Part 21 (1/2)
She sat up and seemed as if waiting. But Demetrios remained impa.s.sive, and did not move a muscle, as if he had not heard her. She resumed angrily:
”You have not understood?”
He leaned carelessly upon his elbow and said quietly and unmovedly:
”I have thought of a tale.
”Long ago, long before the conquest of Thrace by your father's ancestors, it was inhabited by wild beasts and a few timorous men.
”The animals were very beautiful: there were lions tawny as the sun, tigers striped like the evening, and bears black as night.
”The men were little and flat-nosed, covered with old, worn skins, armed with rude lances and bows without beauty. They shut themselves up in mountain holes, behind huge stones which they moved with difficulty.
They pa.s.sed their lives at the chase. There was blood in the forests.
”The country was so forlorn that the G.o.ds had deserted it. When Artemis left Olympus in the whiteness of the morning, she never took the path which would have led her to the North. The wars which were waged there did not disturb Ares. The absence of pipes and flutes repelled Apollo.
The triple Hecate alone shone in solitude, like the face of a Medusa upon a petrified land.
”Now, there came to live in that country a man of more favoured race, one who did not dress in skin like the mountain savages.
”He wore a long white robe which trailed behind him a little. He loved to wander at night in the calm forest-glades by the light of the moon, holding in his hand a little tortoise-sh.e.l.l in which were fixed two auroch-horns. Between these horns were stretched three silver strings.
”When his fingers touched the strings, delicious music pa.s.sed over them, much sweeter than the sound of fountains, or the murmur of the wind in the trees, or the swaying of the barley. The first time he played, three sleepy tigers awoke, so prodigiously charmed that they did him no harm, but approached as near as they could and retired when he ceased. On the morrow there were many more, and wolves also, and hyenas, and snakes poised upright on their tails.
”After a very short time the animals came of their own accord, and begged him to play to them. A bear would often come quite alone to him and go away enchanted on hearing three marvellous chords. In return for his favours, the wild beasts provided him with food and protected him against the men.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
”But he tired of this tedious life. He became so certain of his genius, and of the pleasure he afforded to the beasts, that he ceased to care to play well. The animals were always satisfied, so long as it was he who played. Soon he refused even to give them this satisfaction, and stopped playing altogether, from indifference. The whole forest mourned, but for all that the musician's threshold did not lack savoury meats and fruits.
They continued to nourish him, and loved him all the more. The hearts of beasts are so constructed.
”Now one day, he was leaning against his open door, looking at the sunset behind the motionless trees, when a lioness happened to pa.s.s by.
He took a step inside as if he feared tiresome solicitations. The lioness did not trouble about him, and simply pa.s.sed by.
”Then he asked her in astonishment; 'Why do you not beg me to play?' She answered that she cared nothing about it. He said to her: 'Do you not know me?' She answered: 'You are Orpheus.' He answered: 'And you don't want to hear Me?' She repeated, 'No.' 'Oh!' he cried, 'oh! how I am to be pitied! It is just for you that I should have liked to play. You are much more beautiful than the others, and you must understand so much better. If you will listen to me one little hour, I will give you everything you can dream of.' She answered: 'Steal the fresh meats that belong to the men of the plain. a.s.sa.s.sinate the first person you meet.
Take the victims they have offered to your G.o.ds, and lay all at my feet.' He thanked her for the moderation of her demands, and did what she required.
”For one hour he played before her: but afterwards he broke his lyre and lived as if he were dead.”
The queen sighed:
”I never understand allegories. Explain it to me, Well-beloved. What does it mean?”