Part 12 (1/2)
Through the pungent aroma of the burning branches, a faint breath of perfume from the sunset-dyed azalea swept, mingling with it, and so pa.s.sing with it into the endless circling.
The l.u.s.trous eyes drooped, losing their brilliance; but when they looked up again only serene confident comprehension was there.
”In forest days none of us were Star-gazers, for there was no Rim to the world on which the following Footsteps could be seen. But when we left the forest for the upland, with its milch kine and seed grains, we learnt to look; for there was the Rim. And all things went to stand on it and disappear among the Stars.
”So, gazing, we saw that the Stars disappeared also; they, too, were following the Footsteps. But they never came back as they went, like other things. Their footsteps were faithful; so faithful that you could foretell by them the ripening of the seed grains, the coming of milk to the herds.
”So gazing, we wondered. Here by this pool I watched, taking no need of harvest or milk time; but I saw nothing but the following Footsteps and the footsteps of the Stars.
”Nothing, though I followed with mine eyes, wheeling as the Stars wheeled to meet the dawn while the shadows and my kind, and all other things, slept as they do now.”
They slept, indeed! The very smoke had ceased to circle. It hung in motionless curves, soft, impenetrable, and I could see nothing now save the l.u.s.trous eyes, and the dull glow of the fire.
”So I gazed, until one night, as I stood following the footsteps of the faithful Stars with mine eyes, the knowledge came to me, that as I stood watching them, so Someone stood watching me and all things.
Someone who did not move. And I was glad, though I was afraid.
”But that dawn, when I went down after our custom to gather the seed grains with my kind, they looked at me askance as if I were a stranger.
Only Io, she of the beautiful young one that all cherished, paused as she suckled it to follow me with curious wondering eyes.”
There was a pause, and through it came, soft as a sigh, that faint wail:
”Io! Io! Disturber of Dreams, why didst come? Io! Io! Bringer of Dreams, why didst thou go?”
”It was cold here, on the uplands, gazing; but the faithful Stars shone quite near me. It seemed as if I could reach up and clasp them. And I was faithful as they in the Footsteps; for I have driven a stake of wood into the ground firm as the ground itself, and night after night, as I watched the Stars wheel, I twirled the slender wand I held in my hands upon it, following their faithful Footsteps so that the Someone who watched might see me even as they were!
”And I was happy, though I was afraid.
”But one night, when the tall gra.s.ses were stiff and the low green things were white with the cold, my fingers could scarce twirl the wand, and the fear lest the Someone might grow angry with me came so strong that suddenly I lifted my head and cried to It to be kind.
”How the stars shone! My hands longed to leave the wand and reach them, and in me there rose a great new joy, as if I had found myself.
”But that Dawn, when I went after the custom to gather the grain with my kind, they fled from me as if I had been an enemy.
”Only Io, she of the beautiful young one, with her b.r.e.a.s.t.s full of milk, left the cherished one athirst to follow my footsteps and hold out a handful of the grain she had gathered for herself.
”But I feared her and she feared me, so she left it lying on the ground, and afterwards I went and ate it, for I was hungry. But the touch of her hand that was on the grain touched my lips so that I felt it even as I gazed.
”Io! Io! Disturber of Dreams, why didst come? Io! Io! Why didst thou go? The Star fire was not thine, though thou wast in the fire of the Star!”
Even the l.u.s.trous eyes were hidden from me now; I saw nothing but the fading glow of the embers as I sate listening amid the uttermost peace of all things to that soft almost voiceless wail.
”The nights grew hot, and the tall gra.s.ses crackled in the drought, and the low green things wilted to greyness. But I cared not, for I had found myself, and I knew there was a Beginning and an End. And even that touch on my lips did not disturb my dreams as, faithful as they, I followed the faithful footsteps of the Stars.
”Until one night--it was so hot that something in me seemed to out-beat the beating of the Stars--a great Darkness that was not Night came from the Rim and swallowed up all things.