So Count Manuel's youth went out of him as he became more and more intimate with Misery1, and an attachment2 sprang up between them, and the two took counsel as to all Manuel's affairs. They often talked of the royal ladies whom Manuel had loved and loved no longer.
"For at one time," Manuel admitted, "I certainly fancied myself in love with the Princess Alianora, and at another time I was in love with Queen Freydis. And even now I like them well enough, but neither of these royal ladies could make me forget the slave girl Niafer whom I loved on Vraidex. Besides, the Princess and the Queen were fond of having their own way about everything, and they were bent3 on hampering4 me with power and wealth and lofty station and such other obstacles to the following of my own thinking and my own desires. I could not endure the eternal arguing this led to, which was always reminding me, by contrast, of the quiet dear ways of Niafer and of the delight I had in the ways of Niafer. So it seemed best for everyone concerned for me to break off with Freydis and Alianora."
"As for these women," the head estimated, "you may be for some reasons well rid of them. Yet this Alianora has fine eyes and certain powers."
"She is a princess of the Apsarasas," Manuel replied, "and therefore she has power over the butterflies and the birds and the bats, and over all creatures of the air. I know, because she has disclosed to me some of the secrets of the Apsarasas. But over her own tongue and temper the Princess Alianora has no power and no control whatever, and if I had married her she would have eventually pestered5 me into being a king, and giving my life over to politics and the dominion6 of men."
"This Freydis, too, has beautiful black hair—and certain powers—"
"She was once Queen of Audela, and therefore she retains power over all figures of earth. I know, because she has disclosed to me some of the secrets of Audela. But the worst enemy of Freydis also goes in red, and is housed by the little white teeth of Freydis, for it was this enemy that betrayed her: and if I had married her she would have coaxed7 me, by and by, into becoming a great maker8 of images, and giving my life over to such arts."
Misery said: "You have had love from these women, you have gained power and knowledge from these women. Therefore you leave them, to run after some other woman who can give you no power and knowledge, but only a vast deal of trouble. It is not heroic, Manuel, but it is human, and your reasoning is well fitted to your time of life."
"It is true that I am young as yet, sir—"
"No, not so very young, for my society is maturing you, and already you are foreplanning and talking the follies9 of a man in middle life."
"No matter what my age may come to be, sir, I shall always remember that when I first set up as a champion, and was newly come from living modestly in attendance upon the miller's pigs, I loved the slave girl Niafer. She died. I did not die. Instead, I relinquished10 Niafer to Grandfather Death, and at that price I preserved my own life and procured11 a recipe through which I have prospered12 unbelievably, so that I am today a nobleman with fine clothes and lackeys13, and with meadow-lands and castles of my own, if only I could obtain them. So I no longer go ragged14 at the elbows, and royal ladies look upon me favorably, and I find them well enough. But the joy I took in Niafer is not to be found in any of these things."
"That too is an old human story," the head said, "and yours is a delusion15 that comes to most men in middle life. However, for a month of years you have served me faithfully, except for twice having failed to put enough venom16 in my soup, and for having forgotten to fetch in any ice that evening the Old Black One was here. Still, nobody is perfect; your time of service is out; and I must repay you as need is. Will you have happiness, then, and an eternal severance17 between you and me?"
"I have seen but one happy person," Manuel replied. "He sat in a dry ditch, displaying vacant glittering eyes, and straws were tangled18 in his hair, but Tom o' Bedlam19 was quite happy. No, it is not happiness I desire."
The head repeated: "You have served me. I repay, as need is, with the payment you demand. What is it you demand?"
Dom Manuel said, "I demand that Niafer who was a slave girl, and is now a ghost in her pagan paradise."
"Do you think, then, that to recall the dead is possible?"
"You are cunning, sir, but I remember what Freydis told me. Will you swear that Misery cannot bring back the dead?"
"Ah, yes, but will you rest one of your cold hard pointed22 ears against"—here Manuel whispered what he did not care to name aloud,—"the while that you swear to it."
"Of course not," Misery answered, sullenly23: "since every troubled ghost that ever gibbered and clanked chains would rise confronting me if I made such an oath. Yes, Manuel, I am able to bring back the dead, but prudence24 forces me to lie about my power, because to exercise that power to the full would be well-nigh as ruinous as the breaking of that pumpkin25. For there is only one way to bring back the dead in flesh, and if I follow that way I shall lose my head as all the others have done."
"What is that to a lover?" says Manuel.
The head sighed, and bit at its white lips. "An oath is an oath to the Léshy. Therefore do you, who are human, now make profitable use of the knowledge and of the power you get from those other women by breaking oaths! And as you have served me, so will I serve you."
Manuel called black eagles to him, in the manner the Princess Alianora had taught, and he sent them into all parts of the world for every sort of white earth. They obeyed the magic of the Apsarasas, and from Britain they brought Dom Manuel the earth called leucargillon, and they brought glisomarga from Enisgarth, and eglecopala from the Gallic provinces, and argentaria from Lacre Kai, and white earth of every description from all parts of the world.
Manuel made from this earth, as Queen Freydis had taught him how to do, the body of a woman. He fashioned the body peculiarly, in accordance with the old Tuyla mystery, and the body was as perfect as Manuel could make it, in all ways save that it had no head.
Then Manuel sent a gold-crested wren26 into Provence: it entered through an upper window of the King's marmoreal palace, and went into the Princess Alianora's chamber27, and fetched hence a handkerchief figured with yellow mulberries and wet with the tears which Alianora had shed in her grieving for Manuel. And Dom Manuel sent also a falcon28, which returned to him with Queen Freydis' handkerchief. That was figured with white fleurs-de-lis, and that too was drenched29 with tears.
"In the time that is passed I have overthrown31 high kings and prophets, and sorcerers also, as when Misery half carelessly made sport of Mithridates and of Merlin and of Moses, in ways that ballad-singers still delight to tell of. But with you, Dom Manuel, I shall deal otherwise, and I shall disconcert you by and by in a more quiet fashion. Hoh, I must grapple carefully with your love for Niafer, as with an antagonist32 who is not scrupulous33, nor very sensible, but who is exceedingly strong. For observe: you obstinately34 desire this perished heathen woman, who in life, it well may be, was nothing remarkable35. Therefore you have sought Misery, you have dwelt for a month of years with terror, you have surrendered youth, you are planning to defy death, you are intent to rob the deep grave and to despoil36 paradise. Truly your love is great."
Manuel said only, "An obligation is upon me, for the life of Niafer was given to preserve my life."
"Now I, whom some call Béda, and others Kruchina, and whom for the present your love has conquered—I it is, alone, who can obtain for you this woman, because in the long run I overcome all things and persons. Life is my province, and the birth cry of every infant is an oath of allegiance to me. Thus I am overlord where all serve willy-nilly except you, who have served of your own will. And as you have served me, so must I serve you."
Manuel said, "That is well"
"It is not so well as you think, for when you have this Niafer I shall return to you in the appearance of a light formless cloud, and I shall rise about you, not suddenly but a little by a little. So shall you see through me the woman for love of whom your living was once made high-hearted and fearless, and for whose sake death was derided37, and paradise was ransacked38: and you will ask forlornly, 'Was it for this?' Throughout the orderly, busied, unimportant hours that stretch between your dressing39 for the day and your undressing for the night, you will be asking this question secretly in your heart, while I pass everywhither with you in the appearance of a light formless cloud, and whisper to you secretly."
"And what will you whisper to me?"
"Not anything which you will care to repeat to anybody anywhere. Oh, you will be able to endure it, and you will be content, as human contentment goes, and my triumph will not be public. But, none the less, I shall have overthrown my present conqueror40, and I shall have brought low the love which terror and death did not affright, and which the laws of earth could not control; and I, whom some call Béda, and others Kruchina, will very terribly attest41 that the ghost of outlived and conquered misery is common-sense."
"That is to-morrow's affair," replied Dom Manuel "To-day there is an obligation upon me, and my dealings are with to-day."
Then Manuel bound the clay head of Misery in the two handkerchiefs which were wet with the tears of Alianora and of Freydis. When the cock had crowed three times, Dom Manuel unbound the head, and it was only a shapeless mass of white clay, because of the tears of Freydis and Alianora.
Manuel modeled in this clay, to the best of his ability, the head of Niafer, as he remembered her when they had loved each other upon Vraidex: and after the white head was finished he fitted it to the body which he had made from the other kinds of white earth. Dom Manuel robed this body in brown drugget such as Niafer had been used to wear in and about the kitchen at Arnaye, and he did the other things that were requisite42, for this was the day of All Saints when nothing sacred ought to be neglected.
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1
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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2
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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3
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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4
hampering
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| 妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的现在分词 ) | |
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5
pestered
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| 使烦恼，纠缠( pester的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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7
coaxed
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱 | |
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8
maker
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| n.制造者，制造商 | |
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9
follies
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| 罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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10
relinquished
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| 交出，让给( relinquish的过去式和过去分词 )； 放弃 | |
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11
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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12
prospered
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
lackeys
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| n.听差( lackey的名词复数 )；男仆（通常穿制服）；卑躬屈膝的人；被待为奴仆的人 | |
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14
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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15
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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16
venom
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| n.毒液，恶毒，痛恨 | |
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severance
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| n.离职金；切断 | |
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18
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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bedlam
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| n.混乱，骚乱；疯人院 | |
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20
authentic
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| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
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21
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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22
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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23
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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24
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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25
pumpkin
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| n.南瓜 | |
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26
wren
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| n.鹪鹩；英国皇家海军女子服务队成员 | |
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27
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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28
falcon
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| n.隼，猎鹰 | |
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29
drenched
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| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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30
craftily
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| 狡猾地，狡诈地 | |
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31
overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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32
antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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33
scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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34
obstinately
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| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
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35
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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36
despoil
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| v.夺取，抢夺 | |
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37
derided
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| v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
ransacked
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| v.彻底搜查( ransack的过去式和过去分词 )；抢劫，掠夺 | |
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39
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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40
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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41
attest
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| vt.证明，证实；表明 | |
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42
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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