Part 31 (2/2)
Some of our beasts are unlike yours, but the greater number are similar, though in many of these, the nature of the animal may be somewhat different. Tigers, for instance, are in form like those on your wilds, but are not without generosity. Thus, they seldom attack each other except when the females are young, and after a fight, when one of the males has prostrated the other, the victor will lick the wounds of the vanquished in order to heal them. After this the two will be friendly, the vanquished tiger resigning his pretensions without further struggle.
I will relate to you a ”Tiger” incident that occurred in our world, a long distance from Montalluyah.
THE TIGER AND THE CHILD.
Our hurricanes disturb wild animals, numbers of which approach the outskirts of the towns bordering on the prairies. People are on the watch, for sometimes they have entered the habitations.
A curious incident occurred on the confines of one of these towns. A mother had gone into the next house to fetch something required for her household use, leaving her young child, about three years old, playing on the ground. The door of her cottage was open, and she little knew that a large tiger was prowling near. The watchers had gone into the field, and the tiger approached the outskirts of the town, close to the hut where the child was playing, entered through the door, and found the little innocent, who, not knowing what danger was, allowed the animal to approach, and even patted him. The tiger crouched down close to the pillow on which the child had been playing.
The mother returned, and, to her horror and bewilderment, saw this huge tiger, with her darling child fast asleep, its head resting on the belly of the animal. She was for a moment paralysed with fear, and was unable to utter a single cry, but, recovering herself, she ran and gave the alarm. No time was lost in communicating with the officials, and very soon hunters and men skilled in pursuit of wild animals were on the spot; but the comparatively short time that elapsed was to the poor mother, who saw the child of her affection, beaming with health, in the power of the monster.
The huntsmen viewed the great beast, but they were at a loss what to do; for the chief said, that if they shot him, even in the most vital part, he would most likely, in his death-struggle, kill the child. After some consultation, they procured a hook, fixed it firmly at the end of a long rod, and then took hold of the child's dress and pulled it by the hook gently towards them. The movement roused the tiger, who caught the rod in his mouth and broke it, as though desirous to retain the child. The child woke and cried, but the tiger licked him, and whilst so engaged the men managed to get partly over him the iron network (used, as I have described, to secure wild beasts), so as to disable him, and to get the child away. When the beast saw the child removed he uttered a piercing howl, such as had never been heard before, and, strange to say, the child was also grieved to leave the tiger, or, to use his own words, the ”large beautiful cat.”
The animal having been killed, the skin was dressed and presented to the mother of the child.
THE UNICORN.
There exists an animal in my planet like your heraldic unicorn. He is very graceful, but very ferocious, not heeding kindness, whilst harshness increases his ferocity.
One mode of taming him for a time was discovered--namely, to feed him with oranges! I saw one who, a few minutes previously had been das.h.i.+ng about with restless fury, and who, after eating some oranges, lay down quietly, and even licked the hand of the keeper who had fed him with the fruit.
Particular hurricanes bring swarms of insects, which never come near the unicorn; they seem to have a great antipathy to him.
XLVII.
THE SUN.
THE ELECTRIC STAR-INSTRUMENT.
”The infinity of the universe of worlds is but a faint reflection of the Infinite Power that created them. By His will they were called into existence. By His will they, and all that they contain, could be swept away in an instant!”
”Not even in thought can ye grasp the boundlessness of His works.
How then can ye measure the infinite might of their Creator?”
My palace stands on the highest ground in the uppermost city in Montalluyah. It is of circular shape, and has twenty floors and terraces raised one above the other, the circ.u.mference of each gradually diminis.h.i.+ng from the lowest to the highest. There are no stairs, in your sense of the word, but we are raised from one story to the other with ease by electric power. Besides the internal communication, there is another circular tower of considerably smaller dimensions contiguous to the palace, with each floor of which it communicates by a species of temporary bridge, so that persons can be moved at once to the floor they desire to reach, without the necessity of entering the palace by a lower floor. This communication can be suspended instantaneously by stopping the electric generating power which acts from within the palace, and communicates subterraneously with the ”Lift” Tower.
On the highest terrace of the palace, and dominating every part of the upper cities, and many of the other cities of Montalluyah, is erected my Observatory, whence I could observe the various worlds suspended in s.p.a.ce.
We had for a long time possessed instruments through which we could see many of the most distant stars, but with none of these was electric power combined, and their scope was not sufficient to solve certain problems of great interest.
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