It was the occupation of Mr. Thomas Shap to persuade customers that the goods were genuine and of an excellent quality, and that as regards the price their unspoken will was consulted. And in order to carry on this occupation he went by train very early every morning some few miles nearer to the City from the suburb in which he slept. This was the use to which he put his life.
From the moment when he first perceived (not as one reads a thing in a book, but as truths are revealed to one's instinct) the very beastliness of his occupation, and of the house that he slept in, its shape, make and pretensions2, and even of the clothes that he wore; from that moment he withdrew his dreams from it, his fancies, his ambitions, everything in fact except that ponderable Mr. Shap that dressed in a frock-coat, bought tickets and handled money and could in turn be handled by the statistician. The priest's share in Mr. Shap, the share of the poet, never caught the early train to the City at all.
He used to take little flights of fancy at first, dwelt all day in his dreamy way on fields and rivers lying in the sunlight where it strikes the world more brilliantly further South. And then he began to imagine butterflies there; after that, silken people and the temples they built to their gods.
They noticed that he was silent, and even absent at times, but they found no fault with his behaviour with customers, to whom he remained as plausible3 as of old. So he dreamed for a year, and his fancy gained strength as he dreamed. He still read halfpenny papers in the train, still discussed the passing day's ephemeral topic, still voted at elections, though he no longer did these things with the whole Shap—his soul was no longer in them.
He had had a pleasant year, his imagination was all new to him still, and it had often discovered beautiful things away where it went, southeast at the edge of the twilight4. And he had a matter-of-fact and logical mind, so that he often said, "Why should I pay my twopence at the electric theatre when I can see all sorts of things quite easily without?" Whatever he did was logical before anything else, and those that knew him always spoke1 of Shap as "a sound, sane6, level-headed man."
On far the most important day of his life he went as usual to town by the early train to sell plausible articles to customers, while the spiritual Shap roamed off to fanciful lands. As he walked from the station, dreamy but wide awake, it suddenly struck him that the real Shap was not the one walking to Business in black and ugly clothes, but he who roamed along a jungle's edge near the ramparts of an old and Eastern city that rose up sheer from the sand, and against which the desert lapped with one eternal wave. He used to fancy the name of that city was Larkar. "After all, the fancy is as real as the body," he said with perfect logic5. It was a dangerous theory.
For that other life that he led he realized, as in Business, the importance and value of method. He did not let his fancy roam too far until it perfectly7 knew its first surroundings. Particularly he avoided the jungle—he was not afraid to meet a tiger there (after all it was not real), but stranger things might crouch8 there. Slowly he built up Larkar: rampart by rampart, towers for archers9, gateway10 of brass11, and all. And then one day he argued, and quite rightly, that all the silk-clad people in its streets, their camels, their wares12 that came from Inkustahn, the city itself, were all the things of his will—and then he made himself King. He smiled after that when people did not raise their hats to him in the street, as he walked from the station to Business; but he was sufficiently13 practical to recognize that it was better not to talk of this to those that only knew him as Mr. Shap.
Now that he was King in the city of Larkar and in all the desert that lay to the East and North he sent his fancy to wander further afield. He took the regiments15 of his camel-guards and went jingling16 out of Larkar, with little silver bells under the camels' chins, and came to other cities far-off on the yellow sand, with clear white walls and towers, uplifting themselves in the sun. Through their gates he passed with his three silken regiments, the light-blue regiment14 of the camel-guards being upon his right and the green regiment riding at his left, the lilac regiment going on before. When he had gone through the streets of any city and observed the ways of its people, and had seen the way that the sunlight struck its towers, he would proclaim himself King there, and then ride on in fancy. So he passed from city to city and from land to land. Clear-sighted though Mr. Shap was, I think he overlooked the lust17 of aggrandizement18 to which kings have so often been victims; and so it was that when the first few cities had opened their gleaming gates and he saw peoples prostrate19 before his camel, and spearmen cheering along countless20 balconies, and priests come out to do him reverence21, he that had never had even the lowliest authority in the familiar world became unwisely insatiate. He let his fancy ride at inordinate22 speed, he forsook23 method, scarce was he king of a land but he yearned24 to extend his borders; so he journeyed deeper and deeper into the wholly unknown. The concentration that he gave to this inordinate progress through countries of which history is ignorant and cities so fantastic in their bulwarks25 that, though their inhabitants were human, yet the foe26 that they feared seemed something less or more; the amazement27 with which he beheld28 gates and towers unknown even to art, and furtive29 people thronging30 intricate ways to acclaim31 him as their sovereign—all these things began to affect his capacity for Business. He knew as well as any that his fancy could not rule these beautiful lands unless that other Shap, however unimportant, were well sheltered and fed: and shelter and food meant money, and money, Business. His was more like the mistake of some gambler with cunning schemes who overlooks human greed. One day his fancy, riding in the morning, came to a city gorgeous as the sunrise, in whose opalescent32 wall were gates of gold, so huge that a river poured between the bars, floating in, when the gates were opened, large galleons33 under sail. Thence there came dancing out a company with instruments, and made a melody all around the wall; that morning Mr. Shap, the bodily Shap in London, forgot the train to town.
Until a year ago he had never imagined at all; it is not to be wondered at that all these things now newly seen by his fancy should play tricks at first with the memory of even so sane a man. He gave up reading the papers altogether, he lost all interest in politics, he cared less and less for things that were going on around him. This unfortunate missing of the morning train even occurred again, and the firm spoke to him severely34 about it. But he had his consolation35. Were not Arathrion and Argun Zeerith and all the level coasts of Oora his? And even as the firm found fault with him his fancy watched the yaks36 on weary journeys, slow specks37 against the snow-fields, bringing tribute; and saw the green eyes of the mountain men who had looked at him strangely in the city of Nith when he had entered it by the desert door. Yet his logic did not forsake38 him; he knew well that his strange subjects did not exist, but he was prouder of having created them with his brain, than merely of ruling them only; thus in his pride he felt himself something more great than a king, he did not dare to think what! He went into the temple of the city of Zorra and stood some time there alone: all the priests kneeled to him when he came away.
He cared less and less for the things we care about, for the affairs of Shap, the business-man in London. He began to despise the man with a royal contempt.
One day when he sat in Sowla, the city of the Thuls, throned on one amethyst39, he decided40, and it was proclaimed on the moment by silver trumpets41 all along the land, that he would be crowned as king over all the lands of Wonder.
By that old temple where the Thuls were worshipped, year in, year out, for over a thousand years, they pitched pavilions in the open air. The trees that blew there threw out radiant scents42 unknown in any countries that know the map; the stars blazed fiercely for that famous occasion. A fountain hurled43 up, clattering44, ceaselessly into the air armfuls on armfuls of diamonds. A deep hush45 waited for the golden trumpets, the holy coronation night was come. At the top of those old, worn steps, going down we know not whither, stood the king in the emerald-and-amethyst cloak, the ancient garb46 of the Thuls; beside him lay that Sphinx that for the last few weeks had advised him in his affairs.
Slowly, with music when the trumpets sounded, came up towards him from we know not where, one-hundred-and-twenty archbishops, twenty angels and two archangels, with that terrific crown, the diadem47 of the Thuls. They knew as they came up to him that promotion48 awaited them all because of this night's work. Silent, majestic49, the king awaited them.
The doctors downstairs were sitting over their supper, the warders softly slipped from room to room, and when in that cosy50 dormitory of Hanwell they saw the king still standing51 erect52 and royal, his face resolute53, they came up to him and addressed him:
"Go to bed," they said—"pretty bed." So he lay down and soon was fast asleep: the great day was over.
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1
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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2
pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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3
plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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4
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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5
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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7
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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8
crouch
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| v.蹲伏，蜷缩，低头弯腰；n.蹲伏 | |
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9
archers
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| n.弓箭手，射箭运动员( archer的名词复数 ) | |
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10
gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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wares
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| n. 货物, 商品 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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16
jingling
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| 叮当声 | |
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lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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18
aggrandizement
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| n.增大，强化，扩大 | |
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19
prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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21
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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inordinate
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| adj.无节制的；过度的 | |
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23
forsook
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| forsake的过去式 | |
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24
yearned
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| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
bulwarks
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| n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 )；保障；支柱；舷墙 | |
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26
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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28
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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29
furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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30
thronging
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的现在分词 ) | |
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31
acclaim
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| v.向…欢呼，公认；n.欢呼，喝彩，称赞 | |
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32
opalescent
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| adj.乳色的，乳白的 | |
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33
galleons
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| n.大型帆船( galleon的名词复数 ) | |
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34
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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35
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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36
yaks
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| 牦牛( yak的名词复数 )； 笑话 | |
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37
specks
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| n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 ) | |
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38
forsake
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| vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃 | |
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39
amethyst
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| n.紫水晶 | |
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40
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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41
trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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42
scents
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| n.香水( scent的名词复数 )；气味；（动物的）臭迹；（尤指狗的）嗅觉 | |
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43
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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44
clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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45
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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46
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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47
diadem
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| n.王冠，冕 | |
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48
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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49
majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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50
cosy
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| adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的 | |
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51
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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52
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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53
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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