be, this king of men will retain her so safely that his littler fellows will despair, and will cease to war for Helen. And so we shall not be bothered any longer by their wars and other foolishnesses. For this reason it is that the gods gave Helen to Achilles, and sent the pair to reign in Lucie.

Starting point is 05:23:49 Though, for my part, concluded the Hamadryad, I shall never cease to wonder what he saw in her. No, not if I live to be a thousand. "'I must,' says Yergan, "'observe this monarch Achilles before the world is a day older. "'A king is all very well, of course, "'but no husband wears a crown so as to prevent the affixion of other headgear.' And Yergan went down into Sudopoulos, swaggering.

Starting point is 05:24:17 So in the evening, just after sunset, Yergan returned to the Hamadriot. He walked now with the aid of the Ashen staff which Thersetius had given Yergan, and Yergan was mirthless and rather humble. "'I have observed your king Achilles,' Yergan says. "'And he is a way better man than I. Queen Helen, as I confess with regret, is worthily mated.'

Starting point is 05:24:40 "'And what have you to say about her?' inquires the Hamadryad. "'Why, there is nothing more to say, then, that she is worthily made it, and fit to be the wife of Achilles.' For once, poor Yergan was really miserable. "'For I admire this man Achilles. I envy him, and I fear him,' says Juergen. "'And it is not fair that he should have been created my superior.' "'But is not Queen Helen the loveliest of ladies that you have ever seen?' "'As to that,' says Yergan, he led the haemadrya to a forest pool, hard by the oak tree in which

Starting point is 05:25:18 he resided. The dusky water lay unruffled, a natural mirror. "'Look,' said Yergan, and he spoke. with a downward waving of his staff. The silas gathering in the woods was wonderful. Here the air was sweet and pure, and the little wind which went about the Ilex boughs in search of night, was a tender and peaceful wind, because it knew that the all-healing night was close at hand.

Starting point is 05:25:43 The Hamadryad replied, But I see only my own face. It is the answer to your question, nonetheless. Now, do you tell me your name, my dear, so that I may know who in reality, is the loveliest of all the ladies I have ever seen. The Hamadry had told him that her name was Cloris, and that she always looked a fright with her hair arranged as it was today, and that he was a strangely impudent fellow. So he in turn confessed to her he was King Yergan

Starting point is 05:26:13 of Eubonia, drawn from his remote kingdom by exaggerated reports as to the beauty of Queen Helen. Cloris agreed with him that rumor was in such matters invariably untrustworthy. This led to further talk as twilight deepened. And the while, that a little by little, this pretty girl was converted into a warm, breathing shadow, hardly visible to the eye. The shadow of Yergan departed from him, and he began to talk better and better. He had seen Queen Helen face to face, and other women now seemed unimportant. Whether or not he got into the graces of this hamedriot did not greatly matter one way or the other. And in consequence, Yergan talked with such fluency

Starting point is 05:26:55 see such apposite remarks and such tenderness as astounded him. So he sat listening with delight to the seductive tongue of that monstrous clever fellow, Yergan. For this plump, brown-haired, bright-eyed little creature, this cloris, he was honestly sorry. Into the uneventful life of a Hamadryad, here in this uncultured forest, could not possibly have entered much pleasurable excitement, and it seemed only right to inject a little. Why, simply injustice to her, Yergan reflected, I must deal fairly. Now it grew darker and darker under the trees, and in the dark nobody can see what happens. There were only two voices that talked with lengthy pauses, and they spoke gravely of unimportant

Starting point is 05:27:43 trifles like children at play together. And how does a king come thus to be traveling without any retinue or even a sword about him? Why, I travel with a staff, my dear, as you perceive, and it suffices me. Certainly it is large enough in all conscience. Alas, young outlander, who call yourself a king, you carry the bludgeon of a highwayman, and I am afraid of it. My staff is a twig from Igresil, the tree of universal life. Thurcetis gave it me, and the sap that throbs therein arises from the undar fountain,

Starting point is 05:28:17 where the grave norns make laws for men and fix their destiny. Therecetes is a scoffer, and his gifts are mockery. I would have none of them. The two began to wrangle, not at all angrily, as to what Juergen had best do with his prize staff. "'Do you take it away from me at any rate?' says Cloris. So Yergan hid his staff where Cloros could not possibly see it, and he drew the Hammondriac close to him, and he laughed contentedly. "'Oh, oh, oh, wretched king!' cried Cloris.

Starting point is 05:28:51 I fear that you will be the death of me, and you have no right to oppress me in this way, for I am not your subject. Rather shall you be my queen, dear Cloris, receiving all that I most prize. But you are too domineering, and I am afraid to be alone with you and your big staff. Ah, not without knowing what she talked about, did my mother use to quote her Eolic saying, The king is cruel and takes joy in bloodshed. presently you will not be afraid of me, nor will you be afraid of my staff. Custom is all, for this likewise is any olik saying,

Starting point is 05:29:29 The taste of the first olive is unpleasant, but the second is good. Now for a while was silence save for the small, secretive rumors of the forest. One of the large green locusts which frequent the island of Lucie began shrilling tentatively. Wait now, King Yergan, for surely I hear footsteps, and what are the large green locusts, comes to trouble us. It is a wind in the treetops, or perhaps it is a God who envies me. I pause for neither. Ah, but speak reverently of the gods, for is not love a God and a jealous God that has wings with which to leave us? Then I am a God, for in my heart is love, and in every fiber of me is love, and from me now love emanates. But certainly I heard somebody approaching through the forest. Well,

Starting point is 05:30:18 and do you not perceive I have withdrawn my staff from its hiding-place? Ah, you have great faith in that staff of yours. I fear nobody when I brandish it. Another locust had answered the first one. Now the two insects were in full dispute, suffusing the warm darkness with their pertinacious whirring. King of Abonia, it is certainly true that which you told me about olives. Yes, for always love begets truthfulness.

Starting point is 05:30:48 I pray it may beget between us utter truthfulness and nothing else, King Juergen. Not Yergan now, but love. Indeed, they tell that even so, in such deep darkness, love came to his sweetheart psyche. Then why do you complain because I piously emulate the gods and offer unto love the sincerest form of flattery? And Yergan shook his staff at her. Ah, but you are strangely ready with your flattery,

Starting point is 05:31:17 and love threatened psyche with no such enormous staff. That is possible, for I am Juergen, and I deal fairly with all women, and raise my staff against none save in the way of kindness. So they talked nonsense in utter darkness, while the locusts, and presently a score of locusts, disputed obstinately. Now Cloris and Yurgan were invisible, even to each other,

Starting point is 05:31:42 as they talked under her oak tree. But before them, the field shone mistily under a gold-dusted dome, for this night seemed builded of stars. And the white towers of Sudopoulos also could Yergan see, as he laughed there and took his pleasure with Cloris. He reflected that very probably Achilles and Helen were laughing thus, and were not dissimilarly occupied out yonder in this night of wonder. He sighed. But in a while Yergan and the Hamadriot were speaking again, just as inconsequently, and the locusts were

Starting point is 05:32:16 wearing just as obstinately, and later the moon rose and they all slept. With the dawn, Yergan arose and left his hemadryg Cloris still asleep. He stood where he overlooked the city, and the shirt of Nessus glittered in the level sun-rays, and Yergan thought of Queen Helen. Then he sighed and went back to Cloris and wakened her with the sort of salutation that appeared her just due. End of Chapter 27 Chapter 28 of Yurgan A Comedy of Justice

Starting point is 05:32:56 by James Branch Cabell. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Yergan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 28. Of compromises in Lucie. Now the tale tells that ten days later Yergan and his Hamidriot were duly married, in consonants with the law of the wood.

Starting point is 05:33:16 Not for a moment did Cloris consider any violation of the proprieties, so they were married the first evening she could assemble her kindred. Still, Cloris, I already have two wives, says Yergan, and it is but fair to confess it. I thought it was only yesterday you arrived in Lucie. That is true, for I came with the equinox over the long sea. Then Jugatnes has not had time to marry you to anybody, and certainly he would never think of marrying you to two. wives, why do you talk such nonsense?

Starting point is 05:33:50 No, it is true, I was not married by Jugatmus. So there, says Cloris, as if that settled matters. Now you see for yourself. Why, yes, to be sure, says Juergen, that does put rather a different light upon it, now I think of it. It makes all the difference in the world. I would hardly go that far. Still, I perceive it makes a difference.

Starting point is 05:34:14 Why, you talk as if everybody did not. not know that Jugatnus marries people. No, dear, let us be fair. I did not say precisely that. As if everybody was not always married by Jugatnes. Yes, here in Lucie, perhaps. But outside of Lucie, you understand, my darling. But nobody goes outside of Lucie. Nobody ever thinks of leaving Lucie. I never heard such nonsense. You mean nobody ever leaves this island? "'Nobody that you ever hear of. Of course there are larries and penities with no social position

Starting point is 05:34:51 that the kings of Sudopoulos sometimes take a voyaging. Still, the people of other countries do get married.' "'No, Yergan,' said Cloris sadly. "'It is a rule with Jagatnis never to leave the island, and, indeed, I am sure he has never even considered such unheard-of-conduct. So, of course, the people of other countries are not able to get married. Well, but Cloris, in Eubonia, now if you do not mind, dear, I think we had better talk about something more pleasant. I do not blame you men of Eubonia, because all men are in such matters perfectly irresponsible. And perhaps it is not altogether the fault of the women either, though I do think any really

Starting point is 05:35:33 self-respecting woman would have the strength of character to keep out of such irregular relations, and that much I am compelled to say. So do not let us talk any more about these persons whom you describe as your wives. It is very nice of you, dear, to call them that, and I appreciate your delicacy. Still, I really do believe we had better talk about something else.' Yergan deliberated. Yet, do you not think, Cloris, that in the absence of Jugotness, and in, as I understand it, the unavoidable absence of Jugotness, somebody else might perform the ceremony?

Starting point is 05:36:08 Oh, yes, if they wanted to, but it would not. count. Nobody but Jugatnes can really marry people, and so, of course, nobody else does. What makes you sure of that? Why, because, said Cloris triumphantly, nobody ever heard of such a thing. You have voiced, said Jurgan, an entire code of philosophy. Let us by all means go to Jagatnes and be married. So they were married by Jugadnus, according to the ceremony with which the people of the wood were always married by Jugatnis. First, Virgo loosed the girdle of Chloris in such fashion as was customary, and Chloris, after sitting much longer than Yergan liked in the lap of mutinous, who was in the state that custom required of him, was led back to Yergan by Domenicus

Starting point is 05:36:57 in accordance with immemorial custom. Subigo did her customary part, then Prima grasped the bride's plump arms, and everything was perfectly regular. Thereafter, Yergan disposed of his in the way Thursities had directed, and thereafter Yergan abode with Cloris upon the outskirts of the forest, and complied with the customs of Lucie. Her tree was a rather large oak, for Cloris was now in her two hundred and sixty-sixth year, and at first its commodious trunk sheltered them. But later Yergan built himself a little cabin, thatched with birds' wings, and made himself more comfortable. It is well enough for you, my dear, in fact it is expected of you to live in a tree-bowl. But it makes me feel uncomfortably like a worm, and it needlessly

Starting point is 05:37:45 emphasizes the restrictions of married life. Besides, you do not want me under your feet all the time, nor I you. No, let us cultivate a judicious abstention from familiarity. Such is one secret of an enduring, because-endurable marriage. But why is it, pray, that you have never married before in all these years. She told him. At first, Yergan could not believe her, but presently Yergan was convinced, through at least two of his senses, that what Cloros told him was true about Hamadriads. Otherwise, you are not markedly unlike the women of Eubonia, said Yergan. And now Yergan met many of the people of the wood, but since the tree of Cloris stood upon the verge of the forest, he saw far more of the people of the field who dwelt between the forest and the city

Starting point is 05:38:34 of Sudopolis. These were the neighbors and the ordinary associates of Chloris and Yergan, though once in a while, of course, there would be family gatherings in the forest. But Yergan presently had found good reason to distrust the people of the wood, and went to none of these gatherings. For in Eubonia, he said, we are taught that your wife's relatives will never find fault with you to your face, so long as you keep away from them, and more than that, no sensible man expects. Meanwhile, King Yergan was perplexed by the people of the field, who were his neighbors. They one and all did what they had always done.

Starting point is 05:39:12 Thus Runcina saw to it that the fields were weeded. Saya took care of the seed while it was buried in the earth. Nodosa arranged the knots and joints of the stock. Volusia folded the blade around the corn. Each had an immemorial duty. And there was hardly a day that somebody was not busied in the fields, whether it was Okater harrowing or satyr and serritor about their sewing and raking, or stercutious manuring the ground, and Hippona was always bustling about in one place or another

Starting point is 05:39:43 looking after the horses, or else Bubona would be there attending to the cattle. There was never any restfulness in the fields. "'And why do you do these things year in and year out?' asked Yergan. "'Why, king of Eubonia, we have always done these things,' they said in high astonishment. Yes, but why not stop occasionally? Because in that event the work would stop. The corn would die, the cattle would perish, and the fields would become jungles. But, as I understand it, this is not your corn, nor your cattle, nor your fields.

Starting point is 05:40:19 You derive no good from them. And there is nothing to prevent your ceasing this interminable labor, and living as do the people of the wood, who perform no heavy work whatever. I should think not, said Erystheus, and his teeth flash in a smile that was very pleasant to see as he strained at the olive press. Whoever heard of the people of the wood doing anything useful? Yes, but, says Yergan patiently, do you think it is quite fair to yourselves to be always about some tedious and difficult labor when nobody compels you to do it?

Starting point is 05:40:54 Why do you not sometimes take holiday? King Jürgen, replied Farnax, looking up from the little furnace wherein she was parching corn. You are talking nonsense. The people of the field have never taken holiday. Nobody ever heard of such a thing. We should think not indeed, said all the others sagely. Ah, ah, said Yergan, so that is your demolishing reason.

Starting point is 05:41:21 Well, I shall inquire about this matter among the people of the wood, for they may be more sensible. Then as Juergen was about to enter the forest, he encountered Terminus, perfumed with ointment, and crowned with a garland of roses, and standing stock still. "'Aha,' said Yergan, "'so here is one of the people of the wood about to go down into the fields, but if I were you, my friend, I would keep away from any such foolish place.' "'I never go down into the fields,' said Terminus. "'Oh, then, you are returning into the forest.' "'But certainly not.

Starting point is 05:41:54 "'Whoever heard of my going into the forest?' "'Indeed, now I look at you, you are merely standing here.' "'I have always stood here,' said Terminus. "'And do you never move?' "'No,' said Terminus. "'And for what reason?' "'Because I have always stood here without moving,' replied Terminus. "'Why, for me to move would be a quite unheard-of thing.'

Starting point is 05:42:20 "'So Yergan left him and went into the forest. and there Yergan encountered a smiling young fellow who rode upon the back of a large ram. This young man had his left forefinger laid to his lips, and his right hand held an astonishing object to be thus publicly displayed. "'But, oh dear me, now really, sir,' says Yergan. "'Bah!' says the ram. But the smiling young fellow said nothing at all as he passed Yergan, because it is not the custom of Harpocrates to speak.

Starting point is 05:42:53 "'Which would be well enough,' reflected Yergan, "'if only his custom did not make for stiffness "'and the embarrassment of others.' "'Thereafter, Yergan came upon a considerable commotion in the bushes, "'where a satyr was at play with an oriad. "'Oh, but this forest is not respectable,' said Yergan. "'Have you no ethics and morals, you people of the wood? "'Have you no sense of responsibility whatever

Starting point is 05:43:19 "'thus to be frolicing on a working day?' "'Why, no. "'No,' responded the satyr. "'Of course not. None of my people have such things. And so the natural vocation of all satyrs is that which you are now interrupting.' "'Perhaps you speak the truth,' said Yergan. "'Still, you ought to be ashamed of the fact that you are not lying.' "'For a satir to be ashamed of himself would be indeed an unheard-of thing. "'Now go away, you in the glittering shirt, for we are studying you demonism, and you are

Starting point is 05:43:51 talking nonsense, and I am busy, and you annoy me," said the satyr. "'Well, but in cocaine,' said Juergen, this eudaemonism was considered an indoor diversion. And did you ever hear of a satir going indoors?' "'Why, save us from all hurt and harm, but what has that to do with it? Do not try to equivocate, you shining idiot, for now you see for yourself you are talking nonsense, and I repeat that such unheard of nonsense irritates me. said the satyr. The Oriad said nothing at all, but she too looked annoyed, and Juergen reflected that it was probably not the custom of Oriads to be rescued from the eudaemonism of Saiters.

Starting point is 05:44:33 So Yergan left them, and yet deeper in the forest he found a bald-headed, squat old man, with a big punch and a flat red nose and very small, bleared eyes. Now the old fellow was so helplessly drunk that he could not walk. Instead, he sat upon the ground and leaned again. against a tree-bowl. This is a very disgusting state for you to be in so early in the morning, observed Yergen. But Silenus is always drunk, the bald-headed man responded with a dignified hiccough. So here is another one of you. Well, and why are you always drunk, Silenus? Because Silenus is the wisest of the people of the wood.

Starting point is 05:45:16 Ah, ah, but I apologize, for here at last is somebody with a plausible excuse for his daily employment. Now then, Sinanus, since you are so wise, come tell me, is it really the best fate for a man to be drunk always? Not at all. Drunkenness is a joy reserved for the gods. So do men partake of it impiously, and so are they very properly punished for their audacity. For men, it is the best of all never to be born, but being born to die very quickly. Ah, yes, but failing even, The third best thing for a man is to do that which seems expected of him," replied Silenus.

Starting point is 05:45:58 But that is the law of Felistia, and with Felistia they inform me, Sudopolis is at war." Silenus meditated. Yergan had discovered an uncomfortable thing about this old fellow, and it was that his small bleared eyes did not blink, nor the lids twitch at all. His eyes moved as through magic the eyes of a painted statue might move for the little. horribly, under quite motionless red lids. Therefore, it was uncomfortable when these eyes moved toward you. Young fellow in the glittering shirt, I will tell you a secret. And it is that the Philistines were created after the image of Koshe who made some things as they are. Do you think

Starting point is 05:46:40 upon that? So the Philistines do that which seems expected. And the people of Lukie were created after the image of Koshay who made yet other things as they are. Therefore, do the people of Lukie do that which is customary, adhering to classical tradition? Do you think upon that also? Then do you pick your side in this war, remembering that you side with stupidity either way? And when that happens which will happen, do you remember how Silenus foretold to you precisely what would happen, a long while before it happened, because Silenus was so old and so wise, and so very disreputably drunk, and so very, very sleepy. Yes, certainly, Silenus, but how will this war end?

Starting point is 05:47:27 Dullness will conquer dullness, and it will not matter. Ah, yes, but what will become in all this fighting of Yergan? That will not matter either, said Silenus comfortably. Nobody will bother about you. And with that he closed his horrible bleared eyes and went to sleep. So Yergan left the old Tipler and started to leave the forest also. For undoubtedly all the people in Lucie are resolute to do that which is customary, reflected Yergan, for the unarguable reason it is their custom and has always been their custom.

Starting point is 05:48:05 And they will desist from these practices when the cat eats acorns, but not before. So it is the part of wisdom to inquire no further into the matter. For after all, these people may be right, And certainly I cannot go so far as to say they are wrong. Yergan shrugged. But still, at the same time. Now in returning to his cabin, Yergan heard a frightful sort of yowling and screeching as of mad people.

Starting point is 05:48:31 Hail, daughter of various form protogonous, thou that takeest joy in mountains and battles and in the beating of the drum. Hail thou deceitful Savior, mother of all gods, that comest now, pleased with long wanderings, to be propitious to us. But the uproar was becoming so increasingly unpleasant that Juergen at this point withdrew into a thicket, and thence he witnessed the passing through the woods of a notable procession. There were features connected with this procession sufficiently unusual to cause Juergen to

Starting point is 05:49:03 vow that the desiderated moment wherein he walked unhurt from the forest would mark the termination of his last visit thereto. Then amazement tripped up the heels of terror, for now passed Mother Cerita, or as Anaeotis called her Aesred. Today, in place of a towel about her head, she wore a species of crown, shaped like a circlet of crumbling towers. She carried a large key, and her chariot was drawn by two lions. She was attended by howling persons, with shaved heads, and it was apparent that these persons had parted with possessions which Yergan valued. This is undoubtedly, said he, a most unwholesome forest.

Starting point is 05:49:44 Yergan inquired about this procession later, and from Cloris he got information which surprised him. And these are the beings who I had thought were poetic ornaments of speech. And what is the old lady doing in such high company? He described Mother Sarita, and Cloris told him who this was. Now Yergan shook his sleek black head. Behold another mystery! Yet, after all, it is no concern of mine if the old lady elects for an additional anagram I should be the last person to criticize her, inasmuch as to me she has been more than generous. Well, I shall preserve her friendship by the infallible recipe of keeping out of her way. Oh, but I shall certainly keep out of her way now that I have perceived what is done to the men who serve her. And after that, Yergan and Cloris lived very pleasantly together,

Starting point is 05:50:37 though Yergan began to find his haemadriot a trifle unperceptive, if not actually obtuse. She does not understand me, and she does not always treat my superior wisdom quite respectfully. That is unfair, but it seems to be an unavoidable feature of married life. Besides, if any woman had ever understood me, she would, in self-protection, have refused to marry me. In any case, Cloris is a dear, brown-plump, delicious partridge of a darling, and cleverness in women is, after all, a virtue misplaced. And Yergan did not return into the woods, nor did he go down into the city. Neither the people of the field nor of the wood, of course, ever went within city gates.

Starting point is 05:51:24 "'But I would think that you would like to see the fine sights of Sudopolis,' says Cloris. "'And that fine queen of theirs,' she added, almost as though she spoke without premeditation. "'Woman dear,' says Yergan, "'I do not wish to appear boastful. But in Eubonia now, well, really, someday we must return to my kingdom, and you shall inspect for yourself a dozen or two of my cities, Ziff and Eglinton and Poissot and Gadsden and Barenberg at all events, and then you will concede with me that this little village of Sudopolis, while well enough in its way, and Yergan shrugged, but as for saying more, "'Sometimes,' said Cloris, "'I wonder if there is any such place as your fine kingdom of Eubonia,

Starting point is 05:52:10 for certainly it grows larger and more splendid every time you talk of it. Now can it be, asks Yergan, more hurt than angry, that you suspect me of uncandid dealing, and in short, of being an imposter? Why, what does it matter? You are Yurgan, she answered happily. And the man was moved as she smiled at him across the glowing, queer embroidery work at which Chloras seemed to labor interminably. He was conscious of a tenderness for her that was oddly remorseful, and it appeared to him that if he had known lovelier women

Starting point is 05:52:47 he had certainly found nowhere anyone more lovable than was this plump and busy and sunny-tempered little wife of his. My dear, I do not care to see Queen Helen again, and that is a fact. I am contented here, with a wife befitting my station, suited to my endowments, and infinitely excelling my desserts. And do you think of that tow-headed bean-pole very often, King Juergen? That is unfair, and you wrong me, Cloris, with these unmerited suspicions. It pains me to reflect, my dear, that you esteem the tie between us so lightly you can

Starting point is 05:53:24 consider me capable of breaking it even in thought. To talk of fairness is all very well, but it is no answer to a plain question. Yergan looked full at her, and he laughed. You women are so unscrupulously practical. My dear, I have seen Queen Helen face to face. But it is you whom I love as a man customarily loves a woman. That is not saying much. No, for I endeavored to speak in consonants with my importance.

Starting point is 05:53:54 You forget that I have also seen Achilles. But you admired Achilles. You told me so yourself. I admired the perfections of Achilles, but I cordially dislike the man who possesses them. Therefore I shall keep away from both the king and queen of Sudopolis. Yet you will not go into the woods either, Juergen. Not after what I witnessed there, said Yurgen with an exaggerated shudder

Starting point is 05:54:19 that was not very much exaggerated. Now Cloris laughed and quitted her queer embroidery in order to rumple up his hair. And you find the people of the field so insufferably stupid and so uninterested by your Zoroobaciuses and Ptolemopeters and so on, that you keep away from them also. O foolish man of mine, you are determined to be neither fish nor beast nor poultry, and nowhere will you ever consent to be happy. It was not I who determined my nature, Cloris, and as for being happy I make no complaint.

Starting point is 05:54:53 Indeed, I have nothing to complain of nowadays. So I am very well contented by my dear wife and by my manner of living in Lukie, said Jürgen with a sigh. End of Chapter 29 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cable. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 29. Concerning Horvindeele's nonsense.

Starting point is 05:55:31 It was a bright and tranquil day in November, at the period which the people of the field called the summer of Alciuni, that Yergan went down from the forest. And after skirting the moats of Sudopoulos and avoiding a meeting with any of the towns dispiriting the glorious inhabitants, Yergan came to the seashore. Chloris had suggested his doing this, in order that she could have a chance to straighten things in his cabin while she was tidying her tree for the winter, and could so make one day's work serve for two. For the dryad of an oak tree has large responsibilities, what with the care of so many dead leaves all winter, and the acorns being blown from their places and littering up the ground everywhere, and the bark cracking until it looks positively disreputable.

Starting point is 05:56:15 And Yergan was at any such work less a help than a hindrance? So Cloris gave him a parcel of lunch and a perfunctory kiss, and told him to go down to the seashore and get inspired and make up a pretty poem about her. And do you be back in time for an early supper, Yergan, says she, but not a minute before. Thus it befell that Yergan reflectively ate his lunch in solitude and regarded the Yuxine. The sun was high, and the queer shadow that followed Yergan was huddled into shapelessness. This is indeed an inspiring spectacle, Yergan reflected. How puny seems the race of man, in contrast with this mighty sea,

Starting point is 05:56:56 which now spreads before me like, as so-and-so has very strikingly observed, a something or other under such and such conditions. Then Juergen shrugged. Really, now I think of it, though, there is no call for me to be suffused with the traditional emotions. It looks like a great deal of water, and like nothing else in particular, and I cannot but consider the water is behaving rather futile. So he sat in drowsy contemplation of the sea.

Starting point is 05:57:25 Far out a shadow would form on the water, like the shadow of a broadish plank, scudding shoreward and lengthening and darkening as it approached. Presently it would be some hundred feet in length, and would assume a hard, smooth darkness, like that of green stone. This was the underside of the wave. Then the top of it would curdle, the southern end of the wave would collapse, and with exceeding swiftness, this white, feathery falling, would plunge and scamper and bluster northward, the full length of the wave. It would be neater and more workmanlike to have each wave tumble down as a whole. From the smacking and splashing, what looked like boiling milk would thrust out over the brown sleek sands.

Starting point is 05:58:08 And as the mess spread, it would thin to a reticulated whiteness, like lace, and then to the appearance of smoke sprays clinging to the sands. Plainly the tide was coming in. Or perhaps it was going out. Yergen's notions as to such phenomena were vague. But either way, the sun was stirring up a large commotion and a rather pleasant and invigorating odor. And then all this would happen once more, and then it would happen yet again.

Starting point is 05:58:38 It had happened a number of hundred of times since Yergan first sat down to eat his lunch, and what was gained by it? The sea was behaving stupidly. There was no sense in this continual sloshing and spanking and spanking and scrabbling and spluttering. Thus Yergan, as he nodded over the remnants of his lunch. "'Sheer waste of energy, I am compelled to call it,' said Yergan aloud, just as he noticed there were two other men on his long beach. One came from the north, one from the south, so that they met not far from where Yergan was sitting.

Starting point is 05:59:12 And by an incredible coincidence, Yergan had known both of these men in his first youth. So he hailed them, and they recognized him at once. One of these travelers was the Horvindil who had been secretary to Count Emmerich when Yurgan was a lad, and the other was Perion de la Foray, that outlaw who had come, come to Belgarde very long ago disguised as the Viscont to Pusange, and all three of these

Starting point is 05:59:37 old acquaintances had kept their youth surprisingly. Now Orvindiel and Perion marveled at the fine shirt which Yurgen was wearing. Why, you must know, he said modestly, that I have lately become king of Eubonia and must dress according to my station. So they said they had always expected some such high honor to befall him, and then the three of them fell to talking. And Perion told how he had come through Sudopoulos on his way to King Theodorrit at Lacrakeye, and how in the marketplace at Sudopolis he had seen Queen Helen. "'She is a very lovely lady,' said Perion, and I marveled over her resemblance to Count

Starting point is 06:00:18 Emmerich's fair sister, whom we all remember. "'I noticed that at once,' said Horvindiel, and he smiled strangely, when I too passed through the city. Why, but nobody could fail to notice it, said Juergen. "'It is not, of course, that I consider her to be as lovely as day Meliscent,' continued Perion. "'Since, as I have contended in all quarters of the world, there has never lived and will never live any woman so beautiful as Meliscent.'

Starting point is 06:00:48 But you gentlemen appear surprised by what seems to me a very simple statement. Your air in fine is one that forces me to point out it is a statement. I can permit nobody to deny. And Perion's honest eyes had narrowed unpleasantly, and his sun-brown countenance was uncomfortably stern. "'Dear, sir,' said Yergan hastily, "'it was merely that it appeared to me, the lady, whom they call Queen Helen hereabouts,

Starting point is 06:01:16 is quite evidently Count Emmerich's sister Dorothy La Desiree. Whereas I recognized her at once,' says Horvindeele, as Count Emmerich's third sister, La Biel Atar. And now they stared at one another, for it was certain that these three sisters were not particularly alike. Putting aside any question of eyesight, observes Perion, it is indisputable that the language of both of you is distorted, for one of you says this is Madame Dorothy, and the other says this is Madame Ettar, whereas everybody knows that this Queen Helen, whomever she may resemble, cannot possibly be anybody else save Queen Helen. "'To you, who are always the same person,' replied Juergen,

Starting point is 06:02:02 "'that may sound reasonable. For my part, I am several people, and I detect no incongruity in other persons resembling me.' "'There would be no incongruity anywhere,' suggested Horvindeele, if Queen Helen were the woman whom we had loved in vain. For the woman whom when we were young we loved in vain is the one woman that we can never see quite clearly whatever happens, so we might easily, I suppose, confuse her with some other woman. "'But Meliscent is the lady whom I have loved in vain,' said Perion. "'And I care nothing whatever about Queen Helen. Why should I?

Starting point is 06:02:40 What do you mean now, Horvindiel, by your hints that I have faltered in my constancy to Dame Melisant since I saw Queen Helen? I do not like such hints.' "'No less, it is Itar whom I love, and have loved not quite in vain, and have loved unfalteringly. said Horvindiel with his quiet smile. And I am certain that it was Ettar whom I beheld when I looked upon Queen Helen. I may confess, says Juergen, clearing his throat, that I have always regarded Madame Dorothy with peculiar respect and admiration. For the rest I am married.

Starting point is 06:03:17 Even so, I think that Madame Dorothy is Queen Helen. Then they fell to debating this mystery. And presently, Perillon said, the one way out was to leave the matter to Queen Helen. She at all events must know who she is. So do one of you go back into the city and embrace her knees, as is the custom of this country when one implores a favor of the king or the queen? And do you then ask her fairly?

Starting point is 06:03:43 Not I, says Yergan. I am upon terms of some intimacy with a Hamadryad just at the present. I am content with my Hamadriot, and I intend never to venture into the presence of Queen Helen any more in order to preserve my contentment. Why, but I cannot go, said Perion, because Dame Melisant has a little mold upon her left cheek, and Queen Helen's cheek is flawless.

Starting point is 06:04:07 You understand, of course, that I am certain this mole immeasurably enhances the beauty of Dame Melisant, he added loyally. Nonetheless, I mean to hold no further traffic with Queen Helen. Now, for my reason for not going is this, said Horvindiel, that if I attempted to embrace the knees of Itar, whom people hereabouts called Helen, she would instantly vanish. Other matters apart, I do not wish to bring any such misfortune upon the island of Lucie.

Starting point is 06:04:36 But that, said Perion, is nonsense. Of course it is, said Horvindeele. That is probably why it happens. So none of them would go, and each of them clung, nonetheless, to his own opinion about Queen Helen. And presently, Perillon said they were wasting both time and words. Then Perion bade the two farewell, and Perion continued southward toward Lacraquay. And as he went he sang a song in honor of Dame Melisant, whom he celebrated as Heart of My Heart. And the two who heard him agreed that Perillon de la Foray was probably the worst poet in the world.

Starting point is 06:05:18 Nevertheless, there goes a very chivalrous and worthy gentleman. said Horvindiel, intent to play out the remainder of his romance. I wonder if the author gets much pleasure from these simple characters. At least they must be easy to handle. I cultivate a judicious amount of gallantry, says Zirgin. I do not any longer aspire to be chivalrous. And indeed, Horvindil, it seems to me indisputable that each one of us is the hero of his own romance and cannot understand any other person's romance, but misinterprets everything

Starting point is 06:05:50 therein, very much as we three have fallen out in the simple matter of a woman's face. Now young Horvindiel meditatively stroked his own curly and reddish hair, brushing it away from his ears with his left hand as he sat there, staring meditatively at nothing in particular. I would put it, Juergen, that we three have met like characters out of three separate romances which the author has composed in different styles. That also, Yergan submitted, would be nonsense. Ah, but perhaps the author very often perpetrates nonsense. Come, Yergan, you who are king of Eubonia, says Horvindiel, with his wide-set eyes a twinkle.

Starting point is 06:06:33 What is there in you or me to attest that our author has not composed our romances with his tongue in his cheek? Monsieur Horvindil, if you are attempting to joke about Koshay, who made all things as they are, I warn you, I do not consider that sort of humor very wholesome. Without being prudish, I believe in common sense. And I would vastly prefer to have you talk about something else.' Horvindeele was still smiling. "'You look some day to come to Koshay, as you call the author.

Starting point is 06:07:04 That is easily said, and sounds excellently. Ah, but how will you recognize Koshay? And how do you know you have not already passed by Koshay in some street or meadow? "'Come now, King Jürgen,' said Horvindiel, and his still young face wore an impish smile. "'Come tell me. How do you know that I am not cochet who made all things as they are?' "'Be off with you,' says Juergen. You would never have had the wit to invent a Yurgan. Something else is troubling me. I have just recollected that the young Perion, who left us only a moment since, grew to be rich and grey-headed and famous, and took Dame Melison from her pagan

Starting point is 06:07:42 husband and married her himself, and that all this happened long years ago. So our recent talk with young Perillon seems very improbable. Why, but do you not remember, too, that I ran away in the night when Maggi de Agremont stormed Story's End, and was never heard of any more, and that all this too took place a long, long while ago? Yet we have met as three fine young fellows, here on the beach of Fabulous Lucie. I put it to you fairly, King Juergen, Now how could this conceivably have come about unless the author sometimes composes nonsense? Truly, the way you express at Horvindiel, the thing does seem a little strange,

Starting point is 06:08:23 and I can think of no explanation rendering it plausible. Again, see now, King Yergan of Eubonia, how you underrate the author's ability. This is one of the romancer's most venerable devices that is being practiced. See for yourself! And suddenly, Horvindale pushed Yergan so that Yergan Jürgen tumbled over in the warm sand. Then Yergan arose, gaping and stretching himself. That was a very foolish dream I had, napping here in the sun, for it was certainly a dream,

Starting point is 06:08:54 otherwise they would have left footprints, these young fellows who have gone the way of youth so long ago, and it was a dream that had no sense in it. But, indeed, it would be strange if that were the whole point of it, and if living too were such a dream as that queer Horvindia would have me think. Yergan snapped his fingers. "'Well, and what in common fairness could he or anyone else expect me to do about it? That is the answer I fling at you, you Horvindiel, whom I made up in a dream. And I disown you as the most futile of my inventions.

Starting point is 06:09:27 So be off with you, and a good riddance, too, for I never held with upsetting people.' Then Yergan dusted himself and trudged home to an early supper with a Hamadriot who contented him. End of Chapter 29. Chapter 30 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Liberovac's recording is in the public domain. Yergan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 30.

Starting point is 06:10:01 Economics of King Yurgan. Now Yergan's curious dream put notions into the restless head of Yergan. So mighty became his curiosity that he went shuddering into the abhorred woods and passed over Colisnikoen, which is the fairy of dogs, and did all such detestable things as were necessary to placate phobiter. Then Yergan tricked Fobiter by an indescribable device, wherein surprising use was made of a cheese and three beetles and a gimlet, and so cheated fobiter out of a gray magic. And that night, while Sudopoulos slept, King Yergan came down into the city of gold and ivory. Yergan went with distaste among the broad-browed and great-limbed monarchs

Starting point is 06:10:44 of Sudopolis, for they reminded him of things that he had long ago put aside, and they made him feel unpleasantly ignoble and insignificant. That was his real reason for avoiding the city. Now he passed between unlighted and silent palaces, walking in deserted streets where the moon made ominous shadows. Here was the house of Ajax Teleman, who reigned in Seagird Salamis, here that of godlike phloctities, much counseling Odysseus dwelt just across the way, and the corner residence was fair-haired Agamemnods. In the moonlight, Yergan easily made out these names engraved upon the bronze shield that hung beside each doorway. To every side of him slept the heroes of old song while Yergan's skulked under their windows. He remembered how incurious

Starting point is 06:11:31 not even scornfully these people had overlooked him on that disastrous afternoon when he had ventured into Sudopolis by daylight. And a spiteful little gust of rage possessed him, and Yergan shook his fist at the big silent palaces. "'Yah!' he snarled, for he did not know at all what it was that he desired to say to those great stupid heroes who did not care what he said, but he knew that he hated them. Then Yergan became aware of himself growling there like a kicked cur who was afraid to bite, and he began to laugh at this Yergan. "'Your pardon, gentlemen of Greece,' says he with a wide ceremonious bow.

Starting point is 06:12:09 and I think the information I wish to convey was that I am a monstrous clever fellow. Yergan went into the largest palace and crept stealthily by the bedroom of Achilles, king of men, treading a tiptoe. And so came at last into a little room paneled with cedarwood where slept Queen Helen. She was smiling in her sleep when he had lighted his lamp, with due observance of the gray magic. She was infinitely beautiful, this young Dorothy, whom people hearabouts, through some odd error called Helen. For Yergan saw very well that this was Count Emmerich's sister, Dorothy La Desiree,

Starting point is 06:12:48 whom Yergan had vainly loved in the days when Yergan was young alike in body and heart. Just once he had won back to her in the garden between dawn and sunrise, but he was then a time-battered burger whom Dorothy did not recognize. Now he returned to her a king, less admirable it might be than some of the many other kings without realms who slept now in Sudopoulos, but still very fine in his borrowed youth, and above all, armored by a gray magic, so that improbabilities were possible. And Yergan's eyes were furtive, and he passed his tongue across his upper lip from one corner to the other, and his hand went out toward the robe of violet-colored

Starting point is 06:13:27 wool which covered the sleeping girl, for he stood ready to awaken Dorothy La Desiree in the way he often awoke Chloris. But a queer thought held him. Nothing, he recollected, had shown the power to hurt him very deeply since he had lost this young Dorothy. And to affairs which threatened to result unpleasantly, he had always managed to impart an agreeable turn since then by virtue of preserving a cool heart. What if by some misfortune he were to get back his real youth, and were to become again the flustered boy

Starting point is 06:14:00 who blundered from stammering rapture to wild misery and back again, at the least word or gesture of a gold-haired girl? Thank you no, says Juergen. The boy was more admirable than I, who am by way of being not wholly admirable, but then he had a wretched time of it by and large. Thus it may be that my real youth lies sleeping here, and for no consideration would I reawaken it. And yet tears came into his eyes for no reason at all, and it seemed to him that this sleeping woman here at his disposal was not the young Dorothy

Starting point is 06:14:36 whom he had seen in the garden between dawn and sunrise, although the two were curiously alike, and that of the two this woman here was somehow infinitely the lovelier. Lady, if you indeed be the swan's daughter, long and long ago there was a child that was ill, and his illness turned to a fever, and in his fever he arose from his bed one night, saying that he must set out for Troy because of his love for Queen Helen. I was once that child. I remember how strange it seemed to me I should be talking such nonsense. I remember how the warm room smelt of drugs,

Starting point is 06:15:15 and I remember how I pity the trouble in my nurse's face, drawn and old in the yellow lamplight. For she loved me, and she did not understand, and she pleaded with me to be a good boy and not to worry my sleeping parents. But I perceive now that I was not talking nonsense. He paused, considering the riddle, and his fingers fretted with the robe of violet-colored wool beneath which lay Queen Helen. "'Yours is that beauty of which men know by fabulous report alone, and which they may not

Starting point is 06:15:48 ever find, nor ever win to, quite. And for that beauty I have hungered always, even in childhood. Toward that beauty I have struggled always, but not quite wholeheartedly. That night forecast my life. I have hungered for you, and—Yergan smiled here, and I have always stayed a passably good boy, lest I should beyond reason disturb my family. For to do that I thought would not be fair, and still I believe for me to have done that which would have been unfair. He grimaced at this point, for Yergan was finding his scruples inconveniently numerous. And now I think that what I do tonight is not

Starting point is 06:16:32 quite fair to Cloris. And I do not know what thing it is that I desire, and the will of Yurgen is a feather in the wind. But I know that I would like to love somebody as Cloris loves me, and as so many women have loved me. And I know that it is you who have prevented this, Queen Helen, at every moment of my life, since the disastrous moment, when I first seemed to find your loveliness in the face of Madame Dorothy. It is the memory of your beauty, as I then saw it mirrored in the face of a jill flirt, which has enfeebled me for such honest love as other men give women, and I envy these other men. For Yergan has loved nothing, not even you, not even Yergan, quite wholeheartedly. Well, what if I took vengeance now upon this thieving comeliness,

Starting point is 06:17:18 upon this robber that strips life of joy and sorrow? Yergan stood at Queen Helen's bedside, watching her for a long while. He had shifted into a less fanciful mood. and the shadow that followed him was ugly and hulking and wavering upon the cedar and wall of Queen Helen's sleeping chamber. "'Mine is a magic which does not fail,' old Fobiter had said, while his attendants raised his eyelids so that he could see King Yergan. Now Yergan remembered this, and reflectively he drew back the robe of violet-colored wool a little way. The breast of Queen Helen lay bare, and she did not move at all, but she smiled in her sleep. Never had Yergan imagined that any woman could be so beautiful nor so desirable as this woman,

Starting point is 06:18:06 or that he could ever know such rapture. So Yergan paused. "'Because,' said Yergan now, "'it may be this woman has some fault. It may be there is some fleck in her beauty somewhere. And sooner than know that I would prefer to retain my unreasonable dreams, and this longing which is unfed and hopeless, and the memory of tonight.' Besides, if she were perfect in everything, how could I live any longer, who would have no more to desire? No, I would be betraying my own interests either way, and injustice is always despicable. So Yergan sighed and gently replace the robe of violet-colored wool, and he returned to his haemadriot.

Starting point is 06:18:51 "'And now that I think of it, too,' reflected Yergan, "'I am behaving rather nobly. Yes, it is questionless that I have to-night events a certain delicacy of feeling which merits appreciation, at all events by King Achilles. End of Chapter 30 Chapter 31 of Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 31, The Fall of Sudopolis

Starting point is 06:19:30 So Yergan abode in Luki, and complied with the customs of that country, and what with one thing and another, he and Cloris made the time pass pleasantly enough, until the winter solstice was at hand. Now Sudopolis, as has been said, was at war with Philistia, so it befell that at this season, Lucie was invaded by an army of Philistines, led by their queen Deloris, a woman who was wise, but not entirely reliable. They came from the coast, a terrible army insanely clad in such garments as had been commanded by Egeus, a god of them, theirs, enchanting psalms and honor of their god, Veltino, who had inspired this crusade. Thus they swept down upon Sidopolis and encamped before the city.

Starting point is 06:20:18 These Philistines fought in this campaign by casting before them a more horrible form of Greek fire, which consumed whatever was not gray colored, for that color alone was now favored by their god Valtino. And all other colors, his oracles had decreed, are forever more abominable. until I say otherwise. So the forces of Felistia were marshaled in the plain before Sudopolis, and Queen Dolores spoke to her troops, and smilingly she said, "'Whenever you come to blows with the enemy, he will be beaten.

Starting point is 06:20:51 No mercy will be shown, no prisoners taken.' As the Philistines under Libna and Goliath and Gershon, and many other tall captains, made for themselves a name which is still mighty in traditions and legend. Even thus today, may the name of Realist be so fixed in Sudopolis by your deeds today that no one shall ever dare again even to look askance at a Philistine. Open the door for realism once and for all. Meanwhile, within the city Achilles, King of Men, addressed his army. The eyes of all the world will be upon you, because you are in some especial sense the soldiers of romance. Let it be your pride, therefore, to show all men everywhere, not only what good soldiers

Starting point is 06:21:39 you are, but also what good men you are, keeping yourselves fit and straight in everything, and pure and clean through and through. Let us set ourselves a standard so high that it will be a glory to live up to it, and then let us live up to it, and add a new laurel to the crown of Sudopolis. May the gods of old keep you and guide you. Then said Thursides in his beard. Certainly Peladis has learned from history with what weapon a strong man discomforts the Philistines. But the other kings applauded, and the trumpet was sounded, and the battle was joined. And that day the forces of Philistia were everywhere triumphant. But they report a queer thing happened. And it was that when the Philistines shouted in their

Starting point is 06:22:27 triumph, Achilles and all they who served him rose from the ground like gleaming clouds and passed above the heads of the Philistines deriding them. Thus was Sudopolis left empty, so that the Philistines entered thereinto without any opposition. They defiled this city of blasphemous colors, then burned it as a sacrifice to their god Veltino, because the color of ashes is gray. Then the Philistines erected Lithuai, which were not unlike May Poles and began to celebrate their religious rights. So it was reported, but Yergan witnessed none of these events. "'Let them fight it out,' said Yergan. "'It is not my affair.' "'I agree with Silenus. Dullness will conquer dullness, and it will not matter.

Starting point is 06:23:15 But do you, woman, dear, take shelter with your kindred in the unconquerable woods, for there is no telling what damage the Philistines may do hereabouts. Will you go with me, Yergan?' "'My dear, you know very well that it is impossible for me ever again to go into the woods, after the trick I played upon Fobiter. And if only you had kept your head about that beam-pole of a Helen in her yellow wig, for I have not a doubt that every strand of it is false, and at all events this is not a time to be arguing about it, Yergan. Why, then, you would never have meddled with Uncle Fobiter. It simply shows you.'

Starting point is 06:23:52 "'Yes,' said Yergan. Still, I do not know. If you come with me into the woods, Uncle Fobiter, in his impetuous way, will quite certainly turn you into a boar-pig, because he has always done that to the people who irritated him. I seem to recognize that reason. But give me time, and I can get around Uncle Fobiter, just as I have always done, and he will turn you back. "'No,' says Yergan obstinantly.

Starting point is 06:24:19 "'I do not wish to be turned into a boar-pig.' Now, Yergan, let us be sensible about this. Of course it is a little humiliating, but I will take the very best care of you and feed you with my own acorns, and it will be a purely temporary arrangement, and to be a pig for a week or two, or even for a month, is infinitely better for a poet than being captured by the Philistines.' "'How do I know that?' says Yergan. "'For it is not, after all, as if Uncle Fobiter's heart were not in the right place. It is just his way.

Starting point is 06:24:54 And besides, you must remember what you did with that gimlet,' said Yergan. All this is hardly to the purpose. You forget I have seen the hapless swine of Fobiter, and I know how he ameliorates the natural ferocity of his boar-pigs. No, I am Yergan, so I remain. I will face the Philistines and whatever they may possibly do to me, rather than suffer that which Fobiter will quite certainly do to me. "'Then I stay too,' said Cloris.

Starting point is 06:25:23 "'No, woman, dear. "'But do you not understand?' said Cloris, a little pale as he saw now. "'Since the life of a Hamadriot is linked with the life of her tree, "'Nobody can harm me so long as my tree lives, "'and if they cut down my tree I shall die, wherever I may happen to be.' "'I had forgotten that.' "'He was really troubled now. "'And you can see for yourself, Yergan,

Starting point is 06:25:48 it is quite out of the question for me to be carrying that great oak anywhere, and I wonder at your talking such nonsense. Indeed, my dear, says Yergan, we are very neatly trapped. Well, nobody can live longer in peace than his neighbor chooses. Nevertheless, it is not fair. As he spoke, the Philistines came forth from the burning city. Again the trumpet sounded, and the Philistines advanced in their order of battle. End of chapter 31.

Starting point is 06:26:18 Chapter 32 Of Yurgan A Comedy of Justice By James Branch Cabell This Liberovox recording is in the public domain. Yirkin A Comedy of Justice Chapter 32 Sundry Devices of the Philistines Meanwhile the people of the field had watched

Starting point is 06:26:44 Sudopolis burn and had wondered what would befall them. They had not long to wonder, for next day the fields were occupied without any resistance by the inhabitants. The people of the field, said they, have never fought, and for them to begin now would be a very unheard-of thing indeed. So the fields were captured by the Philistines, and Cloris and Yergan and all the people of the field

Starting point is 06:27:08 were judged summarily. They were declared to be obsolete illusions, whose merited doom was to be relegated to Limbo. To Yergan this appeared unreasonable. For I am no illusion, he asserted, I am manifestly flesh and blood, and in addition I am the high king of eubonia, and no less. Why, in disputing these facts, you contest circumstances that are so well-known hereabouts as to rank among mathematical certainties, and that makes you look foolish, as I tell you,

Starting point is 06:27:39 for your own good. This vexed the leaders of the Philistines, as it always vexes people to be told anything for their own good. We would have you know, said they, that we are not mathematicians, and that, moreover, we have no kings in Philistia, where all must do what seems to be expected of them and have no other law. How then can you be the leaders of Felistia? Why, it is expected that women and priests should behave unaccountably. Therefore, all we who are women or priests do what we will in Philistia, and the men there obey us. And it is we, the priests of Felistia, who do not think you you can possibly have any flesh and blood under a shirt which we recognize to be a conventional

Starting point is 06:28:25 figure of speech. It does not stand to reason. And certainly you could not ever prove such a thing by mathematics, and to say so is nonsense. But I can prove it by mathematics, quite irrefutably. I can prove anything you require of me by whatever means you may prefer, said Yergan Mange. for the simple reason that I am a monstrous clever fellow." Then spoke the wise Queen Dolores, saying, "'I have studied mathematics. I will question this young man in my tent to-night, and in the morning I will report the truth as to his claims. Are you content to endure this interrogatory, my spruce young fellow who wear the shirt of a king?'

Starting point is 06:29:07 Yergan looked full upon her. She was lovely as a hawk is lovely, and of all that, Yergan saw Yergan approved. He assumed the rest to be in keeping, and deduced that Dolores was a fine woman. "'Madame and Queen,' said Yergan, "'I am content, and I can promise to deal fairly with you.' So that evening Yergan was conducted into the purple tent of Queen Dolores of Felizia. It was quite dark there, and Yergan went in alone, and wondering what would happen next. But this scented darkness he found of excellent augury, if only, because it prevented his shadow from following him.

Starting point is 06:29:46 Now, you who claimed to be flesh and blood and king of eubonia too, says the voice of Queen Dolores, what is this nonsense you were talking about proving any such claims by mathematics? Well, but my mathematics, replied Yergan, are Praxagorean. What, do you mean Praxagoras of Koss?

Starting point is 06:30:07 As if, scoff Yergan, anybody had ever heard of any other Praxagoras. But he, as I recall, belonged to the medical school of the dog Matici, observed the wise Queen Dolores, and was particularly celebrated for his researches in anatomy. Was he then also a mathematician? The two are not incongruous, madam, as I would be delighted to demonstrate. Oh, nobody said that, for indeed it does seem to me I have heard of this Praxagorean system of mathematics, though I confess I have never studied it. Our school, madame, postulates, first of all, that since the science of mathematics is an abstract science,

Starting point is 06:30:47 it is best inculcated by some concrete example. Said the queen, but that sounds rather complicated. It occasionally leads to complications, you're going to admit it, through a choice of the wrong example, but the axiom is no less true. Come then, and sit next to me on this couch, if you can find it in the dark, and do you explain to me what you mean? Why, madam, by a concrete example, I am. mean one that is perceptible to any of the senses, as to sight or hearing or touch.

Starting point is 06:31:18 "'Oh, oh,' said the queen, "'now I perceive what you mean by a concrete example. And grasping this, I can understand that complications must, of course, arise from a choice of the wrong example.' "'Well, then, madam, it is first necessary to implant in you, by the force of example, a lively sense of the peculiar character and virtues and properties, of each of the numbers upon which is based the whole science of Praxagorean mathematics. For in order to convince you thoroughly, we must start far down at the beginning of all things.

Starting point is 06:31:50 "'I see,' said the queen. "'Or rather, in this darkness, I cannot see it all, but I perceive your point. Your opening interests me, and you may go on.' "'Now one, or the monad,' says Yergan, is the principle and the end of all. It reveals the sublime knot which binds together the chain of causes. It is the symbol of identity, of equality, of existence, of conservation, and of general harmony. And Yergen emphasize these characteristics vigorously.

Starting point is 06:32:23 In brief, one is a symbol of the union of things. It introduces that generating virtue, which is the cause of all combinations, and consequently one is a good principle. "'Ah, ah,' said Queen Dolores, "'I heartily admire a good principle.' "'But what has become of your concrete example?' "'It is ready for you, madam. There is but one Yergan.' "'Oh, I assure you, I am not yet convinced of that.

Starting point is 06:32:53 Still, the audacity of your example will help me to remember one, whether or not you prove to be really unique. Now two, or the dyad, is the origin of contrasts. Yergan went on penetratingly to demonstrate that two was a symbol of diversity and of restlessness and of disorder, ending in collapse and separation, and was accordingly an evil principle. Thus was the life of every man made wretched by the struggle between his two components, his soul and his body, and thus was the rapture of expectant parents considerably abated

Starting point is 06:33:28 by the advent of twins. Three, or the triad, however, since everything was considered. composed of three substances, contained the most sublime mysteries, which Juergen duly communicated. We must remember, he pointed out, that Zeus carried a triple thunderbolt, and Poseidon at Trident, whereas Aedes was guarded by a dog with three heads, thus in addition to the omnipotent brothers themselves being a trio. Thus Yergan continued to impart the Praxagorean significance of each digit separately, and by and by the queen was declaring his flow of wisdom was superhuman. Ah, but madam, not even the wisdom of a king is without limit. Eight, I repeat then,

Starting point is 06:34:12 is appropriately the number of the beatitudes, and Nine, or the Enniad, also being the multiple of three, should be regarded as sacred. The Queen attended docilely to this demonstration of the peculiar properties of nine, and when he had ended she confessed that, beyond doubt, nine should be regarded as miraculous. But she repudiated his analogs as to the the muses, the lives of a cat, and how many tailors made a man. Rather, I shall remember always, she declared, that King Yergan of Eubonia is a nine-day's wonder. "'Well, madam,' said Yergan with a sigh, "'now that we have reached nine, I regret to say we have exhausted the digits.'

Starting point is 06:34:55 "'Oh, what a pity!' cried Queen Dolores. Nevertheless, I will concede the only illustration I disputed. There is but one Yergan, and certainly this Praxagorean system of mathematics is a fascinating study. And promptly she commenced to plan Yergan's return with her into Philistia, so that she might perfect herself in the higher branches of mathematics. For you must teach me calculus and geometry and all other sciences in which these digits are employed. We can arrange some compromise with the priests. That is always possible with the priests of Felistia,

Starting point is 06:35:31 and, indeed, the priests of Seshphra can be made to help anybody in anything. And as for your Hamadryad, I will attend to her myself. But no, says Juergen. I am ready enough in all conscience to compromise elsewhere, but to compound with the forces of Felicia is the one thing I cannot do. Do you mean that, King Yergan? The queen was astounded. I mean it, my dear, as I mean nothing else.

Starting point is 06:35:58 You are in many ways and admirable people. and you are in all ways a formidable people. So I admire, I dread, I avoid, and at the very last pinch I defy. For you are not my people. And willy-nilly my gorge rises against your laws, is equally insane and abhorrent. Mind you, though, I assert nothing. You may be right in attributing wisdom to these laws, and certainly I cannot go so far as to say you are wrong, but still, at the same time. That is the way I feel about it. So I, who compromise with everything else, can make no compromise in Felicia. No, my adored Dolores, it is not a virtue, rather it is an instinct with me, and I have no choice.

Starting point is 06:36:45 Even Dolores, who is queen of all the Philistines, could perceive that this man spoke truthfully. "'I am sorry,' says she with real regret, for you could be much run after in Felistia. "'Yes,' said Yergan, as an instructor in mathematics. But no, King Ergen, not only in mathematics, said Dolores reasonably. There is poetry, for instance, for they tell me you are a poet, and a great many of my people take poetry quite seriously, I believe. Of course, I do not have much time for reading myself. So you can be the poet laureate of Felicia on any salary you like, and you can teach us all

Starting point is 06:37:25 your ideas by writing beautiful poems about them, and you and I can be very happy together. "'Teach! Teach! There speaks Felistia, and very temptingly too, through an adorable mouth, that would bribe me with praise and fine food and soft days forever. It is a thing that happens rather often, though, and I can but repeat that art is not a branch of pedagogy. Really, I am heartily sorry, for apart from mathematics I like you, King Yergan, just as a person. I too am sorry, Dolores, for I confess to a weakness for the women of Felistia. "'Certainly you have given me no cause to suspect you of any weakness in that quarter,' observed Dolores. "'In the long while you have been alone with me, and have talked so wisely and have reasoned so deeply.

Starting point is 06:38:14 I am afraid that, after to-night, I shall find all other men more or less superficial. "'Hey, oh, and I shall probably weep my eyes out tomorrow when you are relegated to limbo. "'For that is what the priest will do with you, King Yergan, on one plea or another, if you do not conform to the laws of Felistia. And that one compromise I cannot make. Ah, but even now I have a plan wherewith to escape your priests, and failing that I possess a cantrap to fall back upon in my hour of direous need. My private affairs are thus not yet in a hopeless, or even in a dejected condition.

Starting point is 06:38:51 This fact now urges me to observe that ten or the decade is the measure of all, since it contains all the numerical relations and harmonies. So they continued their study of mathematics until it was time for Juergen to appear again before his judges. And in the morning, Queen Delora sent word to her priests that she was too sleepy to attend their counsel, but that the man was indisputably flesh and blood, amply deserved to be a king, and as a mathematician, had not his peer.

Starting point is 06:39:21 Now these points being settled, the judges conferred, and Juergen was decreed a backslider into the ways of undesirable error. His judges were the priests of Veltino, and Sesthra, and Aegeus, who are the gods of Philistia. Then the priest of Ageus put on his spectacles and consulted the canonical law, and declared that this change in the indictment necessitated a severance of Yergan from the others in the infliction of punishment. For each, of course, must be relegated to the limbo of his fathers, as was foretold, in order that the prophecies may be fulfilled.

Starting point is 06:39:57 Religion languishes when prophecies are not fulfilled. Now it appears that the forefathers of the flesh and blood prisoner were of a different faith from the progenitors of these obsolete illusions, and that his fathers foretold quite different things, and that their limbo was called hell. It is little you know, said Yergan, of the religion of Eubonia. We have it written down in this great book, The priest of El Tino then told him,

Starting point is 06:40:25 Every word of it without blot or error. Then you will see that the king of Eubonia is the head of the church there, and changes all the prophecies at will. Lurlid Galeus says so directly, and the judicious Stavagonius was forced to agree with him, however unwillingly, as you will instantly discover by consulting the third section of his widely famous 19th chapter.

Starting point is 06:40:48 Both Galeas and Stavagonius were probably notorious heretics, says the priest of Aegeus. I believe that was settled once for all at the Diet of Orthomar. Eh, says Yergan. He did not like this priest. Now I will wager, sirs, Yergan continued, a trifle patronizingly, that you gentlemen have not read Galeus, or even Stivagonius, in the light of Vossler's commentaries, and that is why you underrate them. I at least have read every word that was ever written by any of these three,

Starting point is 06:41:20 replied the priest of Sesphra, and with, as I need hardly say, the liveliest abhorrence, and this Galaius, in particular, as I hasten to agree with my learned confrere, is a most notorious heretic. "'Oh, sir,' said Yergan horrified, "'whatever are you telling me about Galaius? I tell you that I have been roused to indignation by his Historia del Bello veneris. You surprise me, still, shocked by his porno-bosco de de de Scola. I can hardly believe it. Even so, you must grant, and horrified by his Liber de Immortilatate Mentuni. Well, conceding you that earlier work, sir, yet at the same time, and I have been disgusted by

Starting point is 06:42:04 his demodo coendi. Ah, but nonetheless, and I have shuddered over the unspeakable enormities of his Aratopinion, of his cenadica, and especially of his epipedesis, that most bestilential and abominable book, Quiam Senhorore, Nemo Potes Legere. Still, you cannot deny, and I have read also all the confutations of this detestable Gaulius, as those of Xanthius, Faventinus, Lilius Vicentius, La Gala, Thomas Giamanus, and eight other admirable commentators. You are very exact, sir, but, and that in short, I have read every book you can imagine, says the priest of Cessphra.

Starting point is 06:42:48 The shoulders of Juergen rose to his ears, and Juergen silently flung out his hands, palms upward. "'For I perceive,' says Juergen to himself, "'that this realist is too circumstantial for me. Nonetheless, he invents his facts. It is by citing books which never existed that he publicly confutes the Gauleus whom I invented privately, and that is not fair. Now there remains only one chance for Juergen, but luckily that chance is sure.'

Starting point is 06:43:18 "'Why are you fumbling in your pocket?' asked the old priest of Aegeus, fidgeting and peering. "'Aha! You may well ask!' cried Yergan. He unfolded the cantrap which had been given him by the master philologist, and which Yergan had treasured against the time when more was needed than a glib tongue. "'Oh, most unrighteous judges!' says Yergan sternly, "'now hear and tremble! At the death of Adrian V, Pedro Giuliani, who should be named John the twentieth was through an error in the reckoning elevated to the papal chair as John the twenty-first. "'Ha! And what have we to do with that?' inquired the priest of El Tino with raised

Starting point is 06:44:00 eyebrows. "'Why are you telling us of these irrelevant matters?' "'Because I thought it would interest you,' said Juergen. "'It was a fact that appeared to me rather amusing, so I thought I would mention it.' "'Then you have very queer ideas of amusement,' they told you. him. And Yergan perceived that either he had not employed his can-trap correctly, or else that its magic was unappreciated by the leaders of Philistia. End of Chapter 32. Chapter 33 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch

Starting point is 06:44:40 Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 33. Farewell to Chloris. Now the Philistines led out their prisoners, and made ready to inflict the doom which was decreed, and they permitted the young king of Eubonia to speak with Cloris. "'Farewell to you now, Yergan,' says Cloris, weeping softly. "'It is little I care what foolish words these priests of Felicia may utter against me, but the big-armed axmen are filling my tree yonder to get them timber to make a bedstead for the queen of Felicia, for that is what this Queen Deloros ordered them to do the first thing this morning.'

Starting point is 06:45:21 And Yergan raised his hands. "'You women,' he said, "'what man would ever have thought of that!' "'So when my tree is felled, "'I must depart into a somber land "'wherein there is no laughter at all, "'and where the puzzled dead go wandering futile "'through fields of scentless Asphodel,

Starting point is 06:45:40 "'and through tall sullen groves of Myrtle, "'the puzzled, quiet dead, "'who may not even weep as I do now, "'but can only wonder what it is that they regret, and I too must taste of Leth-the and forget all I have loved. You should give thanks to the imagination of your forefathers, my dear, that your doom is no worse, for I am going into a more barbaric limbo, into the hell of a people who thought entirely too much about flames and pitchforks, said Juergen ruefully.

Starting point is 06:46:10 I tell you it is the deuce and all to come of morbid ancestry, and he kissed Cloris upon the brow. "'My dear, dear girl,' he said with a gulp, "'as long as you remember me, do so with charity.' "'Yergan,' and she clung close to him, "'you were not ever unkind, not even for a moment. "'Yergan, you have not ever spoken one harsh word to me "'or any other person in all the while we were together. "'Oh, Yergan, whom I have loved as you could love nobody,

Starting point is 06:46:41 "'it was not much those other women had left me to worship.' Indeed, it is a pity that you loved me, Cloris, for I was not worthy. And for the instant, Yergan meant it. If any other person said that, Yergan, I would be very angry, and even to hear you say it troubles me, because there was never a hamadryad between two hills that had a husband one half so clever foolish as he made light of time and chance, with his sleek black head cock to one side and his mischievous brown eyes a twinkle. And Yergan wondered that this should be the notion

Starting point is 06:47:18 Chloris had of him, and that a gesture should be the thing she remembered about him, and he was doubly assured that no woman bothers to understand the man she elects to love and cosset and slave for. "'Oh, woman, dear,' says Yergan, "'but I have loved you, and my heart is water now that you are taken from me. And to remember your ways and the joy I had in them will be a big and grinding sorrow in the long time to come. Oh, not with any heroic love have I loved you, nor with any madness and high dreams, nor with

Starting point is 06:47:51 much talking either, but with a love befitting my condition with a quiet and cordial love. And you must be trying, while I die, to get your grieving for me into the right words, she asked him, smiling very sadly. No matter. You are Yergan, and I have loved you. And I am glad that I shall know nothing about it when in the long time to come you will be telling so many other women about what was said by Zoroabatius and Ptolemopeter, and when you will be posturing and romancing for their delight. And presently I shall have forgotten you, King Yurgan, and all the joy I had in you, and all the pride, and all the love I had for you, King Yergan, who loved me as much as you

Starting point is 06:48:33 were able. Why, and will there be any love-making do you think in hell? He asks her, with a doleful smile. There will be love-making, she replied, wherever you go. King Yergan, and there will be women to listen, and at last there will be a beampole of a woman in a wig. "'I am sorry,' he said, and yet I have loved you, Cloris. That is my comfort now, and presently there will be Leth-thi. I put the greater faith in Leth-thi, and still I cannot help but love you, Jirgin, in whom I have no faith at all.' He said again, I am not worthy.

Starting point is 06:49:12 They kissed, then each of them was conveyed to an appropriate doom. And tears were in the eyes of Yergan, who was not used to weep, and he thought not at all of what was to befall him, but only of this and that small trivial thing which would have pleased his Chloris had Yergan done it, and which, for one reason or another, Yergan had left undone. I was never unkind to her, says she, Ah, but I might have been so much kinder. And now I shall not ever see her any more.

Starting point is 06:49:42 Nor ever any more may I awaken delight and admiration in those bright tender eyes which saw no fault in me. Well, but it is a comfort surely that she does not know I devoted the last night she was to live, teaching mathematics. And then Yergan wondered how he would be dispatched into the hell of his fathers, and when the Philistine showed him in what manner they proposed to inflict their sentence, he wondered at his own obtuseness. "'For I might have surmised this would be the way of it,' said Juergen. "'And yet as always there is a simplicity in the methods of the Philistines

Starting point is 06:50:18 which is unimaginable by really clever fellows. And as always too these methods are unfair to us clever fellows. Well, I am willing to taste any drink once, but this is a very horrible device nonetheless, and I wonder if I have the pluck to endure it.' Then, as he stood considering this matter, a man-in-arms came hurrying. He brought with him three great rolled parchments, with seals and ribbons and everything in order. And these were Juergen's pardon and Juergen's nomination as poet laureate of Felicia, and Juergen's appointment as mathematician royal. The man-in-arms brought also a letter from Queen Dolores, and this Yergan read with a frown. Do you consider now what fun it would be to hoodwink everybody by pretending to conform to our laws? said this letter, and it said nothing more.

Starting point is 06:51:12 Dolores was really a wise woman. Yet there was a postscript. For we could be so happy, said the post-script. And Yergan looked toward the woods, where men were sawing up a great oak tree. And Yergan gave a fine laugh, and with fine deliberateness he tore up the Queen's letter into little strips. Then, statelessly, he took the parchments, and found they were so tough he could not tear them. This was uncommonly awkward, for Juergen's ill-advised attempt to tear the parchments impaired the dignity of his magnanimous self-sacrifice. He even suspected one of the guards of smiling.

Starting point is 06:51:51 So there was nothing for it but presently to give up that futile tugging and jerking, and to compromise by crumpling these parchments. "'This is my answer,' said Juergen heroically, and with some admiration of himself, but still a little dashed by the uncalled-for toughness of the parchment. Then Juergen cried farewell to Fallen Lucci, and scornfully he cried farewell to the Philistines and to their devices. Then he submitted to their devices. Thus it was without making any special protest about it that Juergen was relegated to Limbo, and was dispatched to the hell of his fathers two days before Christmas.

Starting point is 06:52:32 End of Chapter 33. Chapter 34 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice. by James Branch Cabell. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Yergan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 34. How Emperor Yurgan Fared Infernally Now the tale tells how the devils of hell were in one of their churches celebrating Christmas in such manner as the devils observed that day, and how Yergan came through the trap-door in the vestry room,

Starting point is 06:53:08 and how he saw and wondered over the creatures which inhabited this place. for to him, after the Christmas services, came all such devils as his fathers had foretold, and in not a hair or scale or talon did they differ from the worst that anybody had been able to imagine. Anatomy is hereabouts even more inconsequent than in cocaine, was Juergen's first reflection. But the first thing the devils did was to search Yergan very carefully, in order to make sure he was not bringing any water into hell. Now, who may you be that comes to us alive, in a fine shirt of which we never saw the like before? asked Dithecan. He had the head of a tiger, but otherwise the appearance of a large bird,

Starting point is 06:53:54 with shining feathers and four feet. His neck was yellow, his body green, and his feet black. It would not be treating honestly with you to deny that I am the emperor of Numaria, said Yergan, somewhat advancing his estate. Now spoke Amemnon in the form of a thick, suet-colored worm, going upright upon his tail, which shone like the tail of a glow-worm. He had no feet, but under his chops were two short hands, and upon his back were bristles such as grow upon hedgehogs. "'But we are rather overrun with emperors,' said Amemnon, doubtfully, and their crimes are a great trouble to us. Were you a very wicked ruler?'

Starting point is 06:54:36 "'Never since I became an emperor,' replied your husband. has any of my subjects ordered one word of complaint against me. So it stands to reason I have nothing very serious with which to reproach myself. Your conscience, then, does not demand that you be punished?' "'My conscience, gentlemen, is too well-bred to insist on anything.' "'You do not even wish to be tortured?' "'Well, I admit I expected something of the sort. But, nonetheless, I will not make a point of it,' said Yergan handsomely. "'No, I shall be quite satisfied, even though you do not torture me at all.' And then the mob of devils made a great to-do over Yurgen.

Starting point is 06:55:17 "'For it is exceedingly good to have at least one unpretentious and undictatorial human being in hell. Nobody as a rule drops in on us save inordinately proud and conscientious ghosts, whose self-conceit is intolerable and whose demands are outrageous. How can that be? Why, we have to punish them!' Of course they are not properly punished, until they are convinced that what is happening to them is just inadequate. And you have no notion what elaborate tortures they insist their exceeding wickedness has merited, as though that which they did or left undone could possibly matter to anybody.

Starting point is 06:55:54 And to contrive these torments quite tires us out. But wherefore is this place called the hell of my fathers? Because your forefathers built it in dreams, they told him, out of the pride which led them to believe that what they did was of sufficient importance to merit punishment. Or so at least we have heard. But if you want the truth of the matter, you must go to our grandfather at Baratham. I shall go to him then, and do my own grandfathers, and all the forefathers that I had in the old time inhabit this gray place? All such are born with what they call a conscience come hither, the devil said. Do you think you could persuade them to go elsewhere?

Starting point is 06:56:36 for in that event we would be deeply obliged to you. Their self-conceit is pitiful, but it is also a nuisance, because it prevents our getting any rest. Perhaps I can help you to obtain justice, and certainly to attempt to secure justice for you is my imperial duty. But who governs this country? They told him how hell was divided into principalities that had for governors, Lucifer and Beelzebub and Belial and Askeroth and Phlegaton. but that over all these was Grandfather Satan, who lived in the Black House at Baratham. "'Well, I prefer,' says Yergan, to deal directly with your principal, especially if he can explain the polity of this insane and murky country. Do some of you conduct me to him in such a

Starting point is 06:57:24 state as becomes an emperor?' So Kanagosta fetched a wheelbarrow, and Yergan got into it, and Kanagosta trundled him away. Kenagosta was something like an ox, but he was a girl, but rather more like a cat, and his hair was curly. And as they came through Khorasma, a very uncomfortable place where the damned abide in torment, whom should Yurgan see but his own father, Coth, the son of Smoit and Steinvore, standing there chewing his long mustaches in the midst of an especially tall flame. "'Do you stop now for a moment?' said Yergan to his escort. "'Oh, but this is the most of exacious person in all hell!' cried Kanaigosta.

Starting point is 06:58:03 and a person whom there is absolutely no pleasing. Nobody knows that better than I, says Yergan. And Yergan civilly bade his father goodbye, but Koth did not recognize this spruce young emperor of Numaria, who went about hell in a wheelbarrow. You do not know me then, says Yergan. How should I know you when I never saw you before? replied Koth irritably.

Starting point is 06:58:30 And Yergan did not argue the point, for he knew that he and his father could never agree about anything. So Yergan kept silent for that time, and Conagasta wheeled him through the gray twilight, descending always deeper and yet deeper into the lowlands of hell, until they had come to Baratham. End of Chapter 34. Chapter 35 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice,

Starting point is 06:59:00 by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yergan A Comedy of Justice Chapter 35 What Grandfather Satan reported Next the tale tells how three inferior devils made a loud music with bagpipes as Yurgan went into the Black House of Baratham to talk with Grandfather Satan.

Starting point is 06:59:24 Satan was like a man of 60, or it might be 62, in all things, save that he was covered with gray fur and had horns like those of a stag. He wore a breech-cloud of very dark grey, and he sat in a chair of black marble on a dais. His bushy tail, which was like that of a squirrel, waved restlessly over his head as he looked at Juergen without speaking, and without turning his mind from an ancient thought. And his eyes were like light shining upon little pools of ink, for they had no whites to them. "'What is the meaning of this insane country?' says Juergen, plunging at the heart of things.

Starting point is 07:00:04 There is no sense in it, and no fairness at all." "'Ah,' replied Satan, in his curious hoarse voice, "'you may well say that, and it is what I was telling my wife only last night.' "'You have a wife, then,' says Juergen, who was always interested in such matters. "'Why, but to be sure, either as a Christian or as a married man, I should have comprehended this was Satan's due. And how do you get on with her?' "'Pretty well,' says Grandfather Satan.

Starting point is 07:00:35 "'But she does not understand me.' "'Ettu Brute,' says Juergen. "'And what does that mean?' "'It is an expression connotating astonishment over an event without parallel. But everything in hell seems rather strange, and the places not at all as it was rumored to be by the priests and the bishops and the cardinals that used to be exhorting me in my fine palace at Breschow. "'And where did you say is this palace?'

Starting point is 07:01:02 in Nomaria, where I am the Emperor Jürgen. And I need not insult you by explaining Breschow is my capital city, and is noted for its manufacture of linen and woolen cloth, and gloves and cameos and brandy, though the majority of my subjects are engaged in cattle-breeding and agricultural pursuits. Of course not, for I have studied geography. And Yurgan, it is often I have heard of you, though never of your being an emperor.

Starting point is 07:01:30 Did I not say this place was not in touch with new ideas? Ah, but you must remember that thoughtful persons keep out of hell. Besides, the war with heaven prevents us from thinking of other matters. In any event, you, Emperor Juergen, by what authority do you question Satan in Satan's home? I have heard that word which the ass spoke with the cat, replied Yergan, for he recollected upon a sudden what Merlin had shown him. Grandfather Satan nodded comprehendingly. "'All honor be to set and bast, and may their power increase.

Starting point is 07:02:08 This, emperor, is how my kingdom came about.' Then Satan, sitting erect and bleak in his tall marble chair, explained how he, and all the domain and all the infernal hierarchies he ruled, had been created extemporary by Koshay to humor the pride of Yergan's forefathers. For they were exceedingly proud of their sins, And Cotay happened to notice Earth once upon a time, with your forefathers walking about it, exulted in the enormity of their sins, and in the terrible punishments they expected in requital. Now Coté will do almost anything to humor pride, because to be proud is one of the two things

Starting point is 07:02:47 that are impossible to Cotay. So he was pleased, oh, very much pleased. And after he had had his laugh out, he created hell extemporary, and made it just such a place as your father forefathers imagine it ought to be, in order to humor the pride of your forefathers. And why is pride impossible to Cotche? Because he made things as they are. And day and night he contemplates things as they are, having nothing else to look at. How then can Cotche be proud? I see. It is as if I were imprisoned in a cell wherein there was nothing, absolutely nothing, except my verses. I shudder to think of it. I shudder to think of it. I was a cell. I was as if I were imprisoned in a cell wherein'clock, wherein'er to think of it. But what is this other thing which is impossible to cochet?

Starting point is 07:03:34 I do not know. It is something that does not enter into hell. Well, I wish I too had never entered here, and now you must assist me to get out of this murky place. And why must I assist you?' "'Because,' said Yergan, and he drew out the cantrap of the master philologist. Because, at the death of Adrian V, Pedro Giuliani, who should be named John the 20, was through an error in the reckoning elevated to the papal chair as John the 21st. Do you not find my reason sufficient? No, said Grandfather Satan after thinking it over.

Starting point is 07:04:13 I cannot say that I do. But then, popes go to heaven. It is considered to look better, all around, and particularly by my countrymen, inasmuch as many popes have been suspected of pro-celestialism. So we admit none of them into hell, in order to be on the safe side, now that we are at war. In consequence, I am no judge of popes and their affairs, nor do I pretend to be.' And Yergan perceived that, again, he had employed his cantrap incorrectly,

Starting point is 07:04:44 or else that it was impotent to rescue people from Satan. But who would have thought, he reflected, that Grandfather Satan was such a simple old creature? How long then must I remain here? asked Yergan, after. a dejected pause. I do not know, replied Satan. It must depend entirely upon what your father thinks about it. But what has he to do with it?

Starting point is 07:05:11 Since I and all else that is here are your father's absurd notions, as you have so frequently proved by logic, and it is hardly possible that such a clever fellow as you can be mistaken. Why, of course, that is not possible, says Yergan. Well, the matter is rather call. complicated. But I am willing to taste any drink once, and I shall manage to get justice somehow,

Starting point is 07:05:35 even in this unreasonable place where my father's absurd notions are the truth. So Yergan left the Black House of Baratham, and Yergan also left Grandfather Satan erect and bleak in his tall marble chair, and with his eyes gleaming in the dim light, as he sat there restively swishing his soft, bushy tail, and not ever turning his mind from an ancient thought. End of Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Of Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice by James Branch Cabell.

Starting point is 07:06:12 This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 36. Why Koth was contradicted. Then Yurgan went back to Khor where Koth, the son of Smoit and Steinvore, stood conscientiously in the midst of the largest and hottest flame he had been able to imagine,

Starting point is 07:06:33 and rebuked the outworn devils who were tormenting him, because the tortures they inflicted were not adequate to the wickedness of Coth. And Yergan cried to his father, "'The lewd fiend, Kanagasta, told you I was the emperor of Numaria, and I do not deny it even now. But do you not perceive I am likewise your son, Yergan?' "'Why, so it is,' said Coth. "'Now that I look at the rascal, and how, Yergan, did you become an emperor?' "'Oh, sir.'

Starting point is 07:07:03 And is this a place wherein to talk about mere earthly dignities? I am surprised your mind should still run upon these empty vanities, even here in torment. But it is inadequate torment, Juergen, such as does not salve my conscience. There is no justice in this place, and no way of getting justice. For these shiftless devils do not take seriously that which I did, and they merely pretend to punish me, and so my conscience stays unsatisfied. "'Well, but, father, I have talked with them, and they seem to think your crimes do not amount

Starting point is 07:07:37 too much after all.' Coth flew into one of his familiar rages. "'I would have you know that I killed eight men in cold blood, and held five other men while they were being killed. I estimate the sum of such iniquity as ten and a half murders, and for these my conscience demands that I be punished.' "'Ah, but, sir, that was fifty years or more of it. ago, and these men would now be dead in any event, so you see it does not matter now.

Starting point is 07:08:06 I went astray with women, with I do not know how many women." Ergen shook his head. This is very shocking news for a son to receive, and you can imagine my feelings. Nonetheless, sir, that also was fifty years ago, and nobody is bothering over it now. You jackanapes, I tell you that I swore and I stole and I forged and burned four houses. and broke the Sabbath, and was guilty of mayhem, and spoke disrespectfully to my mother, and worshipped a stone image at Porutza. I tell you, I shattered the whole decalogue, time and again. I committed all the crimes that were ever heard of, and invented six new ones.

Starting point is 07:08:48 Yes, sir, said Yergan. But still, what does it matter if you did? Oh, take away this son of mine, cried Coth, for he is his mother all over again, and though I was the vilest sinner that ever lived, I have not deserved to be plagued twice with such silly questions, and I demand that you loitery devils bring more fuel." "'Sir,' said a panting little fiend, in the form of a tadpole with hairy arms and legs like a monkey, as he ran up with four bundles of fagots. "'We are doing the very best we can for your discomfort. But you, damned, have no consideration for us, and do not remember that we are

Starting point is 07:09:29 are on our feet day and night waiting upon you," said the little devil, whimpering, as with his pitchfork he raked up the fire about cough. "'You do not even remember the upset condition of the country, on account of the war with heaven, which makes it so hard for us to get you all the inconveniences of life. Instead you lounge in your flames and complain about the service, and Grandfather Satan punishes us, and it is not fair!' "'I think myself,' said Yergan, "'that you should be gentler. with the boy. And as for your crime, sir, come, will you not conquer this pride which you nicknamed

Starting point is 07:10:05 conscience, and concede that after any man has been dead a little while it does not matter at all what he did? Why, about Belgard, no one ever thinks of your throat-cutting and Sabbath-breaking, except when very old people gossip over the fire, and your wickedness brightens up the evening for them. To the rest of us, you are just a stone in the churchyard, which describes you as a paragon of all the virtues. And outside of Belgaard, sir, your name and deeds mean nothing now to anybody, and no one anywhere remembers you. So really, your wickedness is not bothering any person now save these poor toiling devils. And I think that, in consequence, you might consent to put up with such torments as they can conveniently contrive, without complaining so intepardly about it.

Starting point is 07:10:54 Ah, but my conscience, Juergen, that is the point! Oh, if you continue to talk about your conscience, sir, you restrict the conversation to matters I do not understand, and so cannot discuss. But I dare say we will find occasion to thresh this out, and all other matters by and by. And you and I will make the best of this place, for now I will never leave you." Coth began to weep, and he said that his sins in the flesh had been too heinous for this comfort to be permitted him in the unendurable torment which he had fairly earned, and hoped some day to come by. "'Do you care about me one way or the other, then?' said Yergan, quite astounded.

Starting point is 07:11:37 And from the midst of his flame, Coth the son of Smoit, talked of the birth of Yergan, and of the infant that had been Yergan, and of the child that had been Yergan. And a horrible, deep, unreasonable emotion moved in Yergan as he listened to him. to the man who had begotten him, and whose flesh was Jürgen's flesh, and whose thoughts had not ever been Juergen's thoughts, and Juergen did not like it. Then the voice of Coth was bitterly changed, as he talked of the young man that had been Yergen, of the young man who was idle and rebellious and considerate of nothing save his own light desires, and of the division which had arisen between Yergan and Juergen's father, Coth, spoke likewise, and Yergan

Starting point is 07:12:21 felt better now, but was still grieved to know how much his father had once loved him. "'It is lamentably true,' says Juergen, "'that I was an idle and rebellious son. So I did not follow your teachings. I went astray, oh, very terribly astray. I even went astray, sir, I must tell you, with a nature myth connected with the moon.' "'Oh, hideous abomination of the heathen!' And she considered, sir, that thereafter I was like a little bit of the moon. And she considered, sir, that thereafter I was likely to become a solar legend.

Starting point is 07:12:53 "'I should not wonder,' said Coth, and he shook his bald and dome-shaped head despondently. "'Ah, my son, it simply shows you what comes of these wild courses.' "'And in that event I would, of course, be released from sojourning in the underworld by the spring equinox.' "'Do you not think so, sir?' says Juergen, very coaxingly, because he remembered that, according to Satan, whatever Coth believed would be the truth in hell. "'I am sure,' said Coth. "'Why, I am sure I do not know anything about such matters.'

Starting point is 07:13:28 "'Yes, but what do you think?' "'I do not think about it at all.' "'Yes, but, Yergan, you have a very uncivil habit of arguing with people.' "'Still, sir, and I have spoken to you about it before. yet, father, and I do not wish to have to speak to you about it again. Nonetheless, sir, and when I say that I have no opinion—but everybody has an opinion, father, Yergan shouted this and felt it was quite like old times. How dare you speak to me in that tone of voice, sir?

Starting point is 07:14:05 But I only meant, do not lie to me, Yergan, and stop interrupting me, for, as I was saying when you began to yell at your father, as though you were addressing an unrulysmobile. reasonable person, it is my opinion that I know nothing whatever about equinoxes, and do not care to know anything about equinoxes, I would have you understand. And that the less said as to such disreputable topics the better, as I tell you to your face.' And Yergan groaned, "'Here is a pretty father. If you had thought so, it would have happened. But you imagine me in a place like this, and have not sufficient fairness, far less paternal affection to a imagine me out of it. I can only think of your well-merited affliction, you quarrelsome scoundrel,

Starting point is 07:14:51 and the host of light women with whom you have sinned, and the doom of which has befallen you in consequence. Well, at worst, says Juergen, there are no women here. That ought to be a comfort to you. I think there are women here, snapped his father. It is reputed that quite a number of women have had consciences, but these conscientious women are probably kept separate from us men, in some other part of hell, for the reason that if they were admitted into Koresma, they would attempt to tidy the place and make it habitable. I know your mother would have been meddling out of hand. Oh, sir, and must you still be finding fault with mother? Your mother, Yergan, was in many ways an admirable woman, but, said Koth, she did not understand me.

Starting point is 07:15:40 Ah, well, that may have been the trouble. Still, all this you say about women. being here is mere guesswork. It is not, said Coth, and I want none of your impudence either. How many times must I tell you that?' Yergan scratched his ear reflectively, for he still remembered what Grandfather Satan had said, and Coth's irritation seemed promising.

Starting point is 07:16:04 Well, but the women here are all ugly, I wager. They are not, said his father angrily. Why do you keep contradicting me? "'Because you do not know what you're talking about,' says Juergen, egging him on. "'How could there be any pretty women in this horrible place? For the soft flesh would be burned away from their little bones, and the loveliest of queens would be reduced to a horrid cinder. I think there are any number of vampires and succubi and such creatures,

Starting point is 07:16:34 whom the flames do not injure at all, because these creatures are informed with an ardor that is unquenchable and is more hot than fire. And you understand perfectly what I mean, so there is no need for you to stand there goggling at me like a horrified abyss. Oh, sir, but you know very well that I would have nothing to do with such unregenerate persons. I do not know anything of the sort.

Starting point is 07:16:58 You are probably lying to me. You always lied to me. I think you are on your way to meet a vampire now. What, sir, a hideous creature with fangs and leathery wings? No, but a very poisonous and seductively beautiful creature. Come now, you do not really think she is beautiful. I do think so. How dare you tell me what I think and do not think?

Starting point is 07:17:23 Oh, well, I shall have nothing to do with her. I think you will, said his father. Ah, but I think you will be up to your tricks with her before this hour is out. For do I not know what emperors are, and do I not know you? And Coth fell to talking of Yergan's past, in the customary terms of a family squabble, such as are not very nicely repeatable elsewhere. And the fiends who had been tormenting Coth withdrew in embarrassment, and so long as Coth continued talking, they kept out of earshot.

Starting point is 07:17:56 End of Chapter 36. Chapter 37 of Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Liberbox recording is in the public domain. Juergen, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 37 Invention of the Lovely Vampire So again Coth parted with his son in anger, and Juergen returned again toward Baratham.

Starting point is 07:18:27 And whether or not it was a coincidence, Yergan met precisely the vampire of whom he had unveiled his father into thinking. She was the most seductively beautiful creature that it would be possible for Juergen's father or any other man to imagine, and her clothes were orange-colored. for a reason sufficiently well known in hell, and were embroidered everywhere with green fig leaves.

Starting point is 07:18:50 "'A good morning to you, madam,' says Juergen, "'and whither are you going?' "'Why, to no place at all, good youth, for this is my vacation, granted yearly by the law of Kalki.' "'And who is Kalki, madam?' "'Nobody is yet, but he will come as a stallion. Meanwhile his law precedes him, so that I am spending my vacation peacefully in hell, with none of my ordinary annoyances to bother me. And what, madam, can they be? Why, you must understand that it is little rest a vampire gets on earth,

Starting point is 07:19:23 with so many fine young fellows like yourself, going about everywhere eager to be destroyed. But how, madam, did you happen to become a vampire if the life does not please you? And what is it that they call you? My name, sir, replied the vampire sorrowfully, is Flora Mel, because my nature, no less than my person, was as beautiful as the flowers of the field, and as sweet as the honey which the bees, who furnish us with such admirable examples of industry, get out of these flowers. But a sad misfortune changed all this. For I chanced one day to

Starting point is 07:20:00 fall ill and die, which of course might happen to anyone, and as my funeral was leaving the house, the cat jumped over my coffin. That was a terrible misfortune to be. Ackonald to my life. That was a terrible misfortune to befall a poor dead girl so generally respected, and in wide demand as a seamstress. Though even then the worst might have been averted had not my sister-in-law been of what they call a humane disposition, and foolishly attached to the cat. So they did not kill it, and I, of course, became a vampire. Yes, I can understand that was inevitable. Still it seems hardly fair. I pity you, my dear. And Yergan sighed. I would prefer, sir, that you did not address me thus familiarly, since you and I have omitted

Starting point is 07:20:45 the formality of an introduction, and in the absence of any joint acquaintances are unlikely ever to meet properly. I have no herald handy, for I travel incognito. However, I am that Yergan who recently made himself Emperor of Numaria, king of Eubonia, Prince of Cocaine, and Duke of Egregas, and of whom you have doubtless heard. Why, to be sure, says she, patting her hair straight. And who would have anticipated meeting your highness in such a place? One says majesty to an emperor, my dear. It is a detail, of course, but in my position

Starting point is 07:21:23 one has to be a little exigent. I perfectly comprehend your majesty, and indeed I might have divined your rank from your lovely clothes. I can but entreat you to overlook my unintentional breach of etiquette, and I make bold to add that a kind heart reveals the splendor of its graciousness through the interest which Your Majesty has just evinced in my disastrous history. "'Upon my word,' thanks Yergan, but in this flow of words I seem to recognize my father's imagination when in anger. Then Floremel told Yergan of her horrible awakening in the grave, and of what had befallen her hands and feet there, the while that against her will she fed repugnantly, destroying first her kindred and then the neighbors. This done, she had arisen. For the cattle still

Starting point is 07:22:13 lived, and that troubled me. When I had put an end to this annoyance, I climbed into the church belfry, not alone, for one went with me of whom I prefer not to talk, and at midnight I sounded the bell so that all who heard it would sicken and die. And I wept all the while, because I knew that when everything had been destroyed which I had known in my first life in the flesh, I would be compelled to go into new lands in search of the food which alone can nourish me, and I was always sincerely attached to my home. So it was, Your Majesty, that I forever relinquished my sewing, and became a lovely peril, a flashing desolation and an evil which smites by night, in spite of my abhorrence of irregular hours. And what I do I dislike extremely,

Starting point is 07:23:01 for it is a sad fate to become a vampire, and still to sympathize with your victims, and particularly with their poor mothers. So Yergan comforted Flora Mel, and he put his arm around her. "'Come, come,' he said, "'but I will see that your vacation passes pleasantly, and I intend to deal fairly with you, too.' Then he glanced sideways at his shadow, and whispered a suggestion which caused Floremel to sigh. By the terms of my doom, said she, at no time during the nine lives of the cat can I refuse. Still, it is a comfort you are the Emperor of Numaria, and have a kind heart. Oh, and a many other possessions, my dear, and I again assure you that I intend to deal fairly with you.

Starting point is 07:23:49 So Floraima conducted Yergan through the changeless twilight of Baratham, like that of a gray winter afternoon, to a quiet cleft by the sea of blood, which she had fitted out very cozily in imitation of her girlhood home, and she lighted a candle and made him welcome to her cleft. And when Yergan was about to enter it, he saw that his shadow was following him into the vampire's home. "'Let us extinguish this candle,' says Yergan. "'For I have seen so many flames today that my eyes are tired.' So Floremel extinguished the candle, with a good will that delighted Yergan. And now they were in utter darkness, and in the dark nobody can see what is happening. But that Florimel now trusted Yergan and his Numarian claims was evinced by her very first remark.

Starting point is 07:24:38 "'I was in the beginning suspicious of your majesty,' said Floremel, because I had always heard that every emperor carried a magnificent scepter, and you then displayed nothing of the sort. But now, somehow, I do not doubt you any longer. And of what is your majesty thinking? Why, I was reflecting, my dear, says Yergan, that my father imagines things very satisfactorily. End of Chapter 37.

Starting point is 07:25:13 Chapter 38 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yergan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 38. As to a plotted precedent. Afterwards, Yergan abode in hell, and complied with the customs of that country. And the tale tells that a week, or it might be ten days, after his meeting with Flora Mel, Yergan married her, without being at all hindered by his having three other wives.

Starting point is 07:25:45 For the devils he found, esteemed polygamy, and ranked it above mere skill at torturing the damned, through a literal interpretation of the saying that it is better to marry than to burn. And formerly, they told Yergan, you could hardly come across a marriage anywhere that was not harmarked, made in heaven, but since we have been at war with heaven, we have quite taken away that trade from our enemies. So you may marry here as much as you like. Why, then, says Yurgan, I shall marry in haste and repeat at leisure. But can one obtain a divorce here? Oh, no, said they. We trafficked in them for a while, but we found that all the all persons who obtain divorces through our industry promptly thanked heaven they were free at last.

Starting point is 07:26:32 In the face of such ingratitude, we gave over that profitless trade, and now there is a manufacturing for specialties in men's clothing upon the old statutory grounds. But these makeshifts are unsatisfactory, and I wish to know, in confidence, what do you do in hell when there is no longer putting up with your wives?' The devil's all blushed. "'We would prefer not to tell you,' said the devil's. they, for it might get to their ears. "'Now I do perceive,' said Yergan,

Starting point is 07:27:02 that hell is pretty much like any other place. So Yergan and the lovely vampire were duly married. First Yergan's nails were trimmed, and the pairings were given to Flora-Mell. A broomstick was laid before them, and they stepped over it. Then Floremel said, Temen, thrice, and nine times did Yergan reply, Erigizotor. Afterward, the Emperor Yergan and his bride,

Starting point is 07:27:26 were given a posset of Dudiam and Aruka, and the devils modestly withdrew. Thereafter, Jürgen abode in hell, and complied with the customs of that country, and was tolerably content for a while. Now Yergan shared with Floremel that quiet cleft which she had fitted out in imitation of her girlhood home, and they lived in the suburbs of Baratham, very respectably, by the shore of the sea. There was, of course, no water in hell. Indeed, the importation of water was forbidden, under severe penalties, in view of its possible use for baptismal purposes. This sea was composed of the blood that had been shed by piety in furthering the kingdom of the Prince of Peace, and was reputed to be the largest ocean in existence. And it explained

Starting point is 07:28:13 the nonsensical saying which Juergen had so often heard as to hells being paved with good intentions. For a pigeonies of Rhodes is right after all, said Yergan. in suggesting a misprint, and the word should be laved. Why, to be sure, your majesty, assented Floremel. Ah, but I always said your majesty had remarkable powers of penetration, quite apart from your majesty's scholarship. For Floremel had this cajoling way of speaking. Nonetheless, all vampires have their foibles,

Starting point is 07:28:47 and are nourished by the vigor and youth of their lovers. So one morning Floremell complained of being unwell, and attributed it to indigestion. Yergan stroked her head meditatively, then he opened his glittering shirt and displayed what was plain enough to see. "'I am full of vigor, and I am young,' said Yergan. But my vigor and my youthfulness are of a peculiar sort,

Starting point is 07:29:12 and are not wholesome. So let us have no more of your tricks, or you will quite spoil your vacation by being very ill indeed. But I had thought all emperors were human, said Floremel, in a flutter of blushing penitence, exceedingly pretty to observe. Even so, sweetheart, all emperors are not Yergens, he replied magnificently. Therefore, you will find that not every emperor is justly styled the father of his people, or is qualified by nature to wield the scepter of Numaria. I trust this lesson will suffice.

Starting point is 07:29:47 It will, said Floremel with a wry face. So thereafter they had no further trouble of this sort, and the wound on Juergen's breast was soon healed. And Yergan kept away from the damned, of course, because he and Floremel were living respectively. They paid a visit to Yergan's father, however, very shortly after they were married, because this was the proper thing to do.

Starting point is 07:30:09 And Coth was civil enough for Coth, and voiced to hope that Floremel might have a good influence upon Jurgan and make him worth his salt, but did not pretend to be optimistic. Yet this visit was never returned, because Coth considered his wickedness was too great for him to be spared a moment of torment, and so would not leave his flame. "'And really, Your Majesty,' said Foramel,

Starting point is 07:30:33 "'I do not wish for an instant to have the appearance of criticizing your Majesty's relatives, but I do think that Your Majesty's father might have called upon us, at least once, particularly after I offered to have a fire made up for him to sit on any time he chose to come. I consider that Your Majesty's father assumed somewhat extravagant airs, in the lack of any definite proof as to his having been a bit more wicked than anybody else.

Starting point is 07:31:00 And the childlike candor, which has always been with me, a leading characteristic, prevents concealment of my opinion. Oh, it is just his conscience, dear. A conscience is all very well in its place, your majesty, and I, for one, would never have been able to endure the interminable labor of seducing

Starting point is 07:31:18 and assassinating so many fine young fellows, if my conscience had not assured me that it was all the fault of my sister-in-law. But even so, there is no sense in letting your conscience make a slave of you, and when conscience reduces your majesty's father to ignoring the rules of common civility and behaving like a candle-wick, I am sure that matters are being carried too far. And right you are, my dear. However, we do not lack for company. So come now, make yourself fine, and shake the black dog from your back, for we are spending the evening with the Esmodiuses.' "'And will your majesty talk politics again?'

Starting point is 07:31:56 "'Oh, I suppose so. They appear to like it.' "'I only wish that I did, Your Majesty,' observed Florimel, and she yawned by anticipation. "'For with the devils, Yergan got on garrulously. The religion of hell is patriotism, and the government is an enlightened democracy. This contented the devils, and Juergen had learned long ago never to fall out with either of these codes, without which, as the devils were fond of observing, hell would not be what it is. They were, to Juergen's finding, simple-minded fiends who allowed themselves to be deplorably overworked by the important dead.

Starting point is 07:32:35 They got no rest because of the damned, who were such persons as had been saddled with a conscience, and who, in consequence, demanded interminable torments. And at the time of Juergens coming into hell, political affairs were in a very bad way, because there was a considerable party among the younger devils who were forecompounding the age-old war with heaven at almost any price in order to get relief from this unceasing influx of conscientious dead persons in search of torment. For it was well known that when Satan submitted to be bound in chains, there would be no more death, and the annoying immigration would thus be ended.

Starting point is 07:33:13 So said the younger devils, and considered Grandfather Satan ought to sacrifice himself for the general welfare. Then, too, they pointed out that Satan had been perforced their presiding magistrate ever since the settlement of hell, because a change of administration is inexpedient in wartime, so that Satan must term after term be re-elected. And, of course, Satan had been voted absolute power in everything, since this too is customary in wartime. Well, and after the first few thousand years of this, the younger devils began to whisper that such government was not ideal democracy. But their more conservative elders were enraged by these effete and wild new notions, and dealt with their juniors somewhat severely, tearing

Starting point is 07:34:00 them into bits and quite destroying them. The elder devils then proceeded to inflict even more startling punishments. So Grandfather Satan was much vexed, because the laws were being violated everywhere, and a day or two after Juergen's advent, Satan issued a public appeal to his subjects, that the code of hell should be better respected. But under a democratic government, people do not like to be perpetually bothering about law and order, as one of the older and stronger devils pointed out to Yergan. Yergan drew a serious face, and he stroked his chin. Why, but look you, says Yergan, In deploring the mob's spirit that has been manifesting itself sporadically throughout this country against the advocates of peace and submission to the commands of heaven and other pro-celestial

Starting point is 07:34:48 propaganda, and in warning loyal citizens that such outburst must be guarded against as hurtful to the public welfare of hell, why Grandfather Satan should bear in mind that the government, in large measure, holds the remedy of the evil in its own hands. and Juergen looked severely towards Satan. "'Come now,' says Fleggeton, nodding his head, which was like that of a bear, except for his naked, long red ears, inside each of which was a flame like that of a spirit-lamp. "'Come now, but this young emperor in the fine shirt speaks uncommonly well.' "'So we spoke together in pandemonium,' said Belial wistfully,

Starting point is 07:35:30 in the brave days when pandemonium was newly built, and we were all imps together. Yes, this talk is of the old school, than which there is none better. So pray continue, Emperor Juergen, cried the elderly devils, and let us know what you are talking about. Why, merely this, says Juergen, and again he looks severely towards Satan. I tell you that as long as sentimental weakness marks the prosecution of offenses in violation of the law, necessitated by wartime conditions. As long as deserved punishment for overt acts of pro-celestialism is withheld, as long as weak-kneed clemency condones even a suspicion of disloyal thinking, then just so long will a righteously incensed, if now and then misguided patriotism,

Starting point is 07:36:19 take into its own hands vengeance upon the offenders?' "'But still,' said Grandfather Satan, "'in effectual administration of the law,' continued your Murgen sternly, is the true defense of these outbursts, and far more justly deplorable than acts of mob violence is the policy of condemnation that furnishes occasion for them. The patriotic people of hell are not in a temper to be trifled with, now that they are at war. Conviction for offenses against the nation should not be be hedged about with technicalities devised for over-refined peacetime jurisprudence. Why, there is no one of you, I am sure,

Starting point is 07:37:00 but has at his tongue's tip the immortal words of Livonius as to this very topic, and so I shall not repeat them. But I fancy you will agree with me that what Lavonius says is unanswerable. So it was that Yergan went on at a great rate, and looking always very sternly at Grandfather's Satan. "'Yes, yes,' said Satan, wriggling uncomfortably, but still not thinking of Yergan entirely. "'Yes, all this is excellent oratory, and not for a moment would I decry the authority of Livonius. And your quotation is uncommonly apropos and all that sort of thing. But with what are you charging me?'

Starting point is 07:37:40 "'With sentimental weakness,' retorted Yergan. "'Was it not only yesterday one of the younger devils was brought before you upon the charge that he had said the climate in heaven was better than the climate here?' "'And you, sir, hell's chief magistrate, you it was, who actually asked him if he had ever uttered such a disloyal heresy. "'Now, but what else was I to do?' said Satan, fidgeting and swishing his great bushy tail so that it rustled against his horns, and still not really turning his mind from that ancient thought.

Starting point is 07:38:14 "'You should have remembered, sir, that a devil whose patriotism is impugned is a devil to be punished, and that there is no time to be prying into irrelevant questions of his guilt or innocence. Otherwise, I take it, you will never have any real democracy in hell. Now Yergan looked very impressive, and the devils were all cheering him. And so, says Yergan, your disgusted hearers were weary by such frivolous interrogatories, and took the fellow out of your hands and tore him into particularly small bits. Now I warn you, Grandfather Satan, that it is your duty as a democratic magistrate just so to deal with such offenders first.

Starting point is 07:38:55 of all, and to ask your silly questions afterward. For what does Rudegernus say outright upon this point, and Zantifer Magnus, too? Why, my dear sir, I ask you Pliny, where in the entire history of international jurisprudence will you find any more explicit language than these two employ? Now certainly, says Satan, with his bleak smile. You cite very respectable authority, and I shall take your reproof in good part. I will endeavor to be more strict in the future. And you must not blame my laxity too severely, Emperor Juergen,

Starting point is 07:39:30 for it is a long while since any man came living into hell to instruct us how to manage matters in time of war. No doubt, precisely as you say, we do need a little more severity hereabouts and would gain by adopting more human methods. Ruta Gernis now? Yes, Rudea Gernes is rather unanswerable, and I concede it frankly. So do you come home and have supper with me, Emperor Jürgen, and we will talk over these things? Then Yurgan went off arm in arm with Grandfather Satan, and Yergan's erudition and sturdy common sense

Starting point is 07:40:04 were forever more established among the older and more solid element in hell. And Satan followed Yergen's suggestions, and the threatened rebellion was satisfactorily discouraged by tearing into very small fragments anybody who grumbled about anything. so that all the subjects of Satan went about smiling broadly all the time at the thought of what might befall them if they seemed ejected. Thus was hell a happier-looking place because of Yergan's coming. End of Chapter 38. Chapter 39 of Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Keppel. This Libervox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 07:40:50 Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 39 Of Compromises in Hell Now Grandfather Satan's wife was called Phyllis and apart from having wings like a bat's, she was the loveliest little slip of devilishness that Juergen had seen in a long while. Yergan spent this night at the Black House of Baratham

Starting point is 07:41:11 and two more nights, or it might be three nights, and the details of what Yergan used to do there after supper when he would walk alone in the Black House gardens among the artfully colored cast-iron flowers and shrubbery, and would so come to the grated windows of Phyllis's room, and would stand there joking with her in the dark, are not requisite to this story. Satan was very jealous of his wife,

Starting point is 07:41:33 and kept one of her wings clipped and held her under lock and key, as the treasure that she was. But Yergan was accustomed to say afterward that, while the gratings over the windows were very formidable, they only seemed somehow to enhance the piquancy of his commerce with Dame Phyllis. This queen, said Juergen, he had found simply unexcelled at repartee. Flora Mel considered the saying cryptic. Just what precisely did his majesty mean?

Starting point is 07:42:00 Why, that in any and all circumstances, Dame Phyllis knows how to take a joke and to return as good as she receives. So your majesty has already informed me, and certainly jokes can be exchanged through a grating. Yes, that is what I meant, and Dame Phyllis appeared to appreciate my ready flow of human. She informs me Grandfather Satan is of a cold, dry temperament, with very little humor in him, so that they go for months without exchanging any pleasantries.

Starting point is 07:42:30 Well, I am willing to taste any drink once, and for the rest, remembering that my host had very enormous and intimidating horns, I was at particular pains to deal fairly with my hostess. Though, indeed, it was more for the honor and the glory of the affair than anything else that I exchanged pleasantries with Satan's wife. For to do that, my dear, I felt was worthy of the Emperor Yergan. Ah, I am afraid your majesty is a sad scapegrace, replied Floremel. However, we all know that the scepter of an emperor is respected everywhere. Indeed, said Yergan, I have often regretted that I did not bring with me my jeweled scepter when I left Numeria. She shivered at some unspoken thought. It was not until some while afterward

Starting point is 07:43:17 that Flourmel told Yergan of her humiliating misadventure with the absent-minded sultan of Garzao's scepter. Now she only replied that Jules might, conceivably, seem ostentatious and out of place. Yergan agreed to this truism, for, of course, they were living very quietly, and Yergan was splendid enough for any reasonable wife's requirements in his glittering shirt. So Yergan got on pleasantly with Floremel. But he never became as fond of her as he had been of Gwynnevere, or Anaetis, nor one-tenth as fond of her as he had been of Chloris. In the first place he suspected that Flormel had been invented by his father,

Starting point is 07:43:56 and Coth and Yergan had never any tastes in common. And in the second place, Yergan could not but see that Floremel thought a great deal of his being an emperor. "'It is my title she loves, not me,' reflected Yergan sadly. "'And her affection is less for that which is really integral to me than for imperial orbs and sceptres and such-like external trappings. And Yergan would come out of Flormel's cleft, considerably dejected, and would sit alone by the sea of blood,

Starting point is 07:44:27 and would meditate how inequitable it was that the mere title of emperor should thus shut him off from sincerity and candor. We who are called kings and emperors are men like other men. We are as rightly entitled as other persons to be the solace of true love and affection. Instead, we live in a continuous isolation, and women offer us all things save their hearts, and we are a lonely folk. No, I cannot believe that Flourmel loves me for myself alone. It is my title which dazzles her, and I with that I had never made myself the Emperor of Numaria.

Starting point is 07:45:05 For this Emperor goes about everywhere in a fabulous splendor, and is, very naturally, resistless in his semi-mythical magnificence. Ah, but these imperial giggas distract the thoughts of Flormel from the real Yergan, so that the real Yergan is a person whom she does not understand at all, and it is not fair. Then, too, he had a sort of prejudice against the way in which Flormel spent her time in seducing and murdering young men. It was not possible, of course, actually to blame the girl, since she was the victim of circumstances and had no choice about becoming a vampire, once the cat had jumped over her coffin. Still, Yergan always felt, in his illogical masculine way, that her vocation was not

Starting point is 07:45:50 nice. And equally in the illogical way of men did he persist in coaxing Flora-Mau to tell him of her vampirate transactions, in spite of his underlying feeling that he would prefer to have his wife engaged in some other trade. And the merry little creature would humor him willingly enough, with her purple eyes a sparkle, and with her vivid lips curling prettily back, so as a little bit of to show her tiny white sharp teeth quite plainly. She was really very pretty thus, as she told him of what happened in Copenhagen, when young Count Osmond went down into the blind beggar-woman cellar and what they did with bits of him, and how one kind of serpent came to have a secret name, when, when cried aloud in the night, with the appropriate ceremony, will bring about delicious

Starting point is 07:46:35 happenings. And of what one can do with small, unchristened children, if only they do not kiss you, with their moist, uncertain little mouths, for then this thing is impossible. And of what use she had made of young Sir Gannelin's skull, when he was through with it, and she with him. And of what the young priest Wolf-North had said to the crocodiles at the very last. "'Oh, yes, my life has its amusing side,' said Floremel, and one likes to feel, of course, that one is not wholly out of touch with things, and is even, in one's modest way, contributing, to the suppression of folly. But even so, Your Majesty, the calls that are made upon one,

Starting point is 07:47:18 the things that young men expect of you as the price of their bodily and spirit will ruin. And the things their relatives say about you, and above all the constant strain, the irregular hours, and the continual effort to live up to one's position. Oh, yes, Your Majesty, I was far happier when I was a consumptive seamstress and took pride in my buttonholes. But from a sister-in-law, who only has you in to tea occasionally as a matter of duty, and whose prominent in church work, one may, of course, expect anything. And that reminds me that I really must tell your majesty about what happened in the hay-loft, just after the abbot had finished undressing.

Starting point is 07:47:59 So she would shatter away, while Yergan listened and smiled indulgently, for she certainly was very pretty. And so they kept house in hell contentedly enough, until Floremel's vacation was at an end, and then they parted, without any tears, but in perfect friendliness. And Yergan always remembered Flora Mel most pleasantly, but not as a wife with whom he had ever been on terms of actual intimacy. Now, when this lovely vampire had quitted him, the Emperor Yergan, in spite of his general popularity and the deference accorded his political views, was not quite happy in hell. It is a comfort at any rate, said Yergan, to discover

Starting point is 07:48:40 who originated the theory of democratic government. I have long wondered who started the notion that the way to get a wise decision on any conceivable question was to submit it to a popular vote. Now I know. Well, and the devils may be right in their doctrines. Certainly I cannot go so far as to say they are wrong, but still, at the same time. For instance, this interminable effort to make the universe safe for democracy, this continual warring against heaven because heaven clung to a ironical form of autocratic government, sounded both logical and magnanimous, and was, of course, the only method of ensuring any general triumph for democracy. Yet it seemed rather futile to Yergan, since, as he knew now, there was certainly something in the celestial system which made

Starting point is 07:49:27 for military efficiency, so that heaven usually won. Moreover, Yergan could not get over the fact that hell was just a notion of his ancestors, with which Koshay had happened to fall in. For Yergan had never much patience with antiquated ideas, particularly when anyone put them into practice, as Koshay had done. "'Why, this place appears to me a glaring anachronism,' said Yergan, brooding over the fires of Kourasma. "'And its methods of tormenting conscientious people I cannot but consider very crude indeed. The devils are simple-minded, and they mean well, as nobody would dream of denying,

Starting point is 07:50:05 but that is just it. for hereabouts is needed some more pertinacious and efficiently disagreeable person. And that, of course, reminded him of Dame Lisa. And so it was the thoughts of Yergen turned again to doing the manly thing. And he sighed, and went among the devils tentatively looking and inquiring for that intrepid fiend, who in the form of a black gentleman had carried off Dame Lisa. But a queer happening befell, and it was that nowhere could Yergan find the black gentleman, nor did any of the devils know anything about him.

Starting point is 07:50:38 "'From what you tell us, Emperor Juergen,' said they all, "'your wife was an assidulous shrew, and the sort of woman who believes that whatever she does is right.' "'It was not a belief,' says Juergen. It was a mania with the poor dear. "'By that fact, then, she is forever debarred from entering hell.' "'You tell me news,' says Juergen, which, if generally known, would lead many husbands into vicious living.

Starting point is 07:51:04 But it is notorious that people are saved by faith, and there is no faith stronger than that of a bad-tempered woman in her own infallibility. Plainly, this wife of yours is the sort of person who cannot be tolerated by anybody short of the angels. We deduce that your empress must be in heaven. Well, that sounds reasonable, and so to heaven I will go, and it may be that there I shall find justice. We would have you know, the fiends cried bristling, that in hell we have all kinds of justice, since our government is an enlightened democracy. Just so, says Yergan, in an enlightened democracy one has all kinds of justice, and I would not dream of denying it. But you have not, you conceive, that lesser plague, my wife,

Starting point is 07:51:56 and it is she whom I must continue to look for. "'Oh, as you like,' said they, "'so long as you do not criticize the exigencies of wartime. "'But certainly, we are sorry to see you going into a country "'where the benighted people put up with an autocrat "'who was not duly elected to his position. "'And why need you continue seeking your wife's society "'when it is so much pleasanter living in hell?'

Starting point is 07:52:21 "'And Yergan shrugged. "'One has to do the manly thing sometimes.' "'So the fiends told him the way to heaven. frontiers, pitying him. But the crossing of the frontier must be your affair. I have a cantrap, said Yergan, and my stay in hell has taught me how to use it. Then Yergan followed his instructions, and went into Meridae and turned to the left when he had come to the great puddle where the adders and toads are reared, and so passed

Starting point is 07:52:50 through the mists of Tartarus with due care of the wild lightning, and took the second turn to his left. "'Always in seeking heaven, be guided by your heart,' had been the advice given him by the devils, and thus avoiding the abode of Gemma, he crossed the bridge over the bottomless pit and the solitary Narakus. And Bracus, who kept the toll-gate on this bridge, did that of which the fiends had forewarned Yurgan, but for this, of course, there was no help. End of Chapter 39.

Starting point is 07:53:27 Chapter 40 of Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice, by James. James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 40. The ascension of Pope Yergan. The tale tells how on the feast of the enunciation, Yergan came to the high white walls which girdle heaven. For Yergan's forefathers had, of course, imagined that hell stood directly contiguous to heaven, so that the blessed could augment their felicity by gazing down upon the torment of the torment of the damned. Now at this time a boy angel was looking over the parapet of heaven's wall. "'And a good day to you, my fine young fellow,' says Yergan.

Starting point is 07:54:11 "'But of what are you thinking so intently? For just as Divey's had done long years before, now Yergan found that a man's voice carries perfectly between hell and heaven. "'Sir,' replies the boy, "'I was pitying the poor damned.' "'Why, then, you must be Oregon,' says Yergan, laughing. No, sir. My name is Juergen. Hey, day, says Juergen. Well, but this Jirgin has been a great many persons in my time, so very possibly you speak the truth. I am Juergen, the son of Coth and Azra.

Starting point is 07:54:47 Ah, ah, but so were all of them, my boy. Why, then, I am Juergen, the grandson of Steinvore, and the grandchild whom she loved above her other grandchildren, and so I abide forever in heaven with all the other illusion. of Steinvore. But who, missour, are you that go about hell unscourched, in such a fine-looking shirt? Yergan reflected. Clearly it would never do to give his real name, and thus raised the question as to whether

Starting point is 07:55:15 Yergan was in heaven nor hell. Then he recollected the cantrap of the master philologist, which Yergan had twice employed incorrectly. And Yergan cleared his throat, for he believed that he now understood the proper use of can-trapes. "'Perhaps,' says Juergen, "'I ought to tell you who I am. But what is life without confidence in one another?

Starting point is 07:55:37 Besides, you appear to be a boy of remarkable discretion. So I will confide in you that I am Pope John the twentieth, Heaven's regent upon earth, now visiting this place upon celestial business, which I am not at liberty to divulge more particularly, for reasons that will at once occur to a young man of your unusual cleverness.' "'Oh, but I say, this is droll! Do you just wait a moment?' cried the boy angel.

Starting point is 07:56:06 His bright face vanished with a whisking of brown curls, and Yergan carefully re-read the cantrap of the master philologist. "'Yes, I have found, I think, the way to use such magic,' observes Yergan. Presently the young angel reappeared at the parapet. "'I say, monsieur, I looked on the register. all the popes are admitted here the moment they die, without inquiring into their private affairs, you know, so as to avoid any unfortunate scandal. And we have 23 Pope John's listed. And sure enough, the mansion prepared for John the 20th is vacant. He seems to be the only pope that is not in heaven.

Starting point is 07:56:47 Why, but of course not, says Juergen complacently. Inasmuch as you see me, who was once Bishop of Rome, and servant to the servants of God standing down here, on this cinder heap. Yes, but none of the others in your series appears to place you. John the 19th says he never heard of you, and not to bother him in the middle of a harp lesson. He died before my ascension, naturally. And John the 21st says he thinks they lost count somehow, and that there never was any Pope John the 20th. He says you must be an imposter. Ah, professional jealousy, sighed Yergan. Dear me, this is very sad, and gives one a poor opinion of human nature.

Starting point is 07:57:33 Now, my boy, I put it to you fairly. How could there have been a twenty-first unless there had been a twentieth? And what becomes of the great principle of papal infallibility when a pope admits to a mistake in elementary arithmetic? Oh, but this is a very dangerous heresy, let me tell you, an inquisition matter, a consistatory business. yet, luckily, upon his own contention, this Pedro Giuliani, "'And that was his name, too, for he told me.

Starting point is 07:58:03 You evidently know all about it, monsieur,' said the young man visibly impressed. "'Of course I know all about it. Well, I repeat, upon his own contention this man is non-existent, and so whatever he may say amounts to nothing. For he tells you there was never any Pope John the twentieth, and either he is lying, or he is telling you the truth. If he is lying, you, of course, ought not to believe him. Yet if he is telling you the truth about there never having been any Pope John the 20th,

Starting point is 07:58:35 why then, quite plainly, there was never any Pope John the 21st, so that this man asserts his own non-existence. And thus is talking nonsense. And you, of course, ought not to believe in nonsense. Even did we grant his insane contention that he is nobody, you are too well brought up, I am sure, to dispute that nobody tells lies in heaven. It follows that, in this case, nobody is lying. And so, of course, I must be telling the truth, and you have no choice save to believe me.

Starting point is 07:59:08 Now, certainly that sounds all right, the younger Eurgan conceded, though you explain it so quickly it is a little difficult to follow you. Ah, but furthermore, and over and above this, and as a tangible proof of the infallible particularity of every syllable of my assertion, observed the elder Juergen. If you will look in the garret of heaven, you will find the identical ladder upon which I descended hither, and which I directed them to lay aside until I was ready to come up again. Indeed, I was just about to ask you to fetch it, inasmuch as my business here is satisfactorily concluded."

Starting point is 07:59:42 Well, the boy agreed that the word of no pope, whether in hell or heaven, was tangible proof like a ladder. and again he was off. Yergan waited intolerable confidence. It was a matter of logic. Jacob's ladder must, from all accounts, have been far too valuable to throw away after one night's use at Bethel.

Starting point is 08:00:05 It would come in very handy on Judgment Day, and Yergan's knowledge of Lisa enabled him to deduce that anything which was being kept because it would come in handy someday would inevitably be stored in the garret in any establishment imaginable by women. And it is notorious that Heaven is a delusion of old women. Why, the thing is a certainty, said Yergan.

Starting point is 08:00:27 Simply a mathematical certainty. And events proved his logic correct. For presently the younger Yergan came back with Jacob's ladder, which was rather cobwebby and obsolete-looking, after having been laid aside so long. So you see, you're perfectly right, then said his younger Yergan as he lowered Jacob's ladder into hell. Oh, Monsieur John, do hurry up and have it out with that old fellow who slandered you.

Starting point is 08:00:56 Thus it came about that Yergan clambered merrily from hell to heaven upon a ladder of unalloyed, time-tested gold. And as he climbed, the shirt of Nessus glittered handsomely in the light which shone from heaven. And by this great light above him, as Yergan mounted higher and yet higher, the shadow of Yergan was lengthened beyond belief along the sheer white wall of heaven, as though the shadow were reluctant and adhered tenaciously to hell. Yet presently Yergan leapt the ramparts, and then the shadow leapt too, and so his shadow came with Yergan into heaven, and huddled dispiritedly at Yergan's feet. Well, well, thanks Yergan, certainly there is no disputing the magic of the master philologist when it is correctly employed, for through its aid I am entering

Starting point is 08:01:45 alive into heaven, as only Enoch and Elijah have done before me. And moreover, if this boy is to believe, one of the very handsomest of heaven's many mansions awaits my occupancy. One could not ask more of any magician fairly. Aha, if only Lisa could see me now. That was his first thought. Afterward, Yergan tore up the cantrap and scattered its fragments as the master philologist had directed.

Starting point is 08:02:14 Then Yurgan turned to the boy who aided Yergan to get into heaven. Come, youngster, and let us have a little bit of you. a good look at you." And Yergan talked with the boy that he had once been, and stood face to face with all that Yurgan had been and was not any longer. And this was the one happening which befell Yergan that the writer of the tale lacked heart to tell of. So Yergan quitted the boy that he had been.

Starting point is 08:02:40 But first had Yergan learned that in this place his grandmother Steinvore, whom King Smoit had loved, abode and was happy in her notion of heaven. that about her were her notions of her children and of her grandchildren. Steinvore had never imagined her husband in heaven, nor King Smoid either. "'That is a circumstance,' says Juergen, which heartens me to hope one may find justice here. Yet I shall keep away for my grandmother, the steinvore whom I knew and loved, and who loved me so blindly,

Starting point is 08:03:12 that this boy here is her notion of me. Yes, in mere fairness to her, I must keep away.' So he avoided that part of heaven wherein were his grandmother's illusions. And this was counted for righteousness in Yergan. That part of heaven smelt of Mignonette, and a starling was singing there. End of Chapter 40. Chapter 41 of Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Liberovac's recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 08:03:51 Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 41 Of Compromises in Heaven Yurgan then went unhindered to where God of Yergan's grandmother sat upon a throne beside a sea of crystal. A rainbow made high and narrow like a window frame so as to fit the throne formed an archway in which he sat. At his feet burned seven lamps,

Starting point is 08:04:15 and four remarkable winged creature sat there chaunting softly, Glory and honor and thanks to him who liveth forever. In one hand of the god was a sceptre, and in the other a large book with seven red spots on it. There were twelve smaller thrones, without rainbows, upon each side of the god of Juergen's grandmother, in two semicircles. Upon these inferior thrones sat benignant-looking elderly angels, with long white hair, all crowned and clothed in white robes, and having a harp in one hand and in the other a gold flask about pint size. And everywhere fluttered and glittered the multi-colored wings of seraphs

Starting point is 08:04:58 and cherubs, like magnified parakeets, as they went softly and gaily about the golden haze that brooded over heaven, to a continuous sound of hushed organ music and a remote and undistinguishable singing. Now the eyes of this god met the eyes of Yergen, and Yergan waited thus for a long while, and far longer indeed than Yergan's suspect. I fear you, Yergan said at last, and yes, I love you, and yet I cannot believe. Why could you not let me believe, where so many believed? Or else, why could you not let me deride, as the remainder derided so noisily? Oh, God, why could you not let me have faith, for you gave me no faith in anything, not even in nothingness? It was not fair. And in the highest court of heaven, and in plain view of all the angels, Yergan began to weep. I was not ever your God, Yergan. Once very long ago, said Yergan, I had faith in you.

Starting point is 08:06:04 No, for that boy is here with me, as you yourself have seen. And today there is nothing remaining of him anywhere in the man that is Yergan. God of my grandmother, God whom I too loved in boy. boyhood," said Yergan then. Why is it that I am denied a God? For I have searched, and nowhere can I find justice, and nowhere can I find anything to worship. What, Yurgan, and would you look for justice of all places in heaven?

Starting point is 08:06:36 No, Yergan said, no, I perceive it cannot be considered here, else you would sit alone. And for the rest, you have looked to find your God without, not looking within to see that which is truly worshipped in the thoughts of Ergen. Had you done so, you would have seen, as plainly as I now see, that which you alone are able to worship. And your God is maimed. The dust of your journeying is thick upon him.

Starting point is 08:07:06 Your vanity is laid as a napkin upon his eyes, and in his heart is neither love nor hate, not even for his only worshipper. Do not deride him. You who have so many worshippers? At least he is a monstrous, clever fellow, said Yergan, and boldly he said it, in the highest court of heaven and before the pensive face of the God of Yergan's grandmother. Ah, very probably. I do not meet with many clever people. And as for my numerous worshippers, you forget how often you have demonstrated that I was

Starting point is 08:07:41 the delusion of an old woman. Well, and was there ever a flaw in my logic? I was not listening to you, Juergen. You must know that logic does not much concern us, inasmuch as nothing is logical hereabouts. And now the four-winged creatures ceased their chanting, and the organ music became a far-off murmuring, and there was a silence in heaven.

Starting point is 08:08:07 And the god of Yergan's grandmother, too, was silent for a while, and the rainbow under which he sat put off its seven colors and burned with an unendurable white, tinged bluishly, while the god considered ancient things. Then in the silence this god began to speak. "'Some years ago,' said the god of Juergen's grandmother, "'it was reported to Cotchet that skepticism was abroad in his universe, and that one walked therein who would be contented with no rational explanation. "'Bring me this infidel,' says Coté. "'So they brought to him in the void a little bent gray woman in an old gray shawl.

Starting point is 08:08:49 "'Now tell me why you will not believe,' says Cotche, in things as they are.' Then the decent little bent gray woman answered civilly, "'I do not know, sir, who you happen to be. But since you ask me, everybody knows that things as they are must be regarded as temporary afflictions, and as trials through which we are righteously contemned to pass, in order to attain to eternal life with our loved ones in heaven. "'Ah, yes,' said Coté, who made things as they are. "'Ah, yes, to be sure.

Starting point is 08:09:25 And how did you learn of this?' "'Why, every Sunday morning, the priest discoursed to us about heaven, and of how happy we would be there after death.' "'Has this woman died then?' asked Coté. "'Yes, sir,' they told him, recently, and she will believe nothing we explain to her but demands to be taken to heaven.' "'Now this is very vexing,' Koshay said, and I cannot, of course, put up with such skepticism.

Starting point is 08:09:56 That would never do. So why do you not convey her to this heaven which she believes in, and thus put an end to the matter?' "'But, sir,' they told him, "'there is no such place.' Then Koshay reflected, "'It is certainly strange that a place which does not exist should be a matter of public knowledge in another place. Where does this woman come from?'

Starting point is 08:10:22 "'From Earth,' they told him. "'Where is that?' he asked, and they explained to him as well as they could.' "'Oh, yes, over that way,' Koshay interrupted. "'I remember.' "'Now, but what is your name, woman who wishes to go to heaven. Steinvore, sir, and if you please I am rather in a hurry to be with my children again. You see, I have not seen any of them for a long while.

Starting point is 08:10:52 But stay, said Cotche. What is that which comes into this woman's eyes as she speaks of her children? They told him it was love. Did I create this love, says Coté, who made things as they are? And they told him no. and that there were many sorts of love. But that this especial sort was an illusion which women had invented for themselves, and which they exhibited in all dealings with their children.

Starting point is 08:11:22 And Coté sighed. "'Tell me about your children,' Cotche then said to Steinvore, and look at me as you talk so that I may see your eyes. So Steinvore talked of her children, and Cotay, who made all things, listened very much. attentively. Of Coth, she told him, of her only son, confessing Coth was the finest boy that ever lived. A little wild, sir, at first, but then you know what boys are. And telling of how well Coth had done in business, and of how he had even risen to be an alderman. Cotche,

Starting point is 08:11:59 who made all things, seemed properly impressed. Then Steinvort talked of her daughters, of Imperia and Linda Myra and Christine, of Imperia's beauty, and of Linda Myra's bravery under the mishaps of an unlucky marriage, and of Christine's superlative housekeeping. Fine women, sir, every one of them, with children of their own, and to me they still seem such babies bless them. And the decent little bent grey woman laughed. I have been very lucky in my children, sir, and in my grandchildren, too, She told Koshay.

Starting point is 08:12:37 "'There is Yergan now, my Koth's boy. You may not believe it, sir, but there is a story I must tell you about Yurgen.' And so she ran on very happily and proudly, while Koshay, who made all things, listened and watched the eyes of Steinvore. Then privately, Koshay asked, "'Are these children and grandchildren of Steinvore such as she reports?' "'No, sir,' they told him privately. So as Steinvore talked, Koshay devised illusions in accordance with that which Steinvore said,

Starting point is 08:13:11 and created such children and grandchildren as she described. Male and female he created them standing behind Steinvore, and all were beautiful and stainless, and Koshay gave life to these illusions. Then Koshay bade her turn about. She obeyed, and Koshay was forgotten. Well, Koshay sat there alone in the void, looking not very happy, and looking puzzled, and drumming upon his knee, and staring at the little bent gray woman who was busied with

Starting point is 08:13:45 her children and grandchildren and had forgotten all about him. "'But surely, Linda Myra,' he hears Steinvore say, "'we are not yet in heaven. "'Ah, my dear mother,' replies her illusion of Linda Myra, "'to be with you again is heaven, and besides you, Besides, it may be that heaven is like this after all. My darling child, it is sweet of you to say that, and exactly like you to say that. But you know very well that heaven is fully described in the book of revelations, in the Bible, as the glorious place that heaven is.

Starting point is 08:14:21 Whereas, as you can see for yourself, around us is nothing at all, and no person at all, except that very civil gentleman to whom I was just talking, and who, between ourselves seems woefully uninformed about the most ordinary matters. "'Bring Earth to me,' says Cotchet. "'This was done, and Coté looked over the planet and found a Bible. Cotchet opened the Bible and read the revelation of St. John the Divine, while Steinvort talked with her illusions. "'I see,' said Cotchet.

Starting point is 08:14:56 "'The idea is a little garish. Still?' So he replaced the Bible and bade them put Earth too in its proper place, for Koshay dislikes wasting anything. Then Koshay smiled and created heaven about Steinvore and her illusions, and he made heaven just such a place as was described in the book. And so, Yurgan, that is how it came about, ended the god of Yergan's grandmother. And me also Koshay created at that time, with the seraphim and the saints and all the blessed,

Starting point is 08:15:29 very much as you see us. And, of course, he caused us to have been here always, since the beginning of time, because that too was in the book. But how could that be done, says Juergen, with brows puckering? And in what way could Koshay juggle so with time? How should I know, since I am but the illusion of an old woman, as you have so frequently proved by logic? Let it suffice that whatever Koshay wills, not only happens, but has already happened beyond the anciest memory of man and his mother. How otherwise could he be Koshe?" "'And all this,' said Yergan virtuously, "'for a woman who was not even faithful to her husband.' "'Oh, very probably,' said the God. "'At all events, it was done for a woman who loved.

Starting point is 08:16:23 "'Coshae will do almost anything to humor love, since love is one of the two things which are impossible to Koshay." I have heard that Pride is impossible to Koshay." The God of Yergan's grandmother raised his white eyebrows. "'What is pride? I do not think I ever heard of it before. Assuredly it is something that does not enter here.' But why is love impossible to Koshay?

Starting point is 08:16:52 Because Koshay made things as they are, and day and night he contemplates things as they are. How, then, can Koshay love anything?' But Yergen shook his sleek black head. That I cannot understand at all. If I were imprisoned in a cell wherein was nothing except my verses, I would not be happy, and certainly I would not be proud. But even so, I would love my verses. I am afraid that I fall more readily with the ideas of Grandmother Satan than with yours, and without contradicting you, I cannot but wonder if what you reveal is true. "'And how should I know whether or not I speak the truth?' The God asked of him, since I am but the illusion of an old woman, as you have so frequently

Starting point is 08:17:37 proved my logic. "'Well, well,' said Yergan, "'you may be right in all matters, and certainly I cannot presume to say you are wrong, but still, at the same time. No, even now I do not quite believe in you.' Who could expect it of a clever fellow who sees so clearly through the illusions of an old woman?" The God asked a little wearily. And Yergan answered, "'God of my grandmother, I cannot quite believe in you, and your doings as they are recorded

Starting point is 08:18:10 I find incoherent and a little droll. But I am glad the affair has been so arranged that you may always now be real to brave and gentle persons who have believed in and have worshipped and have loved you. To have disappointed them would have been unfair, and it is right that, before the faith they had in you, not even Koshe, who made things as they are, was able to be reasonable. God of my grandmother, I cannot quite believe in you, but remembering the sum of love and faith that has been given you, I tremble. I think of the dear people whose living was confident and glad because of their faith in you. I think of them, and in my heart contends a blind

Starting point is 08:18:50 contrition, and a yearning, and an enviousness, and yet a tender sort of amusement colors all. Oh, God, there was never any other deity who had such dear worshippers as you have had, and you should be very proud of them. God of my grandmother, I cannot quite believe in you, yet I am not as those who would come peering at you reasonably. I, Yergan, see you only through a mist of tears, for you were loved by those whom I love, loved greatly very long ago, and when I look at you it is your worshippers and the dear believers

Starting point is 08:19:26 of all that I remember. And it seems to me that dates and manuscripts and the opinions of learned persons are very trifling things beside what I remember and what I envy. Who could have expected such a monstrous, clever fellow, ever to envy the illusions of old women? The God of Erkin's grandmother asked again, and yet his countenance was not unfriendly. Why, but, said Juergen on a sudden, why, but my grandmother, in a way, was right about heaven and about you also, for certainly you seem to exist, and to reign in just such a state as she described, and yet, according to your latest revelation, I too was right, in a way, about these things being an old woman's delusions. I wonder now, yes, Yergan.

Starting point is 08:20:18 Why, I wonder if everything is right in a way. I wonder if that is the large secret of everything. It would not be a bad solution, sir, said Yergen meditatively. The God smiled. Then suddenly that part of heaven was vacant, except for Yergan, who stood there quite alone. And before him was the throne of the vanished God and the scepter of the God, and Yergan saw that the seven spots upon the God. great book were of red sealing wax.

Starting point is 08:20:51 Yergan was afraid, but he was particularly appalled by his consciousness that he was not going to falter. What, you who have been duke and prince and king and emperor and pope, and do such dignities content a Yurgan? Why, not at all, says Yergan. So Yirgan ascended the throne of heaven, and sat beneath that wondrous rainbow, and in his lap now was the book. and in his hand was the sceptre of the god of Juergen's grandmother.

Starting point is 08:21:23 Yirgen sat thus for a long while regarding the bright, vacant courts of heaven. "'And what will you do now?' says Yergen aloud. "'Oh, fretful little Yergan, you that have complained because you had not your desire, you are omnipotent over earth and all the affairs of men! What now is your desire?' And sitting thus terribly enthroned, the heart of Jürgen was led within him, and he felt old and very tired. "'For I do not know.

Starting point is 08:21:56 Oh, nothing can help me, for I do not know what thing it is that I desire. And this book and this scepter and this throne avail me nothing at all, and nothing can ever avail me. For I am Jürgen who seeks he knows not what.' So Yergan shrugged and climbed down from the throne of God, and, wandering at adventure, came presently to four archangels. They were seated upon a fleecy cloud, and they were eating milk and honey from gold porringers. And of these radiant beings Yergan inquired the quickest way out of heaven.

Starting point is 08:22:30 "'For hereabouts are none of my illusions,' said Yergan, and I must now return to such illusions as are congenial. One must believe in something, and all that I have seen in heaven I have admired and envied, but in none of these things could I believe, and with none of these things could I be satisfied. And while I think of it, I wonder now if any of you gentlemen can give me news of that Lisa who used to be my wife. He described her, and they regarded him with compassion. But these archangels he found had never heard of Lisa, and they assured him there was no such person in heaven. For Steinvor had died when Yergan was a boy, and so she had never seen Lisa. And in consequence, had not thought about Lisa one way or the other, when Steinvore

Starting point is 08:23:19 outlined her notions to Koshay who made things as they are. Now Yergan discovered, too, that when his eyes first met the eyes of the God of Yergan's grandmother, Yergan had stayed motionless for 37 days, forgetful of everything, save that the God of his grandmother was love. Nobody else has willingly turned away so soon, Zacharyle told him. And we think that your insensibility is due to some evil virtue in the glittering garment which you are wearing, and of which the like was never seen in heaven. I did but search for justice, Yergan said, and I could not find it in the eyes of your God, but only love and such forgiveness as troubled me.

Starting point is 08:24:03 Because of that you should rejoice, the four archangel said, and so should all that lives rejoice, and more particularly should we rejuven. rejoice that dwell in heaven, and hourly praise our Lord God's negligence of justice, whereby we are permitted to enter into this place. End of Chapter 41. Chapter 42 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 42. Twelve that are fretted hourly. So it was upon Walburga's Eve, when almost anything is rather more than likely to happen,

Starting point is 08:24:53 that Yergan went hastily out of heaven, without having gained or wasted any love there. St. Peter unbarred for him, not the main entrance, but a small private door, carved with innumerable fishes in bar relief, because this exit opened directly upon any place you chose to imagine. For thus, St. Peter said, you may return without loss of time to your own illusions. "'There was a cross,' said Yergan, which I used to wear about my neck, through motives of sentiment, because it once belonged to my dead mother, for no woman has ever loved me, save that Azra who was my mother.

Starting point is 08:25:32 "'I wonder if your mother told you that,' St. Peter asked him, smiling reminiscently. "'Mine did, time and again. And sometimes I have wondered, for, as you may remember, I was a married man, Juergen, and my wife did not quite understand me. said St. Peter with a sigh. "'Why, indeed,' says Yergan, "'my case is not entirely dissimilar, and the more I marry, the less I find of comprehension. I should have had more sympathy with King Smoit,

Starting point is 08:26:02 who was certainly my grandfather. Well, you conceive, St. Peter, these other women have trusted me, more or less, because they loved a phantom, Yergan. But Asra trusted me not at all, because she loved me with clear eyes. She comprehended Juergen, and yet loved him, though I, for one, with all my cleverness, cannot do either of these things. Nonetheless, in order to do the manly thing, in order to pleasure a woman, and a married woman too, I flung away the little gold cross which was all that remained to me

Starting point is 08:26:33 of my mother, and since then St. Peter, the illusions of sentiment have given me a woefully wide birth. So I shall relinquish heaven to seek a cross. That has been done before, Yergan, and I doubt if much good came of it. Hey, day, and did it not lead to the eternal glory of the first and greatest of the popes? It seems to me, sir, that you have either very little memory or very little gratitude, and I am tempted to crow in your face. Why, now you talk like a cherub, Juergen, and you ought to have better manners. Do you suppose that we apostles enjoy hearing jokes made about the church?

Starting point is 08:27:11 Well, it is true, St. Peter, that you founded the church. Now there you go again. That is what those patronizing seraphim and those impish cherubs are always telling us. You see, we twelve sit together in heaven, each on his white throne, and we behold everything that happens on earth. Now, from our station, there has been no ignoring the growth and doings of what you might loosely call Christianity, and sometimes that which we see makes us very uncomfortable, Juergen. Especially, as just then, some cherub is sure to flutter by, in a broad grin and chuckle, but you started it!

Starting point is 08:27:50 And we did. I cannot deny that in a way we did. Yet really we never anticipated anything of this sort, and it is not fair to tease us about it. Indeed, St. Peter, now I think of it, you ought to be held responsible for very little that has been said or done in the shadow of a steeple. For, as I remember it, U-12 attempted to convert a world to the teachings of Jesus, and good intentions ought to be respected,

Starting point is 08:28:17 however droly they may turn out. It was apparent this sympathy was grateful to the old saint, for he was moved to a more confidential tone. Meditatively, he stroked his long white beard, then said with indignation, "'If only they would not claim Sib with us, we could stand it, But as it is, for centuries we have felt like fools.

Starting point is 08:28:40 It is particularly embarrassing for me, of course, being on the wicket. For to cap it all, Juergen, the little wretches die, and come to heaven impudent as sparrows, and expect me to let them in. From their thumb-screwings and their auto-de-fays, and from their massacres and patriotic sermons and holy wars, and from every manner of abomination, they come to me, smirking. and millions upon millions of them, Yergan. There is no form of cruelty or folly that has not come to me for praise, and no sort of criminal idiot who has not claimed fellowship with me,

Starting point is 08:29:15 who was an apostle and a gentleman. Why, Yurgan, you may not believe it, but there was an eminent bishop came to me only last week in the expectation I was going to admit him, and I, with the full record of his work for temperance, all fairly written out and in my hand. Now Yergan was surprised. But temperance is surely a virtue, St. Peter.

Starting point is 08:29:39 Ah, but his notion of temperance and his filthy ravings to my face, as though he were talking in some church or other. Why, the slavering little blasphemer! To my face he spoke against the first of my master's miracles, and against the last injunction which was laid upon us twelve, spluttering that the wine was unfermented. To me he said this. Look you, Yergan.

Starting point is 08:30:03 who drank of that noble wine at Kana, and equally of that sustaining wine we had in the little upper room in Jerusalem when the hour of trial was near, and our master would have us at our best. With me, who have since tasted of that unimaginable wine which the master promised us in his kingdom, the busy wretch would be arguing, and would have convinced me, in the face of all my memories, that my master, who was a man among men, was nourished by such thin swill as bred this niggling, brawling wretch to plague me." "'Well, but indeed, St. Peter, there is no denying that wine is often misused.'

Starting point is 08:30:40 So he informed me, Juergen, and I told him, by that argument he would prohibit the making of bishops, for reasons he would find in the mirror, and that, remembering what happened at the crucifixion, he would clap every lumber-dealer into jail. So they took him away, still slavering, said St. Peter, we're sorry. He was threatening to have somebody else elected in my place when I last heard him, but that was only old habit. I do not think, however, that I encountered any such bishop, sir, down yonder. In the hell of your fathers?

Starting point is 08:31:16 Oh, no. Your fathers meant well, but their notions were limited. No, we have quite another eternal home for these blasphemers in a region that was fitted out long ago when the knee grew pressing to provide a place for a zealous churchman. And who devised this place, St. Peter? As a very special favor, we twelve, to whom is imputed the beginning and the patronizing of such abominations, were permitted to design and furnish this place. And, of course, we put it in charge of our former confrere, Judas. He seemed the appropriate person.

Starting point is 08:31:52 Equally, of course, we put a very special roof upon it, the best imitation which we could contrive of the war-roof, so that none of those grinning cherubs could see what long reward it was we twelve who founded Christianity had contrived for these blasphemers. Well, doubtless that was wise. Ah, and if we twelve had our way, there would be just such another roof kept always over earth. For the slavering madman has left a many like him, clamouring and spewing about the churches that were named for us twelve, and in the pulpits of the churches that were named for us, and we find it embarrassing. It is the doctrine of Mahon, they splutter, and not any doctrine that was ever preached or even heard of, and they ought to

Starting point is 08:32:36 say it fairly, instead of libeling us who are apostles and gentlemen. But thus it is that the rascals make free with our names, and that cherubs keep track of these antics and poke fun at us. So that it is not all pleasure, this being a holy apostle in heaven, Juergen, though once we twelve were happy enough. And St. Peter sighed. One thing I did not understand, sir, and that was when you spoke just now of the war-roof. It is a stone roof, made of the two tablets handed down at Sinai, which God fits over earth whenever men go to war. For he is merciful, and many of us here remember that once upon a time we were men and women. So when men go to war, God screens the sight of what they

Starting point is 08:33:21 do, because he wishes to be merciful to us. That must prevent, however, the assent of all prayers that are made in wartime. Why, but of course, that is the roof's secondary purpose, replied St. Peter. What else would you expect when the master's teachings are being flouted? Rumors get through, though, somehow, and horribly preposterous rumors. For instance, I have actually heard that in wartime prayers are put up to the Lord God to back his favorites and take part in the murdering. "'Not,' said the good saint in haste,

Starting point is 08:33:55 "'that I would believe even a Christian bishop "'to be capable of such blasphemy. "'I merely want to show you, Juergen, "'what wild stories get about. "'Still, I remember back in Capadocia.' "'And then St. Peter slapped his thigh. "'But you would keep me gossiping here forever, Yergan, "'with the souls landing up at the main entrance

Starting point is 08:34:14 "'like ants that swarm to molasses. "'Come, out of heaven with you, Yergan, and back to whatever place you imagine will restore you to your proper illusions, and let me be returning to my duties. Well, then, St. Peter, I imagine Amneran Heath, where I flung away my mother's last gift to me. And Amneran Heath it is, said St. Peter, as he thrust Yurgan through the small private door that was carved with fishes in Bah-Radief. And Yergan saw that the saint spoke truthfully.

Starting point is 08:34:45 End of Chapter 22. Chapter 43 of Yergan A Comedy of Justice by James Branch Cabell. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 43. Posures Before a Shadow Thus Yirgin stood again upon Amneran Heath, and again it was while Berger's Eve, when almost anything is rather more than likely to happen, and the low moon was bright so that the shadow of Yurgan was long.

Starting point is 08:35:21 long and thin. And Yergan searched for the gold cross that he had worn through the motives of sentiment, but he could not find it, nor did he ever recover it. But Barbary bushes and the thorns of Barbary bushes he found in great plenty as he searched vainly. All the while that he searched, the shirt of Nessus glittered in the moonlight, and the shadow of Yergan streamed long and thin, and every movement that was made by Yurgan the shadow parodied. And as always, it was the shadow of a lean woman with her head wrapped in a towel. Now Yergen regarded this shadow, and to Yergan it was abhorrent. "'Oh, Mother Serita,' says he, "'for a whole year your shadow has dogged me. Many lands we have visited, and many sights we have seen. And at the end all that we have done

Starting point is 08:36:10 is a tale that is told, and it is a tale that does not matter. So I stand where I stood at the beginning of my foil journeying. The gift you gave me has available to you me nothing, and I do not care whether I be young or old, and I have lost all that remain to me of my mother and of my mother's love, and I have betrayed my mother's pride in me, and I am weary. Now a little whispering gathered upon the ground, as though dead leaves were moving there, and the whispering augmented, because this was upon Walburga's Eve, when almost anything is rather more than likely to happen, and the whispering became the ghost of a voice.

Starting point is 08:36:48 You flattered me very cunningly, Juergen, for you are a monstrous, clever fellow. This it was that the voice said dryly. A number of people might say that with tolerable justice, Yergan declared, and yet I guess who speaks. As for flattering you, Godmother, I was only joking that day in Glathion. In fact, I was careful to explain as much. The moment I noticed your shadow seemed interested in my idle remarks and was writing them all down in a notebook. Oh, no, I can assure you I trafficked quite honestly, and have dealt fairly everywhere. For the rest, I really am very clever. It would be foolish of me to deny it.

Starting point is 08:37:32 Vane, fool, said the voice of Mother Sarita. Yergan replied, It may be that I am vain, but it is certain that I am clever, and even more certain is the fact that I am weary. For, look you, in the tinsel of my borrowed youth, I have gone romancing through the world, and into lands unvisited by other men have I ventured, playing at spilikins with women and gear, and with the welfare of kingdoms, and into hell have I fallen, and into heaven have I climbed, and into the place of the Lord God himself have I crept stealthily, and nowhere have I found what I desired. Nor do I know what my desire is even now. But I know that it is not possible,

Starting point is 08:38:15 for me to become young again, whatever I may appear to others. Indeed, Juergen, youth has passed out of your heart, beyond the reach of Leshi, and the nearest you can come to regaining youth is to behave childishly. Oh, Godmother, but do give rein to your better instincts and all that sort of thing, and speak with me more candidly. Come now, dear lady, there should be no secrets between you and me. In Lucie, you were reported to be Sibili, the great Restia, the mistress of every tangible thing. In cocaine they spoke of you as

Starting point is 08:38:51 Esrit, and at Camilliard Merlin called you a Daris, dark mother of the little gods. Well, but at your home in the forest, where I first had the honor of making your acquaintance, Godmother, you told me you were Sarita, who takes the color out of things and controls all Wednesdays. Now these anagrams bewilder me, and I desire to know you frankly for what you are. It may be that I am all these. Meanwhile, I bleach, and sooner or later I bleach everything. It may be that, someday, Juergen, I shall even take the color out of a fool's conception of himself.

Starting point is 08:39:29 Yes, yes, but just between ourselves, Godmother, is it not this shadow of you that prevents my entering quite into the appropriate emotion, the spirit of the occasion, as one might say, and robs my life of the zest which other persons apparent? get out of living? Come now! You know it is! Well, and for my part, Godmother, I love it just as well as any man-breathing, but I do prefer to have it intelligible. Now let me tell you something plain, Eugen, Mother Sarita cleared her invisible throat and began to speak rather indignantly. Well, Godmother, if you will pardon my frankness, I do not think it is quite nice to talk about such things, and certainly not with so much candor.

Starting point is 08:40:13 However, dismissing these considerations of delicacy, let us revert to my original question. You have given me youth and all the appurtenances of youth, and therewith you have given, too, in your joking way, which nobody appreciates more heartily than I, a shadow that renders all things not quite satisfactory, not wholly to be trusted, not to be met with frankness. Now, as you understand, I hope, I concede the jest. I do not for a moment deny it is a master stroke of humor. But after all, just what exactly is the point of it? What does it mean? It may be that there is no meaning anywhere. Could you face that interpretation, Juergen? No, said Yergan. I have faced God and devil, but that I will not face.

Starting point is 08:41:03 No more would I, who have so many names face that. You jested with me, so I jest with you. Probably kosher jests with all of us, and he, no doubt, even kosher who made things as they are, is in turn the butt of some larger jest. He may be, certainly, said Yergan, yet, on the other hand, about these matters I do not know. How should I? But I think that all of us take part in a moving and a shifting and a reasoned using of the things which are co-chaes, a using such as we do not comprehend, and are not

Starting point is 08:41:41 fit to comprehend. That is possible, said Yergan, but nonetheless. It is as a chessboard whereon the pieces move diversely, the knights leaping sideways and the bishops darting obliquely, and the rooks charging straight forward, and the ponds laboriously hobbling from square to square, each at the player's will. There is no discernible order.

Starting point is 08:42:06 All to the onlooker is manifestly in confusion, but to the player there is a meaning in the disposition of the pieces. I do not deny it. Still, one must grant, and I think it is as though each of the pieces, even the pawns, had a chessboard of his own, which moves as he is moved, and whereupon he moves the pieces to suit his will, in the very moment wherein he is moved willy-nilly. You may be right, yet even so, and Coté, who directs this infinite moving of puppets, may well be the futile, harried king in some yet larger game.

Starting point is 08:42:44 Now, certainly, I cannot contradict you, but at the same time, so goes this criss-cross multitudinous moving as far as thought can reach, and beyond that the moving goes. All moves, all moves uncomprehendingly, and to the sound of laughter. For all moves in consonants with a higher power that understands the meaning of the movement, and each moves the pieces before him in consonance with his ability. So the game is endless and ruthless, and there is merriment overhead, but it is very far away. Nobody is more willing to concede that these are handsome fancies, Mother Sarita,

Starting point is 08:43:24 but they make my head ache. Moreover, two people are needed to play chess, and your hypothesis does not provide anybody with an antagonist. Lastly, and above all, How do I know there is a word of truth in your high-sounding fancies? How can any of us know anything? And what is Juergen that his knowing or his not-knowing should matter to anybody?' Yergan slapped his hands together. "'Ha, Mother Sarita,' says he, "'but now I have you.

Starting point is 08:43:55 It is that, precisely that damnable question, which your shadow has been whispering to me from the beginning of your companionship. And I am through with you. I will have no more of your gifts, which are purchased at the cost of hearing that whisper. I am resolved henceforward to be as other persons, and to believe implicitly in my own importance. But have you any reason to blame me? I restored you to your youth. And when, just at the passing of that replevent Wednesday which I loaned, you rebuked the Countess Dorothy very edifyingly. I was pleased to find a man so chaste, and therefore I continued my grant of youth.

Starting point is 08:44:34 "'Ah, yes,' said Juergen, "'then that was the way of it. "'You were pleased, just in the nick of time, "'by my virtuous rebuke of the woman who tempted me. "'Yes, to be sure. "'Well, well, come now, you know, that is very gratifying. "'Noneless, your chastity, however unusual, "'has proved a barren virtue.

Starting point is 08:44:57 "'For what have you made of a year of youth? "'Why, each thing that every man of forty-odd by ordinary regrets having done, you have done again, only more swiftly, compressing the follies of a quarter of a century into the space of one year. You have sought bodily pleasures, you have made jests, you have asked many idle questions, and you have doubted all things, including Yergan. In the face of your memories, in the face of what you probably considered cordial repentance, you have made of your second youth just nothing. Each thing that every man of forty-odd regrets, having done, you have done again."

Starting point is 08:45:36 "'Yes, it is undeniable that I remarried,' said Juergen. "'Indeed, now I think of it, there was Anaetis and Cloris and Florimel, so that I have married thrice in one year. But I am largely the victim of heredity, you must remember, since it was without consulting me that Smoit of Glathian perpetuated his characteristics.' "'Your marriages I do not criticize, for each was in accordance with the custom of the country. The law is always respectable, and matrimony is an honorable estate, and has a steadying influence in all climes. It is my true shadow report several other affairs.

Starting point is 08:46:16 Oh, Godmother, and what is this you are telling me?' "'There was a Yolanda and a Guinevere,' the voice of Mother Sarita appeared to read from a memorandum. And a Sylvia, who was your own step-grandmother, and a Stella, who was a Yogi, whatever that may be, and a Phyllis and a Dolores, who are the queens of hell and Felicia severally. Moreover, you visited the Queen of Sudopoulos in circumstances, which could not but have been unfavorably viewed by her husband. Oh, yes, you have committed follies with diverse women.

Starting point is 08:46:53 Follies, it may be, but no crimes, not even a misdemeanor. Look, you, Mother Sarita, does your shadow report in all this year one single instance of misconduct with a woman, says Juergen sternly. "'No, dearie, as I joyfully concede. The very worst reported is that matters were sometimes assuming a more or less suspicious turn when you happen to put out the light. And, of course, shadows cannot exist in absolute darkness.' "'See now,' said Juergen,

Starting point is 08:47:23 what a thing it is to be careful, I mean, in one's avoidance of even an appearance of evil. In what other young man of twenty-one may you look to find such continents, and yet you grumble. I do not complain because you have lived chastly. That pleases me, and is the single reason you have been spared this long. Oh, godmother, and whatever are you telling me?' "'Yes, dearie, had you once sinned with a woman in the youth I gave, you would have been punished instantly and very terribly, for I was always a great believer in a man. in chastity, and in the old days I used to ensure the chastity of all my priests in the only way

Starting point is 08:48:05 that is infallible. In fact, I noticed something of the sort as you passed in Lucci, and over and over again I have been angered by my shadow's reports, and was about to punish you, my poor dearie, when I would remember that you held fast to the rarest of all virtues in a man, and that my shadow reported no irregularities with women. And that would please me. I acknowledge, so I will let matters run on a while longer. But it is a shiftless business, dearie, for you are making nothing of the youth I restored to you, and had you a thousand lives, the result would be the same. Nevertheless, I am a monstrous clever fellow,' Yergans chuckled here.

Starting point is 08:48:49 "'You are, instead, a palturer, and your life, apart from that fine song he made about me, is sheer waste.' Ah, if you come to that, there was a brown man in the Druid forest who showed me a very curious spectacle last June, and I am not apt to lose the memory of what he showed me, whatever you may say, and whatever I may have said to him. This and many other curious spectacles you have seen and have made nothing of in the false youth I gave you. And therefore my shadow was angry that in the revelation of so much futile trifling

Starting point is 08:49:26 I did not take away the youth I gave. As I have half a mind to do, even now, I warn you, dearie, for there is really no putting up with you. But I spared you because of my shadow's grudging reports as to your countenance, which is a virtue that we of the Leshi peculiarly revere. Now, Yergan considered, eh, then it is within your ability to make me old again, or rather an excellently preserved person of forty-odd, or say thirty-nine by the calendar, but not looking it by a long

Starting point is 08:50:00 shot? Such threats are easily voiced. But how can I know that you are speaking the truth? How can any of us know anything? And what is Juergen, that this knowing or his not-knowing should matter to anybody? Ah, godmother, and must you still be mumbling that? Come now, forget you are a woman, and be reasonable. You exercise the fair and ancient privilege of kinshaping by calling me harsh names, but it is in the face of this plain fact. I got from you what never man has got before. I am a monstrous, clever fellow, say what you will, for already I have cajoled you out of a year of youth,

Starting point is 08:50:39 a year wherein I have neither built it nor robbed any churches, but have had upon the whole a very pleasant time. Ah, you may murmur platitudes and threats and axioms and anything else which happens to appeal to you. The fact remains that I got what I wanted. Yes, I conjured you very neatly into giving me eternal youth. For, of course, poor dear, you are now powerless to take it back, and so I shall retain, in spite of you, the most desirable possession in life.

Starting point is 08:51:08 I gave, in honor of your chastity, which is the one commendable trait that you possess. My chastity, I grant you, is remarkable. Nevertheless, you really gave because I was the cleverer. And what I give I can retract at will! "'Come, come, you know very well you can do nothing of the sort. "'I refer you to Seveus Nykener. "'None of the Leshi can ever take back the priceless gift of youth. "'That is explicitly proved in the appendix.

Starting point is 08:51:39 "'Now, but I am becoming angry. "'To the contrary, as I perceive with real regret, "'you are becoming ridiculous, "'since you dispute the authority of Sevious Nykener. "'And I will show you, oh, but I will show you, you jackanapes, Ah, but come now. Keep your temper in hand. All fairly erudite persons know you cannot do the thing you threaten. And it is notorious that the weakest wheel of every cart creaks loudest. So do you cultivate a judicious taciturnity? For really nobody is going to put up with petulance in an

Starting point is 08:52:15 ugly and toothless woman of your age, as I tell you for your own good. It always vexes people to be told anything for their own good. So what followed happened to you? quickly. A fleece of clouds slipped over the moon. The night seemed bitterly cold for the space of a heartbeat, and then matters were comfortable enough. The moon emerged in its full glory, and there in front of Yergen was the proper shadow of Yergan. He dazedly regarded his hands, and they were the hands of an elderly person. He felt the calves of his legs, and they were shrunken. He patted himself centrally, and underneath the shirt of Nessus, the paunch of Yergan was of impressive dimension. In other respects, he had abated.

Starting point is 08:52:58 "'Then, too, I have forgotten something very suddenly,' reflected Juergen. "'It was something I wanted to forget. Ah, yes, but what was it that I wanted to forget? Why, there was a brown man with something unusual about his feet. He talked nonsense and behaved idiotically in a druid forest. He was probably insane. No, I do not remember what it was. that I have forgotten. But I am sure it has gnawed away in the back of my mind, like a small ruinous maggot. And, after all, it was of no importance. A loud he wailed in his most moving tones, "'Oh, Mother Serita, I did not mean to anger you. It was not fair to snap me up on a thoughtless word. Have mercy upon me, Mother Serita, for I would never have alluded to your being so old

Starting point is 08:53:51 and plain-looking, if I had known you were so vain!' But Mother Sarita did not appear to be softened by this form of entreaty, for nothing happened. "'Well, then, thank goodness that is over,' says Juergen to himself. "'Of course she may be listening still, and it is dangerous jesting with the leshy.' But really they do not seem to be very intelligent. Otherwise, this irritable maudder would have known that, everything else apart, I am heartily tired of the responsibilities of youth under any such constant surveillance. Now all is changed. There is no call to avoid a suspicion of wrongdoing

Starting point is 08:54:30 by transacting all philosophical investigations in the dark. And I am no longer distrustful of lamps or candles, or even of sunlight. Old body, you are as grateful as old slippers to a somewhat wearied man. And for the second time I have tricked Mother Serita rather neatly. My knowledge of least, However painfully acquired, is a decided advantage in dealing with anything that is feminine. Then Yergen regarded the Black Cave. That reminds me it still would be, I suppose, the manly thing to continue my quest for Lisa. The intimidating part is that if I go into this cave for the third time, I shall almost

Starting point is 08:55:12 certainly get her back. By every rule of tradition, the third attempt is invariably successful. I wonder if I want Lisa back." Yergan meditated, and he shook a grizzled head. I do not definitely know. She was an excellent cook. There were pies that I shall always remember with affection. And she meant well, poor dear.

Starting point is 08:55:38 But then, if it was really her head that I sliced off last May, or if her temper is not any better, still it is an interminable nuisance washing your own dishes. and I appear to have no aptitude whatever for sewing and darning things. But to the other hand, Lisa nags sew, and she does not understand me. Yergan shrugged. See, saw, the argument for and against might run on indefinitely. Since I have no real preference, I will humor prejudice by doing the manly thing,

Starting point is 08:56:12 for it seems only fair. And besides, it may fail after all. Then he went into the cave for the third time. End of Chapter 43. Chapter 44 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Liberovox recording is in the public domain. Yergan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 44. In the manager's office.

Starting point is 08:56:46 The tale tells that all was dark there, and Yergan could see no one. But the cave stretched straight forward and downward, and at the far end was a glow of light. Yergan went on and on, and so came to the place where Nessus had lain in wait for Yergan. Again Yergan stooped and crawled through the opening in the cave's wall, and so came to where lamps were burning upon tall iron stands. Now, one by one, these lamps were going out, and there were now no women here. Instead, Yergan trod inch-deep in fine white ashes, leaving the pre-and-one. of his feet upon them. He went forward as the cave stretched. He came to a sharp turn in the cave with a failing lamplight now behind him, so that his shadow confronted Yergan, blurred, but unarguable.

Starting point is 08:57:33 It was the proper shadow of a commonplace and elderly pawnbroker, and Yergan regarded it with approval. Yergan came then into a sort of underground chamber, from the roof of which was suspended a kettle of quivering red flames. Facing him was a throne, and he was a throne, and and back of this were rows of benches. But here, too, was nobody. Resting upright against the vacant throne was a triangular white shield, and when Yergan looked more closely he could see there was writing upon it. Yergan carried the shield as close as he could to the kettle of flames, for his eyesight was now not very good, and besides the flames in the kettle were burning low,

Starting point is 08:58:14 and Yergan deciphered the message that was written upon the shield in black and red letters. Absent upon important affairs, it said, We'll be back in an hour, and it was signed, Thragnar R. I wonder now for whom King Thragnar left this notice, reflected Yergan, certainly not for me, and I wondered too if he left it here a year ago or only this evening. And I wonder if it was Thragnar's head I removed in the black and silver pavilion. Ah, well, there are a number of things to wonder about in this incredible.

Starting point is 08:58:49 incredible cave, wherein the lights are dying out, as I observe with some discomfort. And I think the air grows chillier. Then Yergan looked to his right, at the stairway which he and Guinevere had ascended, and he shook his head. Glathion is no fit resort for a respectable pawnbroker. Chivalry is for young people, like the late Duke of Ligreus. But I must get out of this place, for certainly there is in the air a death-like chill. So Yergan went on down the aisle between the rows of benches

Starting point is 08:59:20 wherefrom Thragnar's warriors had glared at Yergan when he was last in this part of the cave. At the end of the aisle was a wooden door painted white. It was marked in large black letters, Office of the manager, keep out. So Yirgin opened this door. He entered into a notable place illuminated by six Crescent lights. These lights were the power of Assyria and Nineveh and Egypt and Rome

Starting point is 08:59:45 and Athens and Byzantium. Six other cressets stood ready there, but fire had not yet been laid to these. Back of all was a large blackboard, with much figuring on it in red chalk. And here too was the black gentleman, who a year ago had given his blessing to Yergan for speaking civilly of the powers of darkness. Tonight, the black gentleman wore a black dressing-gown that was embroidered with all the signs of the zodiac. He sat at a table, the top of which was curiously inlaid, which was curiously inlaid with thirty pieces of silver, and he was copying entries from one big book into another. He looked up from his writing pleasantly enough, and very much as though he were expecting Yergan.

Starting point is 09:00:27 "'You find me busy with the stellar accounts,' says he, which appear to be in a fearful muddle. "'But what more can I do for you, Juergen? For you, my friend, who spoke a kind word for things as they are, and furnished me with one or two really acceptable explanations as to what you, why I had created evil. I have been thinking, Prince, begins the pawnbroker. And why do you call me a Prince, Juergen? I do not know, sir, but I suspect that my quest is ended, and that you are

Starting point is 09:00:59 Koshe the Deathless. The black gentleman nodded. Something of the sort. Cochet or Ardnari or Pta or Ojaldalaoth or Abraxis. It is all one what I may be called hereabouts. My real name you never heard. no man has ever heard my name. So that matter we need hardly go into.

Starting point is 09:01:21 Precisely, Prince. Well, but it is a long way that I have traveled roundabout to win to you who made things as they are, and it is eager I am to learn just why you made things as they are. Up went the black gentleman's eyebrows into regular Gothic arches. And do you really think, Juergen, that I am going to explain to you why I made things as they are? I fail to see Prince how my wanderings could have any other equitable climax.

Starting point is 09:01:50 But, friend, I have nothing to do with justice. To the contrary, I am Koshay, who made things as they are. Yergen saw the point. Your reasoning, Prince, is unanswerable. I bow to it. I should even have foreseen it. Do you tell me, then, what thing is this that I desire, and cannot find in any realm that man has known, nor in any kind of,

Starting point is 09:02:13 kingdom that man has imagined? Koshay was very patient. I am not, I confess, anything like is well acquainted with what has been going on in this part of the universe as I ought to be. Of course, events are reported to me in a general sort of way,

Starting point is 09:02:30 and some of my people were put in charge of these stars, a while back, but they appear to have run the constellation rather shiftlessly. Still, I have recently been figuring on the matter, and I do not despair of putting the suns here to some profitable use, in one way or another, after all. Of course, it is not as if it were an important constellation.

Starting point is 09:02:51 But I am an economist, and I dislike waste." Then he was silent for an instant, not greatly worried by the problem, as Juergen could see, but mildly vexed by his inability to divine the solution out of hand. Presently, Koshay said, And in the meantime, Yergan, I am afraid I cannot answer your question on the spur of the moment. You see, there appears to have been a great number of human beings, as you call them, evolved upon—oh, yes, upon earth. I have the approximate figures over yonder, but they would hardly interest you.

Starting point is 09:03:26 And the desires of each one of these human beings seems to have been multitudinous and inconstant. Yet, Yergan, you might appeal to the local authorities, for I remember appointing some at the request of a very charming old lady. "'In fine, you do not know what thing it is that I desire,' said Yergan, much surprised. "'Why, no, I have not the least notion,' replied Cotchet. "'Still, I suspect that, if you got it, you would protest it was a most unjust affliction. So why keep worrying about it?'

Starting point is 09:04:02 Yergan demanded, almost indignantly. "'But have you not, then, Prince, been guiding all my journeying during this last year?' Now, really, Juergen, I remember our little meeting very pleasantly, and I endeavored forthwith to dispose of your most urgent annoyance. But I confess I have had one or two other matters upon my mind since then. You see, Yergan, the universe is rather large, and the running of it is a considerable tax upon my time. I cannot manage to see anything like as much of my friends as I would be delighted to see of them. And so, perhaps, what with one thing and another, I have not given you my undivided attention all through the year, not every moment

Starting point is 09:04:45 of it, that is. Ah, Prince, I see that you are trying to spare my feelings, and it is kind of you. But the upshot is that you do not know what I have been doing, and you do not care what I was doing. Dear me, but this is a very sad come-down for my pride. Yes, but reflect how remarkable a possession is that pride of yours, and how I wonder at it, and how I envy it in vain. I, who have nothing anywhere to contemplate, save my own handiwork. Do you consider, Yergen, what I would give if I could find, anywhere in this universe of mine,

Starting point is 09:05:21 anything which would make me think myself one half so important as you think Yergan is? And Koshay sighed. But instead, Yergan considered the humiliating fact that Koshay had not been supervising Yergan's travels. And of a sudden, Yergan perceived that, this Coshay the Deathless was not particularly intelligent. Then Yergan wondered why he should ever have expected Coté to be intelligent. Coté was omnipotent, as men estimate omnipotence.

Starting point is 09:05:51 But by what course of reasoning had people come to believe that Coté was clever, as men estimate cleverness? The fact that, to the contrary, Cotche seemed well-meaning, but rather slow of apprehension and a little needlessly fussy, went far toward explaining a host of matter which had long puzzled Juergen. Cleverness was, of course, the most admirable of all traits. But cleverness was not at the top of things and never had been.

Starting point is 09:06:18 "'Very well, then,' says Juergen with a shrug. "'Let us come to my third request and to the third thing that I have been seeking. Here, though, you ought to be more communicative, for I have been thinking, Prince, my wife's society is perhaps becoming to you a trifle burdensome.' "'Es, sirs, I am not unaccustomed to women.' I may truthfully say that as I find them, so do I take them. And I was willing to oblige a fellow rebel. But I do not know, Prince, that I have ever rebelled.

Starting point is 09:06:50 Far from it, I have everywhere conformed with custom. Your lips conformed, but all the while your mind-made verses, Juergen, and poetry is man's rebellion against being what he is. And besides, you call me a fellow-rebel. Now, how can it be possible that Koshay, who made all things as they are, should be a rebel, unless, indeed, there is some power above even Koshay. I would very much like to have that explain to me, sir. No doubt, but then, why should I explain it to you, Yergan?' says the black gentleman.

Starting point is 09:07:25 "'Well, be that as it may, Prince. But to return a little, I do not know that you have obliged me in carrying off my wife. I mean, of course, my first wife.' "'Why, Yurgan,' says the black gentleman, in high astonishment. Do you mean to tell me that you want the plague of your life back again?' I do not know about that either, sir. She was certainly very hard to live with. On the other hand, I had become used to having her about. I rather miss her now that I am again an elderly person. Indeed, I believe I have missed Lisa all along. The black gentleman meditated. "'Come, friend,' he says at last, "'you were a poet of some.

Starting point is 09:08:08 merit. You displayed a promising talent which might have been cleverly developed in any suitable environment. Now I repeat, I am an economist. I dislike waste. And you were never fitted to be anything save a poet. The trouble was—' Ancochie lowered his voice to an impressive whisper. The trouble was, your wife did not understand you. She hindered your art. Yes, that precisely sums it up. She interfered with your soul development, and your instinctive need of self-expression and all that sort of thing. You are very well rid of this woman, who converted a poet into a pawnbroker. On the other side, as with point observed somewhere or other, it is not good for a man to live alone. But, friend, I have just the wife for you.

Starting point is 09:09:01 "'Well, Prince,' said Yergan, "'I am willing to taste any drink once.' So Cotche waved his hand, and there, quick as winking, was the loveliest lady that Yergan had ever imagined. End of Chapter 44 Chapter 45 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 45. The Faith of Gwynnevere

Starting point is 09:09:38 Very fair was this woman to look upon, with her shining gray eyes and small, smiling lips. A fairer woman might no man boast of having seen. And she regarded Yergan graciously, with her cheeks red and white, very lovely to observe. She was clothed in a robe of flame-colored silk, and about her neck was a collar of red gold. And she told him, quite as though she spoke with a stranger, that she was Queen Gwynnevere. But Lancelot is turned monk at Glastonbury, and Arthur has gone into Avalon, says she, "'And I will be your wife if you will have me, Juergen.' And Yergan saw that Gwynnever did not know him at all, and that even his name to her was

Starting point is 09:10:22 meaningless. There were many ways of accounting for this, but he put aside the unflattering explanation that she had simply forgotten all about Yergan, in favor of the reflection that the Yergan she had known was a scapegrace of twenty-one. whereas he was now a staid and knowledgeable pawnbroker. And it seemed to Juergen that he had never really loved any woman, save Gwynnevere, the daughter of Gaugir van Gar, and the pawnbroker was troubled. For again you make me think myself a god, says Juergen.

Starting point is 09:10:55 Madam Gwynavere, when man recognized himself to be heaven's vicar upon earth, it was to serve and to glorify and to protect you and your radiant sisterhood that man consecrated his existence. You were beautiful, and you were frail. You are half goddess and half bric-a-brac. O'Hime, I recognize the call of chivalry, and my heartstrings resound. Yet for innumerable reasons I hesitate to take you for my wife, and to conceive myself your appointed protector, responsible as such to heaven. For one matter I am not altogether sure that I am heaven's vicar here upon earth. Certainly the God of heaven said nothing to me about it, and I cannot but

Starting point is 09:11:36 suspect that omniscience would have selected some more competent representative. "'It is so written, Mr. Juergen.' Yergan shrugged. "'I, too, in the intervals of business, have written much that is beautiful. Very often my verses were so beautiful that I would have given anything in the world in exchange for somewhat less sure information as to the author's veracity. "'Ah, no, madam, desire and knowledge are pressing me so sorely that between them I dare not love you, and still I cannot help it.

Starting point is 09:12:09 Then Juergen gave a little ringing gesture with his hands. His smile was not merry, and it seemed pitiful that Gwynavere should not remember him. Madam and Queen, says Juergen, once long and long ago there was a man who worshipped all women. To him they were one and all of sacred, sweet, intimidating beauty. He shaped sonorous rhymes of this, in praise of the mystery and sanctity of women.

Starting point is 09:12:34 then a Count's tow-headed daughter whom he loved, with such love as it puzzles me to think of now, was shown to him just as she was, as not even worthy of hatred. The goddess stood revealed, unveiled, and displaying in all things such mediocrity as he fretted to find in himself. That was unfortunate. For he began to suspect that women also are akin to their parents, and are no wiser, and no more subtle and no more immaculate than the father who begot them. Madam and Queen, it is not good for any man to suspect this. It is certainly not the conduct of a chivalrous person, nor of an authentic poet, says Queen Gwynnevere. And yet your eyes are big with tears.

Starting point is 09:13:21 Ha, madam, he replied, but it amuses me to weep for a dead man with eyes that once were his, for he was a dear lad before he went rampaging through the world, in the pride of his youth and in the armor of his hurt, and his songs he made for the pleasure of kings, and sword-play he made for the pleasure of men, and a whispering he made for the pleasure of women, in places where renown was, and where he trod boldly, giving pleasure to everybody in those fine days. But for all his laughter, he could not understand his fellows, nor could he love them, nor could he detect anything in aught they said or did save their exceeding folly. Why, man's folly is indeed very great, Mr. Yergen, and the doings of this world are often inexplicable, and so does it come about

Starting point is 09:14:09 that man can be saved by faith alone. Ah, but this boy had lost his fellow's cordial common faith in the importance of what use they made of half-hours and months and years, and because a Jill-flirt had opened his eyes so that they saw too much. He had lost faith in the importance of his own actions, too. There was a little time of which the passing might be made not unendurable. beyond gaped unpredictable darkness, and that was all there was of certainty anywhere. Meanwhile, he had the loan of a brain which played with ideas, and a body that went delicately down pleasant ways. And so he was never the mate for you, dear Gwynnevere, because he had not the sufficient faith in anything at all, not even in his own deductions.

Starting point is 09:14:57 Now, said Queen Gwynnevere, farewell to you then, Juergen, for it is I that am leaving you forever. I was to them that served me the lovely and excellent masterwork of God. In Karelian and North Gallus and a Jouyeuz-Garde might men behold me with delight, because men said to view me was to comprehend the power and kindliness of their creator. Very beautiful was a sult, and the face of Lunid sparkle like a moving gem. Morgaine and Enid and Vivienne and Vivian and Shrewd Nimue were lovely too, and the comeliness of itard exalted the beholder like a proud music. These, going stately about Arthur's Hall,

Starting point is 09:15:39 seemed heaven's finest craftsmanship until the queen came to her dais, as the moon among the glowing stars. Men then affirmed that God in making Gwynivere had used both hands. And it is I that I'm leaving you forever. My beauty has no human white and red, said they, but an explicit sign of heaven's might. In approaching me men thought of God, because in me they said his splendor was incarnate. That which I willed was neither right nor wrong, it was divine.

Starting point is 09:16:11 This thing it was that the knight saw in me, this surety as to the power and kindliness of their great father, it was of which the chevaliers of yesterday were conscious in beholding me, and of men's need to be worthy of such parentage, and it is I that am leaving you forever. said Yergan. I could not see all this in you, not quite all this, because of a shadow that followed me. Now it is too late, and this is a sorrowful thing which is happening. I am become a rudderless boat that goes from wave to wave. I am turned to unfurtile dust which a whirlwind makes coherent, and presently let's fall.

Starting point is 09:16:52 And so farewell to you, Queen Gwenevere, for it is a sorrowful thing and a very unfair thing that is happening. Thus he cried farewell to the daughter of Gogir van Gar, and instantly she vanished like the flame of a blown-out altar candle. End of Chapter 45. Chapter 46 of Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 46. The Desire of Anaeus And again, Koshay waved his hand. Then came to Yergan, a woman who was strangely gifted and perverse. Her dark eyes glittered. Upon her head was a network of red coral, with branches radiating downward, and her tunic was of two colors, being shot with black and crimson,

Starting point is 09:17:51 curiously mingled. And Anna Edas also had forgotten Yergan, or else she did not recognize him in this man of forty in something. And again, belief awoke in Yergan's heart, that this was the only woman whom Juergen had really loved, as he listened to Anaedist and to her talk of marvelous things. Of the lore of Theus she spoke, and of the schooling of Sappho, and of the secrets of Rhodope, and of the mourning for Adonis, and the refrain of all her talking was not changed. For we have but a little while to live, and none knows his fate thereafter, so that a man possesses nothing, certainly, save a brief loan of his own body, and yet the body of a man is capable of much curious pleasure, as thus and thus, says she, and the bright-colored

Starting point is 09:18:39 pensive woman spoke with antique directness of matters that Yergan, being no longer escape-grace of twenty-one, found rather embarrassing. "'Come, come, thinks he, but it will never do to seem provincial. I believe that I'm actually blushing.' "'Allowed,' he said, "'sweetheart, there was, why, not a half-hour since, a youth who sought quite zealously for the overmastering frenzies you prattle about. But candidly, he could not find the flesh whose touch would rouse insanity. The lad had opportunities, too, let me tell you. Ha, I recall with tenderness, the glitter of eyes and hair, and the gay garments, and the soft

Starting point is 09:19:19 voices of those fond, foolish women even now. But he went from one pair of lips to another with an ardor that was always half-fained, and with protestations which were conscious echoes, of some romance or other. Such escapades were pleasant enough, but they were not very serious after all. For these things concerned his body alone, and I am more than an edifice of viands reared by my teeth.

Starting point is 09:19:44 To pretend that what my body does or endures is of importance seems rather silly nowadays. I prefer to regard it as a necessary beast of burden which I maintain, at considerable expense and trouble. So I shall make no more bother about it. But then again Queen Ana Edith spoke of marvelous things, and he listened, fair-mindedly, for the Queen spoke now of that which was hers to share with him.

Starting point is 09:20:10 "'Well, I have heard,' says Yergan, that you have a notable residence in cocaine. But that is only a little country place, to which I sometimes repair in summer, in order to live rustically. No, Yergan, you must see my palaces. In Babylon I have a palace where many abide with cords about them, and burn brand for perfume, while they await that thing which is to befall them. In Armenia, I have a palace surrounded by vast gardens, where only strangers have the right to enter. They there receive a hospitality that is more than gallant. In Paphos, I have a palace wherein is a little pyramid

Starting point is 09:20:47 of white stone, very curious to see. But still more curious is the statue in my palace at Amathas of a bearded woman, which displays other features that women do not possess. And in Alexandria I have a palace that is tended by thirty-six exceedingly wise and sacred persons, and wherein it is always night. And there folks seek for monstrous pleasures, even at the price of instant death, and win to both of these swiftly. Everywhere my palaces stand upon high places near the sea, so they are beheld from afar by those whom I hold dearest, my beautiful, broad-chested mariners, who do not fear even me, but know that in my palaces they will find notable employment.

Starting point is 09:21:32 For I must tell you of what it is to be encountered within these places that are mine, and of how pleasantly we pass our time there. Then she told him. Now he listened more attentively than ever, and his eyes were narrowed, and his lips were lax and motionless and foolish-looking, and he was deeply interested. For Ana-Etas had thought of some new diversion since their last meeting, and to Yergan, even at forty and something,

Starting point is 09:21:57 this queen's voice was all a horrible and strange and lovely magic. She really tempts very nicely, too, he reflected with a sort of pride in her. Then Yergan growled and shook himself, half angrily, and he tweaked the ear of Queen Adaitis. Sweetheart, says he, you paint a glowing picture, but you are shrewd enough to borrow your pigments from the daydreams of inexperience. What you prattle about is not at all as you describe it. You forget you are talking to a widely married man of varied experience.

Starting point is 09:22:31 Moreover, I shudder to think of what might happen if Lisa were to walk in unexpectedly. And for the rest, all this to do over nameless delights and unspeakable caresses and other anonymous antics seems rather naive. My ears are beset by eloquent gray hairs which plead at closer quarters than does that fibbing little tongue of yours. And so be off with you. With that, Queen Ana Edith smiled very cruelly, and she said, Farewell to you, then, Juergen, for it is I that am leaving you forever.

Starting point is 09:23:03 Henceforward, you must fret away much sunlight by interminably shunning discomfort, and by indulging tepid preferences. For I, and none but I, can waken that desire which uses all of a man, and so wastes nothing, even though it leave that favored man forever after, like wan ashes in the sunlight. And with you I have no more concern, for it is I that I am leaving you forever. Join with your graying fellows then, and help them to affront the clean, sane sunlight, by making guilds and laws and solemn phrases wherewith to rid the world of me. I, Anaedis, laugh, and my heart is a wave in the sunlight, for there is no power like my power, and no living thing

Starting point is 09:23:48 which can withstand my power. And those who do not be able to be able to be. And those who do Arride me, as I well know, are but the dead dry husks that a wind moves with hissing noises while I harvest in open sunlight. For I am the desire that uses all of a man, and it is I that am leaving you forever." said Yergan, I could not see all this in you, not quite all this, because of a shadow that followed me. Now it is too late, and this is a sorrowful thing which is happening. I am become a puzzled ghost who furtively observes the doings of loud-voiced, ruddy persons, and I am a compact of weariness and apprehension, for I no longer discern what thing is I, nor what is my desire, and I fear that I am already dead. So, farewell to you,

Starting point is 09:24:37 Queen Anaetis, for this too is a sorrowful thing, and a very unfair thing that is happening. Thus he cried farewell to the son's daughter. and all the colors of her loveliness flickered and merged into the likeness of a tall, thin flame, that aspired, and then this flame was extinguished. End of Chapter 46. Chapter 47 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yurgan, a Comedy of Justice.

Starting point is 09:25:19 Chapter 47. The Vision of Helen And for the third time Koshay waved his hand. Now came to Yergan a gold-haired woman, clothed all in white. She was tall and lovely and tendered to regard. And hers was not the red and white comeliness of many ladies that were famed for beauty, but rather it had the even glow of ivory. Her nose was large and high in the bridge.

Starting point is 09:25:45 Her flexible mouth was not of the smallest. And yet, whatever other persons might have said, to Yergan, this woman was a woman countenance was in all things perfect. In beholding her, Yergan kneeled. He hid his face in her white robe, and he stayed thus without speaking for a long while. "'Lady of my vision,' he said, and his voice broke, "'there is that in you which wakes old memories. For now, assuredly, I believe your father was not Don Manuel, but that ardent bird which nestled very long ago in Lita's bosom. And now Troy's sons are all in 80s keeping, in the world below. Fire has consumed the walls of Troy, and the years have forgotten her tall conquerors.

Starting point is 09:26:30 But still, you are bringing woe unwoe to hapless sufferers. And again his voice broke, for the world seemed cheerless and like a house that none has lived in for a great while. Queen Helen, the delight of gods and men, replied nothing at all, because there was no need, inasmuch as the man who has once glimpsed her loveliness is beyond saving, and beyond the desire of being saved. "'Tonight,' says Juergen, as once through the gray art of Fobiter, now through the will of Cotay, it appears that you

Starting point is 09:27:04 stand within arm's reach. Ha, lady, were that possible, and I know very well it is not possible, whatever my senses may report, I am not fit to mate with your perfection. At the bottom of my heart, I know long desire perfection. For we who are taxpayers, as well as immortal souls, must live by politic evasions and formulae and catch-words that fret away our lives as moths waste a garment. We fall insensibly to common sense as to a drug, and it dulls and kills whatever in us is rebellious and fine and unreasonable, and so you will find no man of my years with whom living is not a mechanism

Starting point is 09:27:46 which gnaws away time unprompted. For within this hour I have become again a creature of use and want. I am the lackey of prudence and half-measures, and I have put my dreams upon an allowance. Yet even now I love you more than I love books and indolence and flattery and the charitable wine which cheats me into a favorable opinion of myself. What more can an old poet say? For that reason, lady, I pray you begone, because, your loveliness is a taunt which I find unendurable. But his voice yearned, because this was Queen Helen, the delight of gods and men who regarded him with grave, kind eyes.

Starting point is 09:28:29 She seemed to view, as one appraises the pattern of an unrolled carpet, every action of Yergan's life, and she seemed, too, to wonder, without reproach or trouble, how men could be so foolish, and of their own accord become so miry. "'Oh, I have failed my vision!' cries Juergen. "'I have failed, and I know very well that every man must fail, and yet my shame is no less bitter, for I am transmuted by time's handling. I shudder at the thought of living day in and day out with my vision,

Starting point is 09:29:03 and so I will have none of you for my wife.' Then, trembling, Yergan raised toward his lips the hand of her who was the world's darling. And so, farewell to you, Queen Helen. Oh, very long ago I found your beauty mirrored in a wanton's face, and often in a woman's face I have found one or another feature wherein she resembled you, and for the sake of it have lied to that woman glibly. And all my verses, as I know now, were vain enchantments striving to evoke that hidden loveliness of which I knew by dim report alone. Oh, all my life was a foiled quest of you, Queen Helen, and an unsatiated hungering. And for a while I served my vision, honoring you with clean-handed deeds.

Starting point is 09:29:51 Yes, certainly, it should be graved upon my tomb. Queen Helen ruled this earth while it stayed worthy. But that was very long ago. And so, farewell to you, Queen Helen. Your beauty has been to me as a robber that stripped my life of joy and soul. sorrow, and I desire not ever to dream of your beauty any more, for I have been able to love nobody. And I know that it is you who have prevented this, Queen Helen, at every moment of my life since the disastrous moment when I first seem to find your loveliness in the face of

Starting point is 09:30:27 Madame Dorothy. It is the memory of your beauty, as I then saw it mirrored in the face of a jill-flirt, which has enfeebled me for such honest love as other men give women. And I envy these other men, for Yergan has loved nothing, not even you, not even Yurgan, quite wholeheartedly. And so farewell to you, Queen Helen. Hereafter I rove no more equesting anything. Instead, I potter after hearthside comforts, and play the physician with myself, and strive painstakingly to make old bones. And no man's notion anywhere seems worth a cup of mulled wine, and for the sake of no notion would I endanger the routine which so hideously bores me. For I am transmuted by time's handling.

Starting point is 09:31:15 I have become the lackey of prudence and half-measures, and it does not seem fair, but there is no help for it. So it is necessary that I now cry farewell to you, Queen Helen, for I have failed in the service of my vision, and I deny you utterly. Thus he cried farewell to the swan's daughter, and Queen Helen vanished as a bright mist passes, not departing swiftly as had departed Queen Gwynivere and Queen Anaetus, and Yergan was alone with the black gentleman, and to Yergan the world seemed cheerless, like a house that none has lived in for a great while.

Starting point is 09:31:54 End of Chapter 47. Chapter 48 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yergan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 48. Candid Opinions of Dame Lisa Hey, sirs, observes Koshay the Deathless, but some of us are certainly hard to please, and now Yurgan was already intent to shrug off his display of emotion.

Starting point is 09:32:30 In selecting a wife, sir, submitted Yergan, there are all sorts of matters to be considered. Then bewilderment smote him, for it occurred to Juergen that his previous commerce with these three women was patently unknown to Koshay. Why, Koshay, who made all things as they are, Koshay, no less, was now doing for Yergan Koshay's utmost, and that utmost amounted to getting for Yergan what Yergan had once, with the aid of youth and impudence, got for himself. Not even Koshay, then, could do more for Yergan that might be accomplished by that youth and impudence and tendency to pry into the same.

Starting point is 09:33:08 things generally which Juergen had just relinquished as over-restless nuisances. Yergan drew the inference and shrugged. Decidedly, cleverness was not at the top. However, there was no pressing need to enlighten Cotche, and no wisdom in attempting it. "'For you must understand, sir,' continued Yergan smoothly, that whatever the first impulse of the moment, it was apparent to any reflective person that in the past of each of these ladies there was much to suggest inborn in aptitude for domestic life. And I am a peace-loving fellow, sir.

Starting point is 09:33:44 Nor do I hold with moral laxity, now that I am forty-odd, except, of course, in talk when it promotes sociability, and in verse-making wherein it is esteemed as a conventional ornament. Still, Prince, the chance I lost. I do not refer to matrimony you conceive. But in the presence of these famous fair ones now departed from me forever, with what glowing words I ought to have spoken, upon a wondrous ladder of tropes, metaphors, and recondide illusions, to what stylistic heights of Asiatic prose I ought to have ascended, and instead I twaddled like a schoolmaster. Decidedly, Lisa is right, and I am a good for nothing. However, Yergan added hopefully, it appeared to me that when I last saw her a year ago this

Starting point is 09:34:32 evening, Lisa was somewhat less outspoken than usual. "'Eh, sirs, but she was under a very potent spell. I found that necessary in the interest of law and order hereabouts. I, who made things as they are, are not accustomed to the excesses of practical persons who are ruthlessly bent upon reforming their associates. Indeed, it is one of the advantages of my situation that such folk do not consider things as they are, and in consequence very rarely bother me.' And the black gentleman in turn shrugged. You will pardon me, but I notice in my accounts that I am positively committed to color this year's anemones tonight, and there is a rather large planetary system to be discontinued

Starting point is 09:35:16 at half-past ten. So time presses. And time is inexorable. Prince, with all due respect, I fancy it is precisely this truism which you have overlooked. You produce the most charming of women, in a determined onslaught upon my fancy. But you forget your dissonation. You are displaying them to a man of forty in something. And does that make so great a difference? Oh, a sad difference, Prince. For as a man gets on in life, he changes in many ways. He handles sword and lance less creditably,

Starting point is 09:35:51 and does not carry as heavy a staff as he once flourished. He takes less interest in conversation, and his flow of humor diminishes. He is not the tireless mathematician that he was, if only because his faith in his person, endowment slackens. He recognizes his limitations, and in consequence the unimportance of his opinions, and, indeed, he recognizes the probable unimportance of all fleshly matters. So he relinquishes trying to figure out things, and scepters and candles appear to him

Starting point is 09:36:23 about equivalent, and he is inclined to give up philosophical experiments and to let things pass unplumbed. Oh, yes, it makes a difference. And Yergan sighed. And yet, for all that, it is a relief, sir, in a way. Nevertheless, said Couchay, now that you have inspected the flower of womanhood, I cannot soberly believe you prefer your termagant of a wife. Frankly, Prince, I also am, as usual, undecided. You may be right in all you have urged, and certainly I cannot go so far as to say you are wrong, but still at the same time.

Starting point is 09:37:02 Come now, could you not let me see my first first, first wife for just a moment? This was no sooner asked than granted, for there, sure enough, was Dame Lisa. She was no longer restricted to quiet speech by any stupendous necromancy, and uncommonly plain she looked after the passing of those lovely ladies. "'Aha, you rascal!' begins Dame Lisa, addressing Yergan. "'And so you thought to be rid of me! Oh, a precious lot you are! And a deal of thanks I get for my scrimping and slaving, and she began scolding away. But she began, somewhat to Juergen's astonishment, by stating that he was even worse

Starting point is 09:37:43 than the Countess Dorothy. Then he recollected that, by not the most disastrous piece of luck conceivable, Dame Lisa's latest news from the outside world, had been rendered by her sister, the notary's wife, a twelve-month back. And rather unaccountably, Yergan fell to thinking of how unsubstantial seemed these curious months devoted to other women, as set against the commonplace years which he and Lisa had fretted through together, of the fine and merry girl that Lisa had been before she married him, of how well she knew his tastes in cookery and all his little preferences, and of how cleverly

Starting point is 09:38:19 she humored them on those rare days when nothing had occurred to vex her. Of all the buttons she had replaced, and all the socks she had darned, and of what tempests she had loosed when anyone else had the audacity to criticize your own. And of how much more unpleasant, everything considered, life was without her than with her. She was so unattractive-looking, too, poor dear, that you could not but be sorry for her, and Yergan's mood was half-earning and half-penetence. "'I think I will take her back, Prince,' said Yergan, very subdued, "'now that I am forty and something.

Starting point is 09:38:58 For I do not know but it is as hard on her as on me.' "'My friend, do you forget the poet that you might be even yet? No rational person would dispute that the society and amiable chat of Dame Lisa must naturally be a desideratum.' But Dame Lisa was always resentful of long words. "'Be silent, you black scoffer, and do not allude to such disgraceful things in the presence of respectable people, for I am a decent Christian woman I would have you understand, but everybody knows your reputation, and a very fit companion you are for that scamp yonder,

Starting point is 09:39:37 and volumes could not say more. Thus casually, and with comparative lenience, did Dame Lisa dispose of Koshay, who made things as they are, for she believed him to be merely Satan. And to her husband, Dame Lisa now addressed herself more particularly. Yergan, I always told you you would come to this, and now I hope you are satisfied. Yergan, do not stand there with your mouth open like a scared fish when I ask you a civil question, but answer when you are spoken to. Yes, and you need not try to look so idiotically innocent, Yergan, because I am disgusted with you. For Yergan, you heard perfectly well what your very

Starting point is 09:40:16 suitable friend just said about me with my own husband standing by. No, now I beg of you, do not ask me what he said, Yergan. I leave that to your conscience, and I prefer to talk no more about it. You know that when I am once disappointed in a person, I am through with that person. So, very luckily, there is no need at all for you to pile hypocrisy on cowardice, because if my own husband has not the feelings of a man and cannot protect me from insults and low company, I had best be going home and getting supper ready. I dare say the house is like a pigsty, and I can see by looking at you that you have been ruining your eyes by reading in bed again, and to think of your going about in public, even among such associates,

Starting point is 09:40:58 with a button off your shirt!' She was silent for one terrible moment. Then Lisa spoke in frozen despair. "'And now I look at that shirt. I ask you fairly, Juergen. Do you consider that a man of your age has any right to be going about in a shirt that nobody? In a shirt which—in a shirt which I can only—'

Starting point is 09:41:20 Ah, but I never saw such a shirt, and neither did anybody else. You simply cannot imagine what a figure you cut in it, Yergan. "'Yergan, I have been patient with you. I have put up with a great deal, saying nothing where many women would have lost their temper. But I simply cannot permit you to select your own clothes, and so ruin the business and take the bread out of our mouths. In short, you are enough to drive a person mad, and I warn you that I am done with you forever.'

Starting point is 09:41:49 Dame Lisa went with dignity to the door of Coshay's office. "'So you can come with me or not, precisely as you elect. It is all one to me, I can assure you, after the cruel things you have said and the way you have stormed at me, and have encouraged that notorious Blackamore to insult me in terms which I, for one, would not soil my lips by repeating. I do not doubt you consider it as all very clever and amusing, but you know now what I think about it. And upon the whole, if you do not feel the exertion will kill you, you had better come

Starting point is 09:42:22 home the long way, and stop by sisters and ask her to let you have a half-pound of butter, for I know you too well to suppose you have been attending to the churning. Dame Lisa here evinced a stately sort of mirth, such as is unimaginable by bachelors. You, churning, while I was away? Oh, no, not you. There is probably not so much as an egg in the house. For my lord and gentleman has had other fish to fry in his fine new courting clothes, and that, and on a man of your age, with a punch to you like a beard, barrel and with legs like pipe-stems. Yes, that infamous shirt of ears is the reason you had better, for your own comfort,

Starting point is 09:43:04 come home the long way. For I warn you, Juergen, that the style in which I have caught you rigged out has quite decided me, before I go home or anywhere else, to stop by for a word or so with your high and mighty Madame Dorothy. So you had just as well not be along with me, for there is no pulling wool over my eyes any longer, and you two need never think to hoodwink. me again about your goings-on? No, Yergan, you cannot fool me, for I can read you like a book. And such behavior, at your time of life, does not surprise me at all, because it is precisely

Starting point is 09:43:40 what I would have expected of you. With that, Dame Lisa passed through the door and went away, still talking. It was of Hightman-Michael's wife that the wife of Yergen spoke, Discoursing of the personal traits and of the past doings, and, with augmented fervor, of the figure and visage of Madame Dorothy, as all these abominations appeared to the eye of discernment, and must be revealed by the tongue of candor as a matter of public duty. So passed Dame Lisa, neither as flame nor missed, but as the voice of judgment. End of Chapter 49 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Yergan, A Comedy of Justice

Starting point is 09:44:35 Chapter 49 Of the Compromise with Koshay "'Phew!' said Koshay in the ensuing silence. "'You had better stay overnight in any event. I really think, friend, you will be more comfortable, just now at least, in this quiet cave.' But Yergan had taken up his hat. No, I dare say I too had been.

Starting point is 09:44:58 better be going," says Juergen. "'I thank you very heartily for your intended kindness, sir. Still, I do not know, but it is better as it is.' "'And is there anything?' Yergan coughed delicately. "'And is there anything to pay, sir?' "'Oh, just a trifle, first of all, for a year's maintenance of Dame Nisa.' "'You see, Yergan, that is an almighty fine shirt you are wearing. It rather appeals to me.

Starting point is 09:45:26 and I fancy, from something your wife let drop just now, it did not impress her as being quite suited to you. So, in the interest of domesticity, suppose you ransom Dame Lisa with that fine shirt of yours?' "'Why, willingly,' said Juergen, and he took off the shirt of Nessus. "'You have worn this for some time, I understand,' said Coshay meditatively. "'And did you ever notice any inconvenience in wearing this garment?' "'Not that I could detect, Prince. It fitted me, and seemed to impress everybody most favorably.'

Starting point is 09:46:00 "'There,' said Cotche, "'that is what I have always contended. To the strong man, and to wholesome matter-of-fact people generally, it is a fatal irritant. But persons like you can wear the shirt of Nessus very comfortably for a long, long while, and be generally admired, and you end by exchanging it for your wife's society. But now, Yergan, about yourself.' You probably noticed that my door was marked Keep Out. One must have rules, you know. Often it is a nuisance, but still rules are rules. And so I must tell you, Juergen, it is not permitted any person to leave my presence unmaned, if not actually annihilated. One really must have rules, you know. You would chop off an arm, or a hand, or a whole finger? Come now, Prince, you must be joking.

Starting point is 09:46:51 Koshay, the Deathless, was very grave as he sat there in meditation, drumming with his long, jet-black fingers upon the tabletop that was curiously inlaid with thirty pieces of silver. In the lamplight his sharp nails glittered like flame points, and the color suddenly withdrew from his eyes so that they showed like small white eggs. "'But, man, how strange you are,' said Koshay presently, and life flowed back into his eyes and Yergan ventured the liberty of breathing. Inside, I mean. Why, there is hardly anything left. Now rules are rules, of course, but you, who are the remnant of a poet, may depart unhindered whenever you will,

Starting point is 09:47:35 and I shall take nothing from you, for really it is necessary to draw the line somewhere. Yergan meditated this clemency, and with a sick heart he seemed to understand. Yes, that is probably the truth. "'For I have not retained the faith, nor the desire, nor the vision. Yes, that is probably the truth. Well, at all events, Prince, I very unfainly admired each of the ladies to whom you were friendly enough to present me, and I was greatly flattered by their offers. More than generous, I thought them. But it really would not do for me to take up with any one of them now. For Lisa is my wife, you see. A great deal has passed between us, sir, in the last ten years,

Starting point is 09:48:20 and I have been a sore disappointment to her in many ways, and I am used to her. Then Yergan considered, and regarded the black gentleman with mingled envy and commiseration. Why, no, you probably would not understand, sir, on account of your not being, I suppose, a married person. But I can assure you it is always pretty much like that. I lack grounds to dispute your aphorism, observed Cotche, inasmuchampus, inasmuch as much as matrimony was certainly not included in my doom. Nonetheless, to a bystander, the conduct of you both appears remarkable. I could not understand, for example, just how your wife proposed to have you keep out of her

Starting point is 09:49:04 sight forever and still have supper with her to-night, nor why she should desire to sup with such a reprobate as she described with unbridled pungency and disapproval. Ah, but again, it is always pretty much like that, sir. And the truth of it, Prince, is a great symbol. The truth of it is, we have lived together so long that my wife has become rather foolishly fond of me. So she is not, as one might say, quite reasonable about me. No, sir, it is the fashion of women to discard civility

Starting point is 09:49:37 toward those for whom they suffer most willingly, and whom a woman loveth, she chastenedeth, after a good precedent. But her talking, Yergan, has nowhere any precedent. Why, it deafens, it appalls, it submerges you in a prorious sea of fault-finding, and in a word you might as profitably oppose a hurricane. Yet you want her back. Now, assuredly, Juergen, I do not think very highly of your wisdom, but by your bravery I am astounded. Ah, Prince, it is because I can perceive that all women are poets, though the medium they work in is not always ink. So the moment Lisa is set free from what,

Starting point is 09:50:18 in a manner of speaking, sir, inconsiderate persons might, in their unthinking way, refer to as the terrors of an underground establishment, that I do not for an instant doubt to be conducted after a system which furthers the true interests of everybody, and so reflects a vast credit upon its officials, if you will pardon my frankness, and Juergen smiled ingratiatingly. Why, at that moment, Lisa's thoughts take form in very much the high denunciatory style of Jeremiah and Amos, who were remarkably fine poets. Her concluding observations as to the Countess in particular, I consider to have been an example of sustained invective, such as one rarely encounters in this degenerate age. Well, her next essay in creative composition is My Supper, which will be an equally

Starting point is 09:51:05 spirited impromptu. Tomorrow she will darn and sew me an epic, and her desserts will continue to be in the richest lyric vein. Such, sir, are the poems of Lisa, all address. as to me, who came so near to gallivanting with mere queens. "'What can it be that you are remorseful?' said Cotchet. "'Oh, Prince, when I consider steadfastly the depth and the intensity of that devotion which for so many years has tended me and has endured the society of that person whom I peculiarly know to be the most tedious and irritating of companions, I stand aghast before a miracle, and I cry,

Starting point is 09:51:46 oh, certainly a goddess, and I can think of no queen who is fairly mentionable in the same breath. Ah, all we poets write a deal about love. But none of us may grasp the words full meaning until he reflects that this is a passion mighty enough to induce a woman to put up with him. Even so, it does not seem to induce quite thorough confidence, Juergen. I was grieved to see that Dame Lisa evidently suspects you of running after some other woman in your wife's absence. Think upon that now, and you saw for yourself how little the handsomest of women could tempt me. Yet even Lisa's absurd notion I can comprehend and pardon. And again, you probably would not understand my overlooking such a thing, sir,

Starting point is 09:52:32 on account of your not being a married person. Nevertheless, my forgiveness also is a great symbol. Then Yergan sighed, and he shook hands, very circumspectly, with Cotche, who made things as they are, and Yergan, started out of the office. "'But I will bear you company a part of the way,' says Koshay. So Koshay removed his dressing-gown, and he put on the fine, laced coat which was hung over the back of a strange-looking chair with three legs, each of a different metal.

Starting point is 09:53:03 The shirt of Nessus Koshay folded and put aside, saying that someday he might be able to use it somehow. And Koshay paused before the blackboard, and he scratched his head reflectively. Yergan saw that this board was nearly covered with figures which had not yet been added up, and this blackboard seemed to him the most frightful thing he had faced anywhere. Then Koshay came out of the cave with Yergan, and Koshay walked with Yergan across Amneran Heath and threw Morven in the late evening. And Koshay talked as they went, and a queer thing Yergan noticed, and it was that the moon

Starting point is 09:53:39 was sinking in the east, as though the time were getting earlier and earlier. But Juergen did not presume to criticize this in the presence of Coté, who made things as they are. "'And I manage affairs as best I can, Juergen. But they get in a fearful muddle sometimes. "'A, sirs, I have no competent assistance. I have to look out for everything, absolutely everything. And, of course, while in a sort of way I am infallible, mistakes will occur every now and then in the actual working out of plans

Starting point is 09:54:10 that in the abstract are right enough. So it really does please me to hear anybody putting in a kind word for things as they are, because, between ourselves, there is a deal of dissatisfaction about— And I was honestly delighted just now to hear you speaking up for evil in the face of that Rapscallian monk. So I give you thanks, and many thanks, Juergen, for your kind word. "'Just now,' thinks Yergan. He perceived that they had passed the Cistercian Abbey, and were approaching Belgard.

Starting point is 09:54:43 And it was as in a dream that Yergan was speaking, "'Who are you, and why do you thank me?' asks Yergan. "'My name is no great matter, but you have a kind heart, Yergan. May your life lie free from care.' "'Save us from hurt and harm, friend, but I am already married.' Then resolutely Yirgin put aside the spell that was befogging him. "'See here, Prince, are you beginning all over again? for I really cannot stand any more of your benevolences."

Starting point is 09:55:13 Cotchet smiled. No, Yergan, I am not beginning all over again. For now I have never begun, and now there is no word of truth in anything which you remember of the year just past. Now none of these things has ever happened. But how can that be, Prince? Why should I tell you, Juergen? Let it suffice that what I will not only happens, but has already happened, beyond the

Starting point is 09:55:40 ancientest memory of man and his mother. How otherwise could I be cochet? And so farewell to you, poor Juergen, to whom nothing in particular has happened now. It is not justice I am giving you, but something infinitely more acceptable to you and all your kind. But to be sure, says Juergen, I fancy that nobody anywhere cares much for justice. So farewell to you, Prince, and at our parting I ask no more questions of you, for I perceive it a scant comfort a man gets from questioning Coté, who made things as they are. But I am wondering what pleasure you get out of it all. "'Hey, sirs,' says Coté with not the most candid of smiles,

Starting point is 09:56:24 "'I contemplate the spectacle with appropriate emotions.' And so speaking, Cotche quitted Yergan forever. "'Yet, how may I be sure?' thought Yergan. instantly, that this black gentleman was really co-chae. He said he was. Why, yes, and Horvindeele, to all intents, told me that Horvindale was co-shay. Uh-huh, and what else did Horvindill say? This is one of the romancer's most venerable devices that is being practiced. Why, but there was Smoit of Glathion also, so that this is the third time I have been fobbed off with the explanation I was dreaming, and left with no proof one way or the other.

Starting point is 09:57:04 Thus Yergan indignantly, and then he laughed. Why, but of course! I may have talked face to face with Koshay, who made things as they are, and again I may not have. That is the whole point of it, the cream, as one might say, of the jest, that I cannot ever be sure. Well, and Yergan shrugged here, well, and what could I be expected to do about it? End of Chapter 49. Chapter 50 of Yergan, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. This Liberovach's recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 09:57:49 Yergan, A Comedy of Justice. Chapter 50, the moment that did not count. And that is really all the story, save for the moment Yergan paused on his way home. For Koshay, if it indeed was Koshay, had quitted Yergan, just as they approached to Belgaard, and as the pawnbroker walked on alone in the pleasant April evening, one call to him from the terrace. Even in the dusk, he knew this was the Countess Dorothy. May I speak with you a moment, says she? Very willingly, madam, and Yergan ascended from the highway to the terrace.

Starting point is 09:58:26 I thought it would be near your supper hour, so I was waiting here until you passed. You conceive it is not quite convenient for me to seek you out at the shop. "'Why, no, madam, there is a prejudice,' said Juergen soberly, and he waited. He saw that Madame Dorothy was perfectly composed, yet anxious to speed the affair. "'You must know,' said she, "'that my husband's birthday approaches, and I wish to surprise him with a gift. It is therefore necessary that I raise some money without troubling him. How much, abominable usurer, could you advance me upon this necklace?' Yergan turned it in his hand. It was a handsome piece of jewelry, familiar to him as formerly the

Starting point is 09:59:10 property of Hightman Michael's mother. Yergan named a sum. But that, the Countess says, is not a fraction of its worth. Times are very hard, madam. Of course if you care to sell outright, I could deal more generously. Old monster, I could not do that. It would not be convenient. She hesitated here. It would not be explicable. As to that, madam, I could make you an imitation in paste which nobody could distinguish from the original. I can amply understand that you desire to avail from your husband any sacrifices that are entailed by your affection. It is my affection for him, said the Countess quickly. I alluded to your affection for him, said Juergen, naturally. Then Countess Dorothy named a price for the necklace. For it is necessary

Starting point is 10:00:01 I have that much and not a penny less.' And Yergan shook his head dubiously, and vowed that ladies were unconscionable bargainers. But Yergan agreed to what she asked, because the necklace was worth almost as much again. Then Yergan suggested that the business could be most conveniently concluded through an emissary. If M. de Nourak, for example, could have matters explained to him, and could manage to visit me tomorrow, I am sure we could carry through this amiable imposture without any annoyance whatever to Hightman Michael,' says Juergen smoothly. "'Nirac will come, then,' says the Countess,

Starting point is 10:00:38 "'and you may give him the money precisely as though it were for him.' "'But certainly, madam, a very estimable young nobleman that. And it is a pity his debts are so large. I heard that he had lost heavily at dice within the last month, and I grieved, madam. He has promised me that when these debts are settled to play no more. But, again, what am I saying? I mean, Master Inquisitive, that I take considerable interest in the welfare of Monsieur de Narek, and so I have sometimes chided him on his wild courses, and that is all I mean.

Starting point is 10:01:13 Precisely, madam, and so Monsieur de Nirac will come to me tomorrow for the money, and there is no more to say." Ergen paused. The moon was risen now. These two sat together upon a bench of carved stone near the balustrade, and before them, upon the other side of the highway, were luminous valleys and tree-tops. Fleetingly, Yergan recollected the boy and girl who had once sat in this place, and had talked of all the splendid things which Yergan was to do, and of the happy life that was to be

Starting point is 10:01:44 theirs together. Then he regarded the composed and handsome woman beside him, and he considered that the money to pay her latest lover's debts had been assured with a suitable respect for appearances. "'Come, but this is a gallant lady, who would defy the almanac,' reflected Yergan. Even so, 38 is an undeniable and somewhat autumnal figure, and I suspect young Narak is bleeding his elderly mistress. Well, but at his age nobody has a conscience. Yes, and Madame Dorothy is handsome still. And still my pulse is playing me queer tricks because she is near me, and my voice has not the

Starting point is 10:02:24 intonation I intend because she is near me. And still I am three-quarters in love with her. Yes, in the light of such cursed folly as even now possesses me, I have good reason to give thanks for the regained infirmities of age. Yet living seems to me a wasteful and inequitable process, for this is a poor outcome for the boy and girl that I remember. And weighing this outcome, I am tempted to weep and to talk romantically even now. But he did not, for really weeping was not requisite. Yergan was making his fair profit out of the Countess's folly, and it was merely his duty to see that this little business transaction was managed without any scandal.

Starting point is 10:03:07 "'So there is nothing more to say,' observed Yergan as he rose in the moonlight. "'Save that I shall always be delighted to serve you, madam, and I may reasonably boast that I have earned a reputation for fair dealing. And he thought, in effect, since certainly as she grows older, she will need yet more money for her lovers. I am offering to pimp for her. Then Yergan shrugged. That is one side of the affair. The other is that I transact my legitimate business. I, who am that which the years have made of me. Thus it was that Yergan quitted the Countess Dorothy, whom, as you have heard, this pawnbroker had loved in his first youth under the name of heart's desire, and whom in the youth that was loaned him by the mother Sarita he had loved as Queen Helen,

Starting point is 10:03:56 the delight of gods and men. For Yurgen was quitting Madame Dorothy after the simplest of business transactions, which consumed only a moment, and did not actually count one way or the other. And after this moment, which did not count, the pawnbroker resumed his journey, and so came presently to his home. He peeped through the window, and there, in a snug room, with supper laid, sat Dame Lisa about some sewing, and evidently in a quite amiable frame of mind. Then terror smote the Yergan, who had faced sorcerers and gods and devils intrepidly. For I forgot about the butter!

Starting point is 10:04:36 But immediately afterward he recollected that, now, not even what Lisa had said to him in the cave was real. Neither he nor Lisa now had ever been in the cave, and probably there was no longer any such place, and now there never had been any such place. It was rather confusing. Ah, but I must remember carefully, said Yergan, that I have not seen Lisa since breakfast this morning. Nothing whatever has happened. There has been no requirement laid upon me after all to do the manly thing. So I retain my wife, such as he is, poor dear, I retain my home. I retain my shop and a fair line of business. Yes, Cotchet, if it really was Cotchet, has dealt with me very justly. And probably his

Starting point is 10:05:25 methods are everything they should be. Certainly I cannot go so far as to say that they are wrong, but still at the same time. Then Yergan sighed and entered his snug home. Thus it was in the old days. The End of Yurgen, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell.

Classic Audiobook Collection - Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice by James Branch Cabell ~ Full Audiobook [fantasy]

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.