?7n THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF THE STATUE IN THE AIR Clie ^tatue in t^e ty? Caroline Caton He Conte I New York The Macmillan Company London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd. 1897 COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY CAROLINE EATON LE CONTE. All rights reserved. Norfooofc Berwick & Smith, Norwood, Musi., U.S.A. Statue fn tlje Sir AN elder and a younger chorus were chanting as night descended over the valley of Callithera ; the elder armed, the younger garlanded with flowers, they stood before the light, aspiring columns of a palace, and lifted their eyes toward that region no language may describe. There among the steep, dreadful crags drenched by wander ing rains and vapors, or bare to the ghastly light of the moon lay a pro digious magical chasm, encircled in granite that rings like iron under heel, where to the north Arcturus drives the giant stars. Higher than this tract the mountains rose in everlasting ice ; be low it, sank through a hoarse gorge to IL be Statue in t&r this fertile valley. One could hardly imagine loveliness so close to horror. Therefore the chorus, chanting sol emnly, exalted Heaven, because the time was now so near when their valley should be delivered from the spell of that tremendous chasm. Having fin ished their chant, they were preparing to march, when a man in haste came running between the lines. "Tell Heliophanes the shepherds who went to-day into the mountains have not returned." A few inarticulate cries ; and out of the deep hush the leader spoke fer vently : "Pray heaven they have not fallen into the abyss." " A foreigner went with them." " Who was the foreigner ? " "Botas, the herdsman, the foster- brother of Heliophanes. He says at a certain point our countrymen took one way through the crags, he an other ; when he had reached the place for meeting ah, they had vanished as people walk away in a dream." " Ah ! " cried one man bitterly ; " al- Oc Statue in tbe .31 tr ways so. Aliens escape ; our unfortunate countrymen are dragged down into the abyss." Another gestured vehemently. " But not for long ! Heliophanes himself will tell us to-night the exact day on which we shall close that cursed chasm." But the leader, who had turned sor rowfully apart, now wheeled with an emphatic gesture. " Silence ! And not a word of this to Heliophanes. For why should we distress that holiest prophet upon the verge of victory ? If, indeed, our countrymen have fallen into the chasm, yet it is by no means cer tain they have died. Many return out of it, even though with shame. So up with your torches, and be quick. This night for work, not for wailing, to Heliophanes' ! " " To Heliophanes' ! " echoed the chorus : a flute sounded softly : and all moved away into the giant gloom. 3 " O BE thankful to the gods ! I tell you now not in promise only, but in very fact, the day approaches wherein we shall vanquish those dark Powers ; Troglodytes shall be slain ; yes, very soon we ourselves shall block that mur derous chasm. For it is Troglodytes alone that all these ages has held it open ; were he dead, many a glorious thing would happen. Our dear Guar dian, Immortal Eros, might return to us ; also Euphorion his son would leave Eucarpia to dwell with us always." Thus Heliophanes addressed the chorus in a deep, trembling voice. Younger and elder, these men stood with lowered foreheads and extin guished torches at the base of the ir regular crags that bound the valley. Behind them lay a pool, near which grew an apple-tree ; above, at two spears' length, was a terrace circled by a rock parapet and bearing the house of the 4 H>tattte in tljc 2lir old prophet. But Heliophanes himself stood beside the parapet, his torch shin ing with the calm radiance of a star ; then his melodious voice disturbed the twilight. " Now you all know that I was my self in Eucarpia, dwelling among aliens, with Botas and Euphorion and my daughter Leanira, when that amazing vision fell upon my soul. You know how it summoned me to be your pro phet ; how it revealed to me the com ing of a deliverer, who should slay Troglodytes ; and bade me seek the confirmation at the Cave of Love." A voice out of the chorus spoke with deep piety : " How well I remember that festival day you arrived. The pal ace was all decked with apple-boughs a good omen." Heliophanes replied gently : "So I thought also when I saw the sacred flower. Yet you did not believe me until I took you to the Cave of Love and unearthed a stone whereon was carved the oracle. Who of you now recall it ? " Several voices eagerly : "When a 5 IL be t-tntuc in tbc Sir prophet, the father of one daughter, has a vision, and when in accordance with his vision the Hero steps to the pool, and plucks from its bosom the sacred flower, and the same day arrives in the palace a five-year-old child, the statue of Eros, that very day Troglodytes is slain, and the chasm closed for ever." " Ah ! " exclaimed Heliophanes, " the very words. When the necessity comes you will act promptly. But hear what follows. I, of course, sent to Eucar- pia to order the carving of the sacred statue, intrusting the matter to Botas. Thus ten years passed ; and now the final vision." On the part of the chorus a move ment of anticipation, a subdued clash ing of arms. " A month ago, and at dawn, I dreamed I was standing beside yonder apple-tree ; upon the pool floated a spray cut by my own hand ; up rose the joyful sun ; forth stepped the Cham pion ! But I could not discern his face, he was so involved in a golden nimbus like a god However, as soon as I 6 iL be Statue in tfje 3Ur awoke I sent to Eucarpia to obtain the sacred statue. Betas had already come hither to sell one of his flocks. There fore I wrote Euphorion that he place the statue on board our ship with his own hands. Also the vision told me the exact day." " The day ! the day ! " in a clamor ous whisper. "That day," said Heliophanes, "is to-morrow." A vivid movement ran along the chorus. Man by man, turning with a mysterious shudder, gazed at the pool. There under the sacred tree was an altar, and upon the altar a sacrificial knife. "Behold the day!" cried Helio phanes. " A fit entrance for Troglody tes' conqueror is the first day of the festival in honor of Eros." Then, raising his hand, " Be all done in accordance with the oracle. You, the elder, immediately to the temple. Hold watch until shortly before dawn, then return to my house. You, the younger, straightway to the palace adorn it. In the morning you receive the oracled 7 Statue in t&c 9U statue. Last of all, we older ones, when that Hero has gone down into the abyss, we meet you at the palace, and all together bear the sacred statue to the Cave of Love. One more word. Botas, my dear foster-brother, is now in the valley. He has been to us of incalculable service. I would be glad if to-morrow he were received in our number as a son of the valley." The -chorus answered with a multi tude of voices : " We also would be glad; Botas is most welcome." "I have finished. Friends, let all be done quietly and with reverence." A slender boy had received Helio- phanes' torch : one by one the torches of each company blossomed into flame ; the men chanted, divided, marched, and countermarched ; and still chanting, went off to right and left, the flames disappearing like sparks into the dark ness. When all was silent, Heliophanes, leaning over the parapet, said : " Bo- ta* " Ldoj Out of a dark hollow a man emerged, and swung himself promptly to the Cfjc &tattie in tfce terrace. Si^ie by side he entered with the prophet into the ray of light that fell through the open door of the house, drew a letter from his bosom, and read excitedly : " 'Come to me, my dear brother. I have urgent need of you. At nightfall be privately at my house. Hide in some bushy cleft below the parapet. The gods have decreed that to you alone of all aliens shall be revealed the dreadful, immemorial secret of our valley.' ' "Your writing, Heliophanes ? " "Mine." "By heaven, when I read that I t ^ doubted it, or thought you mad." "uQ ^ ( " Hush ! Leanira is asleep ! So you < __L would have thought me raving had I ; revealed all this in secret ; therefore I Ct told it to you in the presence of the chorus, every one of these men bearing witness to my word." " I am thunderstruck ! And Eupho- rion, the son of a god ! " " Softer yet remember ! my child ! O, I would have left her with you at Eucarpia, but she wept so my heart was torn. Here I have been Statue in t&e SUr obliged to guard her, that never a whis- / per reach her of that horrible abyss. Be lieve me, you are the first foreigner to know of it. You see why my father sent me in boyhood to Eucarpia. Eu- \ ' phorion, too, when his mortal mother died, was sent thither by his deathless father, I preserving the secret of his birth. So, too, I ordered the carving of the sacred statue there all, all in terror of that dark abyss." Heliophanes was silent ; but Botas said gravely : " Why did you summon me ? " In that so narrow shoal of light, made by a live ember in the universal dark ness, the two looked at one another. " Brother, I have certain knowledge, though I did not tell the chorus, that our ship, delayed by storms, cannot make our port ; therefore it will enter the port just beyond the mountains, and thus" "That statue, fulfillment of the ora cle, comes over the mountains to-night ? " " Past the Troglodyte Abyss. And I have had a warning vision that com mands me to provide for danger through 10 Statue in t&e a a. brave man, a true friend, I have chosen you. Listen to my plan. You, being a foreigner, are, I believe, free from danger. I could give you a token ; you, run up into the mountains ; at the white precipice mark ! that it is be yond the abyss await our messen gers; take the little statue in your own arms ; by daylight you have it safe in the palace. But govern yourself ; when I have told you all, choose." Botas reflected a moment, frowning ; then said briefly : " I accept. V I do not ask you to jus tify further this extravagant tale. I have seen that to-day whereon to found / * belief, v So for your pressing necessity give me full directions, and let me be off at once." He set his knee upon the parapet ready t9 spring over into the darkness, but the prophet caught him by the arm. " What, Botas ! your life depends upon it ! I must tell you all, for dark Powers rising out of that same chasm would try to prevent the sacred statue from entering the valley." ii >tattte in t&e Sit Botas, stepping back into the ray of light, said : " Then I can be of no use. I am a man. I cannot contend with gods." " Do not hesitate ! This night gods of heaven war with us against the giants of darkness. You are safe." " Then why not at once ? " " Because part of heaven's protec tion is that I should warn you, even to revealing that old shameful secret of our people. What ! could I require you to act blindly ? But indeed I am absolutely certain that you will be able safely to pass the chasm, which lies not far from the direct path." " Not far from the direct path ! and I have never seen it, never heard of it ! " " Even so ; we do not speak of it to strangers." " Strangers ! O Heliophanes ! is it possible that you, a very father to me, have let me come to the valley ; cross by that same path ? Ought not some warning" " No need. I tell you that chasm is no more discoverable by you than coun tries in the clouds. Its fatal spell draws 12 Cjje Statue in tlje 3Ur only natives of the valley ; we have not heard of such accident in the case of others. Indeed, for that very reason I chose you, you are an alien. But, Botas, above all, because you are the heart and soul of all that is coura geous and steadfast. Into your hands 1 commit everything ; only warning you, as you value your life, never once to night step from the direct path." " I shall observe your warning," said Botas solemnly, then continued: "It is singular, never to have heard of this secret chasm," " But you have heard how much more severe our winters are than those of the surrounding country ? " "I have indeed." "Because powers of cold and dark ness, rising out of that same chasm, breathe destruction upon our crops, and encase the higher mountains in ice." " Yet I have heard that your guardian divinity has lived among you ; here mar ried a beautiful mortal, and lived in the Cave of Love," " So it was until one awful day. I believe she must have wandered away 13 C(je JHattte in t&e 9U to the very brink of that huge chasm ; the blood-bewildering sight of Trog lodytes smote her, and so she died. And in agony Love fled back to Hea ven, vowing never to touch Earth while so horrible a secret was folded in her bosom. Twenty-one years have passed since our guardian fled from us, and ever more furiously the powers of cold lash us with the hailstorm ; then the time when, everything in bud and tassel, a blast whirling out of that awful moun tain gorge kills the young of the cattle, and spoils all hope of fruit." " The gods defend you," cried Botas starting, " but this is terrible ! And this is why your flocks and herds Ter rible ! " " Terrible : yet the blight upon corn and beast is not so terrible as the blight upon the human heart. How many, compelled to cross the mountains by necessity or else drawn into them through irresistible curiosity and of those who disappear, whose names, spoken only in a whisper " His voice broke. With a suppressed cry Botas seized him by the arm. C&e Isrtatttc in tljc &ir " What ! is it possible this thing has been concealed among you for all gen erations ? " " For all generations ; father and son, the secret is locked in the heart. O my brother, you are no longer bound by ties of kindred ; be received in our number, guard the secret of the valley as a son of the valley ! " Botas hesitated, drawing his breath in a sharp hiss between his teeth ; then, with a rapid impulse, clasped the hand of Heliophanes. Then, lifting his hand, he dropped it gently upon the shoulder of his friend. Heliophanes drew breath with a struggle ; sweat started over his face. " Directly above the valley is the place that the heart trembles to remem ber : there are precipices climbing al most to the zenith; light spears you, cliff and dome pour down a ponderous shadow ; suddenly a twist, a turn about a rock, and at your feet yawns a gigan tic chasm, circular like the mouth of a whirlpool. Here is the very navel of that dangerous region, difficult to find as places in dreams, and yet like the 15 ttbc Statue in tljc 3Ur door of sleep, sometimes opening upon the traveller unawares ; upon its walls, as far as the eye sweeps around, is stamped-an agony as ancient as the race of man ; TOT with the bursting of Earth's hide, ana shrinking asunder of the lips of the wound, the solid rock is bent into myriad huge wallowing creases that al lure, stupendous fascination ! One moment you hang powerless upon the lip of that wrinkled chasm, whose every stone draws the human body as the magnet draws iron. Once over, you are lost. You can now no more resist than the sailor who is sucked down into the gorge of Charybdis : .^tep by step >-*:'- iV^you descend ; you wind, you loop amid the tangled fragments of the base ; ^~ shame and anguish seize you ; you bat tle to retrace your steps, but the blood regurgitating has left no purpose in your feet ; the bull-headed crags have will to gore you onward ; the invisible loadstone drags you forward ; the at mosphere of the place, like an ocean billow, overwhelms and smothers you : inexorably, inexorably, you stand at last before a point where, beneath frowns 16 Statue in t&e and grins of earth-born sculpture, a cavern opens down into the deep, back ward, unknown Horror. Here, from oldest gigantean time, dwells Troglody tes ; here the sole crevice that pierces Earth into Chaos ; here who enters follows darkness back forever. Ah, how the human foot shrinks, ^.yet craves to penetrate that darkness, gross with very old age, and which, O Botas, is rather like to that blindness, that brute night that lies under birth, than to any darkness we see in life, or even to the shadows of Death. But as you pause, in the torpid shade Troglodytes stirs : he scents the presence of earth- born humanity, of the race akin to him ; he gropes his way forth, and standing in the gloom of the doorway, turns down upon you eyes heavy with long ing and ancient despair. In your own heart, loathing gives way to delight, delight to horrible love ; furiously you fling yourself into his embrace : some are crushed instantly to death ; others, he releases, to wander back dizzy with shame and weakness to the upper world ; others still he drags down into 17 in t&e &tr the bowels of earth, and these have never returned to speak of what they have seen." " O gods, Heliophanes ! tjy sight ? or.by report ? " &iA\ *^f~.^ " By sight, Botas ; nor haVe I ever forgotten that majestic Woe. Of more than mortal size, as man and beast welded in onefwith tiger-tusk he gnaws his flesh, even until the blood spouts. For he is consumed with an immortal hunger, compared with which ours is as an eddy to a whirlpool," " Speak, brother ! tell how all this came about. "" " Construe rapidly, then, what I utter darkly. There was at first One with out beginning or end ; some call him Time, some, Fate, but I, Botas, name him God. He produced of his own substance Chaos, out of which flowed Light and Air : part of this ether gathering into a white and solid sphere, God sang with love and joy ; and the orb musically divided, male and female heaven above and earth beneath ; and from its heart issued the tender, joyful Eros. Thus, you see, our guardian is (L IK Statue in tljc 3Ur a mighty god, chief instrument of the Eternal in creating and continuing the world, eldest as well as youngest of the gods, and the very archetype of man ; for could we grasp in imagination Eros' form, then should we palpably seize upon the sublime thought that God had in creating man. Now, under Love's influence Heaven with Earth again uniting produced the race of gods and men jjand so came into be- ing the world of Love and Light and Reason that is the soul of Light. Earth herself existed as a firm barrier against Chaos and that disorder bred in under-darkness, lest ever it break upward to mar God's glorious crea tion. Yet she of all the universe, being next to Chaos, was least perfect. There came a time when she rebelled against Heaven, a discordant throe, and a monster was born in her depths, Earth his sole parent, Earth that abhorred her offspring and hid him in a deep, stony cavern, with labor and anguish retaining him myriads of ages, until she could no longer stifle her loathing. Her ocean - drenched sides 19 A -^-l M "?Q- ^^^%SW / V KA ^1 fcv^T X^^L et&e \S>tattte in t&e Sir \ H recoiled, her bones of granite cracked and parted ; with cries and pangs the living rock split down into Chaos, up into Light; and Troglodytes burst forth, lusting for victims, gnawing his ''\_own flesh x and forever he moans among th"e" precipfces until death shall release him from his torture. And from a point far east of the amphitheatre to that pinnacle westward that looks down to ocean, over all. fhat space no leaf puts forth, aeon upon aeon the barren wilderness folding in its heart the ma- . * i\v~4 W young chorus deck the sacred statue; and now, oh \ Troglodytes dies, and * the deep gash is scarred with stoned /| to eternity ; never snow, nor hail, nor ***** blight upon the triumphant virtue in the heart of man. A^ And hast thou thought our guardian youngest and weakest of the gods ? Yes, but also eldest and strongest. Feel upon whose mighty protection thou reliest. O my brother, were it not so, how little I could send thee. Ar^thou going ? My love and blessing go with thee, Botas. It is dark, but in the soul of the brave man Heaven has placed an inextinguishable light." " Thy blessing be my light ! " The last ember in the house flashed up and expired. Both men moved forward in absolute darkness. As they reached the cliff and Botas swung him self over, Heliophanes leaned upon the parapet. ;' :- v t4\ Uu^ V^ "Have you the step?" "Yes, I have it." " God protect you, and unfold what is good for us." Cbe tatttc in t&c 3ii /" s A few notes floated up from a dis tant chorus ; a yet more distant chorus answered them out of the bosom of the darkness. 22 UP the steep mountain, through a gray and savage waste of rock, the herdsman was climbing with long strides ; now and again he hummed the fragment of a military ode. As he turned an angle he saw in the path above him a young man of heroic stat ure ; armed, dilated darkly against the sky, and with the rising moon hung behind him like a golden shield, this young stranger seemed the god Mars in the act of issuing out of heaven. $ 'P/P ^"^f " Stop there ! Who are you ? " shouted the stranger. " That voice ! " murmured Botas. " Don't you know me, Euphorion ? " he shouted. And instantly the other, crying cor dially, " Why, by the gods, it is Botas ! " broke his way down through the moon- bedimmed foliage, and the two clasped hands. "Ah, Euphorion!" said the herds- 23 Statue in t&e Sir man. He hesitated, then dropped his hand affectionately upon the young man's shoulder. " Which way ? " " Neither at present. I sleep in the mountains. But up here the cold breath of morning wakens one early : by cock-crow I descend into the val ley." " To astonish every one ! Why, where did you get such arms ? " Euphorion smiled. " My father gave them to me," he said. Now that he stood in the moonlight he did not ap pear so formidable, a fair-locked, eager-eyed young man, enchantingly handsome, with a strenuous but some what innocent air. "Tell me, Botas, how is Helio- phanes ? " "Well, very well." " And Leanira ? You know how long it is since I have seen her, not since she left Eucarpia. Does her father still seclude her ? Every one in Callithera tells me, 'Nobody knows the daughter of Heliophanes.' A pity, she was beautiful as the daughter of a goddess." 24 Statue in t(je air Botas slid his hand deliberately from the other's shoulder. " Say, rather, you are the son of a god." " Hah ! " The young man started in great surprise. " Has he told you ? " " All : the ancient secret of your valley, the Troglodyte Abyss, the coming of the Conqueror to-morrow. For so the gods empowered him. I am sent to guide the statue-bearers ; they come this way to-night." " This way ! O Botas, what a mad mistake that was ! O, but how unfor tunate ! All where the path runs nearest the abyss, harpies have blinded it by dashing stones over it with their wings." "Ah!" " Come some other way quick ! " " But what ? We are no prophets ; we cannot dream ways." Euphorion laid his hand thoughtfully upon the other's arm. "I have the idea. An old magician who will guide you both ways. I will walk back with you and point out his abode." They turned and climbed steadily up, 25 Clje Statue in t&c air Euphorion in advance. At a level spot he caught his breath. " About this conqueror, Botas, - how did Heliophanes say he was to appear ? " " At sunrise to-morrow he plucks a floating cluster from the pool before Heliophanes' house." "The very act!" Then, wheeling face to face : " I am he that shall slay Troglodytes." And seizing upon the astonished herdsman, he hurried him on up the path. "Enough said. I tell you this in order to explain why I cannot go back with you the whole journey ; this night Heaven commands me to sleep on a ledge overlooking Heliophanes', a point whence I may swiftly descend in the morning." " O Euphorion, how you have stunned me ! No, no ! What, Heaven has told you ? you have kept it secret ? Good God ! 't is incredible ! Why, you, but ten years back a playful boy full of pranks, why, I remember you, a little boy so high, running about in the meadow after my heifers. O surely, 26 Statue in tfje &i man, this is too dreadful ! I have no words, I am unapt in speech, but this has struck into my heart. I, that never weep, I could pour out tears now like a woman. But foolish imagi nation ! Surely you are the favored of Heaven, the child of an Immortal, and to those to whom is given the in conceivable struggle, glory is sweeter than life. But I have heard so much to-night, so many strange things, my head 's in confusion. I implore you lay all else aside, and straight to what is now our most pressing need. Tell me something of the history, of the character of this guide you recommend me." " Briefly then, dear friend, for our time is short. Here's the gist of it, and not all by hearsay. He is a native of Callithera. Who was his father, no man knows, but he was born hideously deformed ; and for the general good, the law limits the liberty of deformed persons. They may not marry, per form sacrifice, nor take part in the government. Nevertheless, it was pres ently learned that this same Melanion 27 u_ be Statue in tljt .31 tr was working with extraordinary inge nuity to become the very leader of the Callitherans. A sentence of ban ishment was pronounced upon him. This upon a' festival day ; and no sooner was it pronounced than my foster-father comes running into the palace, all flushed and intoxicated with joy, and shouting out his wonderful vision, how Heaven had revealed to him that a man should slay Troglo dytes. Of course Melanion was for gotten. Some said, 'Heliophanes is mad,' others that he was drunk. No one believed until we had gone to the Cave of Love and dug, and there, the stone and the oracle ! How well I remember that day ! People flung themselves down upon their knees to kiss my foster-father's hand, and some wept like children, and shouted out that he was sent by the gods, and all crowned him with the sacred flower, ah, but that was a glori ous day ! Suddenly a voice shrieked out : 'He lies ! he buried the stone himself ! ' And behold, Melanion. Botas, the people turned upon him in 28 CL I;r S>tattte in tbc 3tr such a frenzy I thought they would have torn him limb from limb, but Heliophanes restrained them. Then Melanion cursed our valley. He fled howling into the mountains, nor has he ever returned. Yet now came over him a remarkable change. He studied the skies, I tell you, herbs, stones, and in solitude learned magical arts. A broad light shone into that distorted soul, calming his intemperate fury, so that, even seven years back, he res cued two herdsmen entangled in the spell of the abyss, and afterwards saved a number of others. So you see how it is with him, even as Heliophanes says, that, having compassed an aim better suited to his condition, the knowledge of the mild destinies of plants and musing under the quiet constellations have taught him peace." There followed a few more rods of upward toiling, when with a deep sigh and sudden sparkling of the eyes, Euphorion drew Botas to the rim of a jutting ledge. " And now, friend, I may go no far ther; here is the place I spoke of. 29 C&c Urtattte in t&e &it That white rock directly above is the magician's abode. But look below, Heliophanes', and the pale glimmer is the pool. How wonderful and awful it is in the moonlight ! O this I do de clare, that ever since that crying voice was torn out of the dumb earth, I have brooded upon this one thing, the slaying of Troglodytes. And always it was I that clutched him by the throat, always I that drove the sword ; yes, I believed myself the conqueror. And now the final summons, in what a transport it has thrown me ! At mid night, splendor drove before my eyes and I started up to the shouting of trumpets. May this lead on to life as well as victory ; but if to death, such a death were to an Immortal a glorious crown. Farewell to thee, Botas, fare well ! the best of fortune, the utmost happiness, to thee. O my true friend ! What thou hast been to me no tongue can voice : in this supreme hour I keep the recollection of it in my heart. To morrow I take leave of Heliophanes ; and Leanira, remember me to her if I should die." 30 Statue in t&e The two men locked hands in si lence : then Botas, releasing his own abruptly, strode on up the mountain. Euphorion spread his mantle and lay down to sleep. Once he raised him self upon his elbow, calling : - " Remember his name, Botas, Melanion ! " And a spectral rock far above, that seemed ever threatening to fall, repeated with a hollow echo, " Melanion ! " THE waning moon had risen ; her light fell down the chasm of the Trog lodyte ; her magical light dwelt upon precipice and pillar, which, as if in hor ror of their own enormity, seemed more than ever pale and gigantic from base to where the summit clove heaven, hiding away a third part of the stars. Behind every crag the hollow engorged an enormous darkness : but to the base of the chasm clear light slid spell-bound; it crept through labyrinthine rock, it glided along imprisoning walls, it floated like arL exhalation up the slope and to that looor and kkrkness that leads beyond imagination down to the Unknown Horror. Here the approach of light was arrested : in the narrow obscurity moved the forms of gigantic bats and barbarous apes. Not real animals that breathe and eat : these are the foodless children of Erebus ; things clotted out of the gross intangi- 32 Statue in t&e air ble ; shapes that have wandered out of the endless dark of Chaos to harbor here upon the shores of Light. It is these bats that fill night with fan ^pal pable alarm, quenching the spirit like a little light into darkness : the apes -fr spring upon the sleeper and clutch his throat ; then he dreams that fee has fallen from a precipice, or that the nine- headed hydra is strangling him. Be yond this doorway all the amphitheatre had been untenanted, voiceless. Now with a roaring gale melancholy cries shook the air from side to side : " Melanion ! Melanion ! Melanion ! " Three harpies had dropped into the chasm ; suspended upon vast wings, they vanished into the Endless Dark. A silence as after a thunder-clap. Then a deformed man came running and sweating through the tangled rocks, and fell gasping down before the en trance to the Endless Dark. " It is done ! We have wrecked the ship ; the statue of Love is sunken to the bottom of ocean." He shook as in an ague-fit. " Speak to me, you Pow ers, such omens and prodigies ! Oh ! Statue in t&e 3U shall the gods overwhelm us ? All, all, crew and flying spars, sucked down into the whirlpool. One escaped, one that cried aloud to his children. I could not slay him, for a flash leaped out of the zenith, and as I climbed the rocks they shed blood and crawled. Ah ! " Such a horrible scream palpitated in the air that one would imagine the pre cipice to shudder, but the cliff remained immovable, the moonlight calm. With a convulsive effort the de formed man dragged his body forward and flung it upon the pillars to the End less Dark : he scraped the rock with his bleeding nails. " Speak to me ! I A $v^$ faint. Not fear of the gods, but of fail- , ure. For oh, I could die transfixed by / a thunderbolt, I could sweat ten thou sand years like a Titan beneath a moun tain, had I but revenge upon those I hate. For this I have toiled, bled, starved, been kind to my enemies, ten der to those that strangled my life, in order that, gathering the full volume of my detestation, I might hurl it in one cataract upon that accursed valley. Speak to me, you Powers. Cry aloud ! 34 . fcr Statue in tljr Sir Roar ! Or even a whisper, I have served you faithfully ! " Far down, the obscurity was troubled with indistinct murmurings and broken babblings : " Melanion bound to us son of human mother by deathless monster of the abyss our kin our tie between Darkness and humanity to aid us that hate not, love not but ruin in obedience to Fate." " But my revenge ? " stammered Melanion. He paused, straining his attention, |hen tears of agony bursting from his eyes. " Madness ! my only friends have deserted me ; Earth, Hea ven, and the eternal gods are combined against me ! " And again rose the words of the in visible chorus, but now distinct and ever-advancing, as though an innumer able army were climbing up out of Chaos into Light, space beyond space of endless, eyeless darkness, murmur ing :- "All earth is but a spume thrown out of the bottomless abyss. Upon its merest surface, where it is caressed by the sphere of Air and Light, it breaks 35 f- Statue in t&e air into a fragile verdure, and fruits that nourish ah equally fragile race of hu manity. Over all springs an ethereal sphere, dwelling-place of the\ immortal ! \gods, beautiful indeed, but frail as a } bubble as compared with that cold gulf, ' that iron depth of darkness, that under earth sinks endlessly. Hence issue Powers fated to ruin, as Eros to cre ate. For we q^rklohes draw back into Chaos whatever he has striven to raise *Jy* out of Chaos : forever he attempts to $ breathe into his creations immortal life ; forever we undo the attempt, to dissolve it back into the formless. Now comes this^Troglodyte-conqueror, who should close the ruinous crack opened up out of Chaos into Light. /> But it is we that shall conquer ; and our contin ual victory is token of the latter end. Air, ocean, wide land, and enormous clouds, the supernal gods and Eros him self, all, all shall melt at last into Chaos, and be as a sigh that has passed out of a spent body, or a dream forgot ten, And the power of darkness shall yet endure when all else is passed away, sunken into the arms of the ancient Statue in t&e 3Ur Father, and dissolved into tfee^ wide oblivion. Chaos is first and last ; he engendered and bore all ; he in the end devours all." Melanion sighed, shuddering from neck to heel. " Whosoever is deformed, and in his misery shuns the light, the gods pursue with unquenchable hatred. But they shall not crush me. I am sprung from a race mightier than theirs." Then, in a voice of supplica tion : " Ye mighty Ignorances that hold in your dark bosoms more than is in the knowledge of the gods, I implore you to reveal to me the means through which to-morrow ye purpose to over come Eros, and Apojlo, Lord of Light ! " And nearer still, and louder, and ever- increasing, rose the solemn, barbarous chanting : " Billows of night and freez ing clouds rolling out of the chasm shall bury the valley." Melanion ^erected himself upon his knees, as a snake does upon its coil be fore it strikes. f\" But I have heard, and my father has 'told me, that a very an cient one, Fate, lies deeper than dark ness, deeper even than Chaos. Now. 37 Statue in t&e Sit if the writing upon the stone be true, the prophecy given by the gods to Heliophanes, then it is the will of Fate that this son of Eros^ should to-morrow slay Troglodytes." J^ M* S4Lot And the chorus answered him, volu minous with myriad marching : " The will of Fate is thus : For all we all are unable to stem his will, yet, sunrise to sunset, to-morrow is given to us to swerve that will, as a stream is swerved in its channel." Up sprang Melanion, laughing hide ously, beating the rock in a tumult with his fists. "To-morrow ! the fatal day ! If here the will of Fate be swerved, Troglodytes lives forever. And if for ever, forever that long flaw is held open out of Chaos into Light." And the voices of the hidden chorus broke in ^ deep volume : " Forever ! forever ! " And mounting upon that chorus, but higher and more piercing, the cry of Melanion : " Heliophanes' prophecy is delusion. O I behold it, tier above tier to welcome the hero ; and no hero comes ! But I shall be there to enjoy your triumph, kind countrymen, lov- 38 C&e Statue in t&e 9Ur ing brothers ! Curses of the Furies upon you, how all your pangs rip open my heart in agonizing joy, my flesh shudders * with delight ! Now, now, now, yfyt as a man, as a monster in de fiance of the gods, I hurl you upon Heliophanes, consume Heliophanes in hatred toward his people ; jar you, grind you, that when Darkness descends, and Death sweeps the valley, perish body and soul ! nor even be as your fathers mindless, bloodless tatters floating about in Erebus, no ! but as utterly consumed into chaos, my fury leaps after you beyond the grave ! Already the first victim My magic ! men are struggling in this circle of enchant ment. O Hecate, rise, urge forth Trog-jQ <2L/l^C lodytes ! " And mingling with his ex ~ V A^^t^t> cited cries, came the clamors of the ' advancing chorus, the stamping, and the clashing wings of the harpies, until VfifX^wrL at the very threshold hundreds of voices broke into a triumphant chant, and into the moonlight glided a giantess wreathed with serpents. And only a pace behind her the gloaming had taken , a brutal shape. " Troglodytes ! Trog- JS>tattte in tlje &tr lodytes ! " thundered the turbulent cho rus. That moment upon the lip of the, , amphitheatre, and in a narrow interval,^ appeared the forms of two men. " Bo- ''" tas ! " screamed the magician. "And 4 he, the one man, escaped from the drowned ship. No room for both to pass at once. Oh, you Powers, not that one ! Not Botas, you enchanted rocks, you bewildering whirlpool, let him escape. Let Heliophanes learn """'I j f rom the tongue of his beloved- that all C U*-fi *' ^^ is lost, dead, sunken to the bottom ofC '\^c/w^VuMS,ocean ; ^the other draw down to his . death ! " He shook up his wand command- ingly, appealingly. The two men locked* 1 ^ -4 arms in a furious struggle : one fell over *j ~ backward ; the other, forward and head-*^L long into the abys Ht^W'^ ^Mjo^J^n f . j \ btJki Y^A^fy-^Ait /Lq/iA^.4 ^^ ^ ^ L * I )a^ Uv^ve*-' ^ I THE waning moon descended over the valley. Night had driven her chariot near to plunging back into chaos ; and singular dreams, double- faced or mouse-eared, were floating in and out among the apple-boughs. Some are shaped like charming moths : it is these that enchant the slumbers of youth. In the palace all was ready for the dance of youths and maidens : but the elder chorus, after a night-long watch, had poured out of the temple ; had crossed the valley ; and stood armed, in deep silence, around the pool from whose bosom a spray should declare the Hero. And Heliophanes, standing under the apple-tree, stretched his hands toward the chorus. " O my people, what a victory Heaven has given us ! Our terrible humiliation is over ; the path to Chaos, 41 Statue in tlje closed. Welcome, Hero, plucking the mysterious flower. For look, not only through vision, but in open sign, the gods announce thee : since earth is so early and peacefully green, the apple- bough, burdened with blossom, a glori ous warmth overpowers the valley. Be hold the token of Troglodytes' death : Winter is already slain." He poured wine upon the sod ; strewed embers over the altar, and over these boughs of the apple-tree ; a soft vapor floated upward ; and lifting his hands, Heli- ophanes prayed : " O Eros, Chaste Innocence, Ethereal Golden - winged Wanderer, Thou who ages ago, issu ing from the milk-white primeval orb, drew heaven and earth in harmony, ever-dear Guardian, hear us. We are overwhelmed with horror of the brutal monster ; we faint in struggling with resistless Chaos. O as dawn shall soon exhaust the billow of darkness, and the sun rise out of the unconquered abyss of the morning, now scatter forever the blindness that has encompassed our souls. Be this hero inspired with thy breath, be his arm fortified through thy 42 Statue in t&e 9Ut godhood, O Love, let not human en deavor fail entirely, let not the beauti ful souls of men dissolve into chaos." A sigh ran along the apple-trees, and through the multitude of men a deep murmur. Then profound silence fell. Raising the sacrificial knife, Heliophanes sev ered a cluster from the sacred tree and placed it upon the pool, where it lay, a double miracle in air and water ; grad ually Dawn spread over the sky a tender color like apple-blossoms, and created therein a multitude of small gray clouds. Immediately the chorus climbed to the terrace ; only the pro phet remained below in prayer. Suddenly splendor shot to the ze nith ; the whole cloud-phalanx, wheel ing down to meet the sun, shouted with light ; the fiery wheel clove the moun tain-top ; and a beam, leaping across the pool, suspended flower and reflec tion in a flood of glory ; and north to south the chorus flashed like the belt of Orion. Into the air rolled the tri umphal chant, and exalted the day that led to them the conqueror. 43 (Tljc Statue in the The last notes dissolved in silence ; the men in brilliant sunlight leaned upon their spears; the gods, bending from their golden seats, looked down through the pellucid air. Very gently the willows parted, and a girl of nine teen, moving over the violets, stooped and plucked from the pool the mystical flower. " O my daughter ! " groaned Helio- phanes, and bowed down upon his knees. "What! his own daughter?" the whisper ran among the chorus ; and all those men stood frozen, as though they had fixed their eyes upon the Medusa. One instant she paused, covered the flowers in her bosom, and fled. As instantly broke into view from the opposite side of the cliff a man torn naked to the waist, gashed and bleed ing. " The storm ! the storm ! Get your families away, get your herds into shelter ! Night has borne monstrous omens, oh, the most fatal omens ! " "Speak! speak!" from the chorus. "Who are you ?" 44 Statue in tlje Sir "Botas, messenger of Heliophanes to those who bear the sacred statue. Nightfall I went into the mountains ; met a solitary sailor, who told me the ship was wrecked, the statue lost. Con fusion seized us. I cannot tell how first we wandered into that accursed circle, for Heliophanes had warned me : yet we strove to escape ; we doubled upon our tracks ; then a turn, a sharp turn" "Ah! ah!" " Oh, in one instant every rock in that circuit had cords, thongs of bull's hide to draw down my limbs, my heart that burned and beat furiously ; frenzied I fought with that other for right of first entrance, and I, the stronger Mer ciful Heaven ! Some god must have tripped my foot, for I stumbled back, struck violently against a rock ; when I came to, rushed away in ecstasy ; yet again stumbling in horror, I saw a gigantic Shadow glide through the wilderness, and before her ran the hissing blast. The storm ! the storm ! to shelter! O pray, pray to the gods ! " He staggered and dropped ; raised 45 in himself upon one hand, struggling to speak ; fell forward insensible, the blood spurting from the wound in his head. An inconceivable roaring clamor arose among the chorus, and over the clamor a scream. It was Melanion. He had leaped to a crag that opposed Heliophanes and dominated the chorus. " Oh, fools and blind ! I told you it was all a fraud, that cursed stone bur ied in the earth. Why, he carved it himself, you sucklings ; made his own oracle, cunningly pious, working to ambitious ends ; contrived the statue ; and has hidden some fellow in the bushes to step forward at a signal, some rascal who has just taken to his heels. Dreadful anger of the gods dreadfully fallen upon his blasphemy, the ship is wrecked, the statue lost, the hero is a woman. His own daughter ! See how the gods declare his crime ! " " Oh ! oh ! oh ! " cried the chorus. " Yes, bawl ! Split up your lungs ! See if you can crack heaven now to get some word to the gods. Bah ! they withdraw, they detest you, they deliver you up to the powers of the storm. 46 Statue in tljc 3Ut Deaf puppets of the blasphemer, judge whether I speak truth or lies. If your prophet be from the gods, the gods will protect him, but if a blasphemous pretender - Behold ! I have stricken him blind, I dash him down to the spot. Leap, Heliophanes ! fly, run ! Look how he clutches at the air ; tumbles down in a fit ! Ha ! ha ! ha ! What a glorious prophet ! Fools, fools, fools ! " "Look ! " cried the chorus; "he has fallen upon the spot." " Kill him ! " shouted furious voices. " It is proven, he revealed our secret to the stranger. O damnable beast ! " The ranks broke, the chorus swayed and stooped to fling itself upon Helio phanes. Then a few strong voices : " No time ! the storm-cloud already upon the mountain. Back to the tem ple, and lift to our guardian hands unstained with blood. To the temple, to the temple ! Pray to the gods, then kill the blasphemer and his daughter." " To the temple ! to the temple ! " in confusion ; and many loud voices : " Seize Botas ! carry him on to the temple ; if there 's a good omen he is 47 Statue in t&e 3Ur innocent." And yet higher voices, leaping up above the shouts : " But quick death to the blasphemer, we return." No other word was spoken. Four men seized and raised Botas from the ground ; the chorus leaped to earth and vanished through the thicket, sud denly as when a troop of birds loosen their hold upon a crag, swing down ward and away. Then with the velocity of a pan ther Melanion flung himself down, and leaped upon the prostrate Heliophanes ; he trod upon him, he shook his fists up against heaven, and lifting to the darkening storm-cloud a face whereon the veins stood out like whipcords, he shouted : " Lie there, fool ! torn by the fin gers of friends, frozen in an avalanche. Ah, but how I lashed ye, that I would have loved, led, crowned with the gifts of my deathless inheritance, and you insulted my bodily weakness, spit at my deformity, thrust me out from smallest share that poorest and mean est among you enjoy, denied me man- 48 Cfje Statue in t&e 3Ut hood. What god stepped forth upon this outrage ? None ! I fled into the wilderness, and beat my head against a precipice to kill myself, but even death refused me. Yet rocks were softer to me than human hearts, the snow was warmer. O friendless, home less, childless that I was ! And now you concede me magic, I spurn your souls into Chaos. Imbeciles ! You re jected my love ; you cannot reject my hate. Scourged out in my weakness, I return in power like a giant, panoplied in whirlwind, shaking Eros in his sphere of fire, basing firmly the life of Troglo dytes forever. Rise, blast out of Chaos ; snow on every fruitful limb, wound leaf and bud to death. Winter grips your land forever; the last trace of man is vanished ; and the valley, as the highest mountain, is locked in ice. My work is done. I go again to you, my own hills. O you have witnessed what I have suffered." He ceased speaking, and turned away. Three harpies descended, wheel ing slowly ; and down into the valley rolled the devouring Shadow. 49 To the palace the shadow had not yet fallen. Flowers waved in the sunny air, and the wide palace opened its heart to receive the young chorus. In the lily-white court stood the altar of Eros, blushing with roses, and all around it in a flood of gay sunshine the young chorus danced to a light, twittering music. O what merriment ! now a hush : the leader had raised his flute. " Listen, all of you. It is far past the time, and no token of the sacred statue. Nor have those whom I sent to spy out for it returned. I will send yet another band. Coroebus ; thou, lo- laus, and thou, and thou." And laying aside their garlands, the young men called upon disappeared at a running pace. Then the leader dispersed the chorus: some strayed in couples with murmur- So Statue in t(jc Slit ing and soft laughter, and others, flut ing and tapping with their sandals, circled in a little mimic dance. Bubbling tumults seldom heard Make me now a little bird ; Seven hang in radiant ease On a nettle thin and brittle, Chanting like the Pleiades. Heaven's orb I underrun, Fiery, like a little sun Clothed in a feathery cloud; From the melodious blue a-dropping, On the water's edge a-hopping, Printing all the muddy earth With my starry feet, While the water cold and sweet Trickles down my pulsing throat: Golden day and glooming night, And heaven and earth, and our delight ! "Be quiet, children," said the leader playfully, " I think I hear footsteps." Into the court swept a breeze, and a beautiful young man leaped in among the dancers. Snow and icicles fell from his head and shoulders, and after him ran the members of the first band. " Euphorion ! " From all sides the chorus crowded about him, pelting him with roses, asking him, Where had he been ? and, Why was he so late ? and Si H>tattte in t&e 3Ur he answered them with a ruddy gayety and high-spirited grace. " O wonderful, wonderful, but you won't believe me ! Why, this morning I had forgotten I was the son of Eros, until these men met and called me by name. Then came back to me vaguely that last night in the mountains I was armed ; some business was weighing upon my mind. But what ? I can't rec ollect. Only, I know that all during my disturbed slumber vast dreams were waving their wings over me, and incubi of darkness squatted upon my breast. When I awoke, the sun had risen ; my arms were gone, and likewise all remembrance of my purpose. I wandered down into the valley amazed ; when almost here, three harpies flew over me, one striking me with an ici- cled wing, " Here, seeing the girls all breathless, an irresistible roguery seized him. " Why, then, I killed them all ! With a prodigious power I hewed off their heads ; the heads turned into vultures and flew away ; their feathers changed into snakes with bright emer ald eyes. Then I gathered the icicles 52 Statue in t&e 3U in my mantle. There, there, you see what a quantity ! Oh, I tell you, I had a tremendous time ; I tell you, had it not been for my courage " "Ah, Euphorion," said the leader, laughing, " it 's no use, that ! We all know the god of pranks has you in charge, and could easily bring you those icicles in a little wind-sack. But look, here comes the second band ; now for something important." They came running, shouting, and leading a young maiden. " A storm- cloud is rising over the mountain ! No sign of the statue, but here is one who will give you her strange experience." Gently they pushed forward this tall young girl, so that she stood exactly opposite Euphorion. It was Leanira. When she felt his eyes upon her, she cast down her own with a beautiful dignity. " By Heaven, a royal damsel, su perb ! " whispered the leader to Eupho rion. "Who is she?" " I do not know," he murmured ; " I 53 C(je Statue in tlje 8U think I have seen her face in a dream. Listen, she is about to speak." " My father promised to bring me here to the festival. My first festival ! But early in the morning he sent me to a secret hollow to adorn myself, and because it was so early I fell asleep. Then a vision of last night returned to me, a wonderful dream. I thought I beheld all the gods chanting in a chorus, and that Eros, stepping forward, placed upon my heart a spray of the sacred flower. And he said, ' Hail to thee, thou ward of the Immortals, that is to adorn thee. Go ; the first spray thou seest, that is thine.' And the spray so burned me like a fire that I rose to my feet ; I dared not linger, but turned down to my father's apple-tree. On the way I heard many voices, and im agined a chorus of Immortals. But as I came closer, instead of gods and god desses were a crowd of men, who raised a great shouting, and that so startled me I ran far away. Then an immense bird, a terrible bird, flew over me," - "By Heaven!" exclaimed Eupho- rion, "the harpy that struck me ! " 54 Statue in t&e 3Ur And as he spoke, running before a blast, three shadows floated over the pavement ; then the gigantic birds soared into a cloud, leaving a silence so absolute that one heard trickling from a broken vase, and the last sighing in the garments of the chorus. But all those boys and maidens knelt confusedly, and prayed for some good omen ; they besought Eros to send his sacred statue, the five -year -old child, the God of Love. And as they prayed, the ever-joyous sun, rolling out of a cloud, flung his light upon the pure mantles, and all at once the chorus began to sing. Two alone of that assemblage had not knelt, but remained standing, each fixed by the magic of the other's gaze. For to Leanira this young man with dazzling eyes, and lips of wine and roses, was more overwhelming than the har pies ; while in Euphorion's mind all thought had vanished in a blank, for so the music smote his senses into a fragrant dizziness : then a lightning emotion burst in his heart, and over flowed him like fire ; he darted to 55 Statue in t&e air Leanira, and snatching her fingers with delicate violence, spoke under his breath : " Are you indeed a ward of the Im mortals ? Quick ! In a far room is a harp fabled to have fallen from heaven, and as a god enters me I will play for you strains that only Immortals have listened to." As a rose overburdened by a thunder- shower, she swayed aside ; and yet she did not fly, but with an impetuous acquiescence followed him down court and long colonnade, the music of the chorus dissolving in the distance, until in the remote palace they came to a cold, bare room, parted from the meadow by a peristyle only, and open above to sky and cloud. Absolute silence. Nothing was here except a harp clasp ing its twin in the polished marble floor. Headlong Euphorion flung himself down, caressing the instrument in his blind ecstasy ; gradually there ran along under his fingers a confusion of delicious sounds. O beautiful all ele mental nature was there mingled, 56 Or Statue in tfcr Stir sounds of seas and winds, swaying grasses, the last clinging of the wave to the shore. Yet not in reality the sounds themselves ; but as the round ing of a drop reminds one of rain, as a rill's pebbles recall the singing current of the rill, as rippled carvings upon the sand sigh in the inward ear the sound of a breeze, so it was with this en chanting music. Leanira's soul dis solved in a lovely chaos of emotion, but over the harp the fluent air, gathering into a cloud, grew dazzling-white like marble. Then for a moment lifting his hands, with ardent effort Euphorion pressed each to each, knuckle to knuckle, thumb to thumb ; relaxed them, and seized upon the harp three or four pellucid chords. With that the ethereal sphere took shape : welded, fair, firm as the two halves of an apple. As though the music wrought like an invisible chisel, two lovely thighs budded in the air ; with a sigh and a delicious tremor, a little naked waist appeared ; head, feet, and arms were released, limb after limb, in luxurious secrecy. O what 57 CIjc Statue in tljc Sir radiant ideal was taking form ? Slowly out of the cold air was created a marble child. And look ! as clear chiselling water envelops a pebble, so music with an infantile mirth encircling the statue, in every swelling and flexure paradise un folded, echoing a God's creative joy. Music played cunningly over the knees, it sank soft as a flower-petal in the hol low beyond the thigh-joint, it fondled the flesh into dimples, thigh swelled to thigh. Straining over the flank, it twined about the little waist, ran with the sweetest shiver over wrist and fingers, dwelt in the pellucid hollow under the shoulder, embraced the childish breast and arms : joy ran into eagerness, eagerness into ecstasy, with unimagina ble swiftness the head was. reached ; it murmured and eddied in the little ear, it rippled in delightful locks around the forehead, it formed the miracle of brow and sightless eyes : the last few liquid notes finished the mouth and lips barely sprung apart, and all over the tender, dimpling, smiling shallows about 58 Statue in tlje the mouth and rounded cheeks was a vanishing kiss, as upon water the escaping ripple where a blossom has lately fallen, The frail music, no longer retaining even so delicate a passion, parted like a bubble ; and the beautiful core was rescued from the air. It was a five-year-old child ; it was the God of Love ! With a cry Euphorion leaped to Leanira; a delicate shudder ran over her, and she only knew his arms encir cled her, and in a tumult of ecstatic kisses their souls dissolving loosened into one, as two ripples run together upon the surface of a pool. Hand in hand, for they were so near kin, they passed through the open col onnade into the outer world. 59 No sooner were they gone than a blast out of the zenith swept the statue to the floor, and the roofless chamber was darkened by gigantic wings. " The oracle fulfilled ! A sacred statue has entered the palace ! " Shouting in amazement the harpies swooped down, monstrous birds whose human faces are forever white and tor tured with hunger : they hurled them selves upon the image, pounding, bat tering it with iron wings ; they tore at it with brazen claws and whipped it with icicles. But the ethereal sub stance took no dint from a force that would have uprooted a pine, or snapped the mast of a war-vessel. Then in a rage the harpies yelled : " Back to the abysm ! arouse the ut most force of the tempest ! our day is lost without prompt action ! " Shrieking, clashing, shouting, scatter ing icicles in a whirlwind, they darted up, with angry ruffling of plumes, into the zenith. 60 BUT out of the palace Euphorion and Leanira had stepped into the bosom of the titanian light. As upon the first day, the world was radiant with new - born flowers, and even to that adorable distance where the valley opened to embrace Ocean, a vivid and ardent blue. And a few snowflakes had fallen, a few chance icicles shaken from the wings of the harpies, yet so lightly that no delicate flower was in jured, and Winter seemed playfully to make love to Spring. " O I will love you forever and ever ; this day we are one ! " So Euphorion cried, sparkling like a fountain ; and again : " O my Life, my Joy ! My Love, what shall I call you ? My name is Euphorion." " And mine is Leanira." Beautiful surprise ! " What ! really my little playmate ? Oh!" And running beside her .and 61 CIjc ^tatut in tbe 2Ur flinging his arms about her, and sweetly tormenting her in his madness, he kept crying : " To Heliophanes ! and he will marry us ! I wish we were Halcyons and had wings to fly ! " Side by side their agile bodies flashed in the sunlight, but joy overwhelmed them ; they turned and clung to one another in such an innocent passion that Leanira's robe trembled like a lily, and words melted into kisses and passed away in sighs. And now they rested in the shallow green half bounded by a brook, and full of happy flowers that the sun lit with a dying radiance. She began weaving a garland, while he stared at her with large bright eyes, as a child does at a butterfly, or a man at a goddess. " Didst thou never think of me, dear, when father took me away and we no longer played together ? " "Always I thought of thee, dear love ! " he said. At that so tender word she gave a little voluptuous cry, and drawing his fair head down to her bosom, with an almost maternal joy she breathed upon 62 Statue in t&e 2Ur his curls. " Surely, my beloved, thou art the son of a god, for never man begotten by man has created as thou." " Ah, I am the son of Eros ! Never has my father noticed me, but now he will do so : we shall eat honey out of heaven, and ride in a chariot snatched away by golden eagles ; like the gods we shall be immortal, and whenever we please, fly away to the sun." " And there thou shalt have a sword of fire, and I a garland of Olympian flowers ; all day we shall dance in the dazzling sunlight ! " "And far beyond the furthest stream of Ocean, dwell in a cloud-palace all silver and pearl, and full of loud Hes perian music ! " With vivid endearments they flung themselves heart to heart ; then rose and ran along a little path, or lingered to pluck flowers, playing like children of the gods, or men and women in the sublime infancy of the world. Mean while all those fair meadows were dark ening, and titanic snow-clouds heaving their shoulders against heaven. Lea- 63 tatuc in tijr 3Lit nira shivered ; but Euphorion, drawing her seriously into his arms, said : " Listen, dear heart and best-be loved. I am afraid for thy own sake. That you see is a storm out of the Troglodyte Abyss ; we are far from Heliophanes', but close by is the Cave of Love. Let us take shelter there one moment ; for at this season a storm may be heavy, but cannot possibly last long." She approved what he said ; she locked her hand in his ; and side by side they flew into a dark ravine. 64 ONWARD they flew, and came in the herculean twilight to a marble stair, beyond which a cavern sank into the eternal rock. Robust fragments, joined without cement, formed an archway embraced by flowering apple-trees, over whose boughs roses clambered and threw into the lonely air a voluptuous odor ; and all the space from cave to escarpment was swept by a shadowy verdure. For the entire valley had now sunken into that eclipse-like gloom ; save where the cavern yawned before the lovers, deeper than a dark abyss. O what charming, terrifying emotion seized upon Leanira ! Tears started to her eyes, and she clung to Euphorion. " What cave is this ? what stair ? " "Have I not told you ? the Cave of Love." He would have drawn her up the escarpment, but she hesitated and clung to him. 65 Statue in t&e air " Is it not lonely, the cave ? and ah so dark ! Pray, Euphorion, do not let us go into it." " But we must, my Beautiful. It is our sole shelter, and in such a storm thou mightest die. Or take this, Sweetest, to thy comfort ; it is an in violable sanctuary : were the valley torn from end to end, this spot would remain intact." Leanira turned about, feeling shame for her weakness, but all of a sudden losing control, she flung herself upon him in a tumult, and wept, and shud dered in her frock, as a little bird trem bles in its feathers. " My dearest love ! then you really are afraid ? " cried Euphorion in sore distress. "No, Euphorion, not afraid, only Oh, my darling, such a strange terror is strangling my heart ! It is as though something frightful were about to hap pen to us in that cave ; it is as though, instead of marrying, we two should die." " O my love ! Such ill-omened words " 66 IL be Statue in the .3tr " Oh, but Euphorion, see ! it is all so sudden, my meeting you at the festi val, the dreadful tempest, the lonely cave, it is all so terrifying and beau tiful, like a dream. Oh, Euphorion ! surely we shall die, or else I shall awaken to find you were a dream." " Hush, hush, my own ! Are you not a ward of the Immortals ? am I not a son of Eros ? O believe me, our love is not even as that of earthly beings ; it is immortal. Remember the little statue that was created in the air." He kissed away the tears from her quivering eyelids, for she had flung her head back, turning pale to the lips : on her cheeks the flowers of life seemed to faint into the snows of death. At last, drawing herself up with a despair ing effort, she followed him into the cave. Here, seated in a darkness so profound he hardly saw her face, Eu phorion wrapped her in his mantle, for already the roses were dropping from their stems, and the water had con gealed along the sides of the cave. She did not speak again of death, she did not speak, and yet in her brooding si- 67 Oe Statue in the Sir lence he imagined that she thought it. Finally he felt her breath brood over his throat and cheek, and her two arms spread over him, as a mother-bird spreads her soft wings in order to shield her young. " Dearest One, I have something to show thee. Dost thou remember that in the palace I said the God of Love gave me a spray of the sacred flower ? See, here it is upon my heart : I covered it, so the cold could not nip it. Take it with thy own hand, dear love : it is a spray sent us from heaven ; and if ever thou art in danger, I believe it will pro tect thee." A sudden pang awoke in Euphorion's heart. " Ah, my darling, keep it thy self!" " No, Euphorion, but thou ; for thou thyself wilt protect me." She had opened her tunic ; and his blind, trembling hand, feeling over her bosom, plucked from the heart of his love the mystical flower. Then with a long sigh she abandoned herself in his arms. " Can it be the cold, or flowers that exhale some sweet 68 (TI)c Statue in tljc 3i poison ? My eyelids are drooping so heavily." " Have no fear, my darling. Early morning has fallen back into the arms of midnight, and the Sun himself has gone to sleep. Sleep thou, too, my Beautiful ; I guard thee." Leanira closed her eyes ; her beauti ful arms relaxed, her fingers fell open : she was asleep. A singular sleep, very like death ! Meanwhile the wind blew the rose- petals in a frozen shower over the es carpment ; the immeasurable twilight had deepened ; hail, sleet, snow, min gled in a hurricane, went howling along the valley, and pierced above by the lightning : for this was no natural storm, but every god and every power was warring in his own element. 69 HIGH above the Troglodyte Abyss streamed the black banners of Chaos. Stones, spit forth with velocity, struck and rebounded with the noise of ham mers ; and a subterranean dark was blurted against the sun, broad-buck lered clouds battling with thunder- flashes of light. Through such a turmoil a whistling hallo, and the harpies shot straight into the Endless Dark. " Hear, ye Powers of Chaos ! We bear disastrous news, if ye be not sud den and courageous. Part of the ora cle is fulfilled : a sacred statue has entered the palace. We saw it with our eyes, and with our wings we tried to destroy it, but the immortal sub stance yielded not to our blows. Hearken to the manner of its coming : the son of Eros, meeting by chance Heliophanes' daughter, their love cre ated this caprice in the air. As we 70 Statue in tfce Stir tumbled in the clouds of the zenith, we heard far-away strains of music, for he played upon a fabulous harp ; we darted down too late : the statue was finished and the lovers had fled." At this Melanion began cursing in a wild fury, and there was vast confusion among the monsters, interrupted by the second harpy in a loud voice : " Hear what I advise, and let us act quickly. Ye know behind the Cave of Love is a second opening into the Troglodyte Abyss, one that is un known to men ; and between the gulf and the cave so thin is the rock that at times we have torn it apart or welded it together at will. Ye remember how, when Eros dwelt in this cave, and even after Euphorion was born, being ig norant of the slight barrier that divided him from Chaos, one evening we dis solved the wall, and in the opening appeared Troglodytes, at which sight Love's mortal wife died of terror. Now again, Euphorion and Leanira are in this sanctuary, for we saw them fly there : thither also will the people of the valley flock in their extremity. We (T(je Statue in tljc Sir advise that the wall be suddenly ripped, so that the blast and vomit of Chaos shall instantly smite Euphorion and* the chorus, and thence plunging down the valley, bury the miraculous statue under mountains of ice. We three could effect little, the storm may not effect all ; but now let Chaos put forth his entire strength, and Darkness her full fury." He ceased, and a roaring rushed through that multitude of monsters, swelling into the barbaric chant : "O Father Chaos, now breathe up through the broken ribs of Earth. Let a breath rise out of that bottomless cold that shall shrivel earth and scorch the sun. O Darkness, rise, envelop the world ; and let not the sun move, but let the fatal day roll onward, hour upon hour, until the valley is sheathed in everlasting ice. Rise, blast and brume of Chaos ; Giants of Darkness, soar, and heave the clouds over land and ocean, and be the statue burst with cold, since force cannot affect it. But for this child of Eros, who so suddenly has created, this hero who should van- 72 Statue in t&e air quish Troglodytes, behold, he is him self vanquished ; he is torn from his love, body and soul he is thrust down into Chaos. Now the bond of Love is dissolved in Death." The choral chant mingled upward into the roaring blast, and downward into Chaos. Hugest of the monsters, Typhon, and hundred-armed giants, were dispatched to rip the wall ; sus pended upon gigantic wings, they di vided the torrent of air down into the abysm. 73 EUPHORION still sat in the cave with Leanira pressed to his heart. Without was that unspeakable darkness heavy with twigs and flying branches. Of a sudden, earth shook with a concus sion, and stones rolled over the floor. Leanira started to her feet, Euphorion to his : in the dark he tried to seize her ; she, to avoid him. " Leanira ! " Out of the obscurity came a sobbing, distracted voice : " Whither shall I fly ? why would you kill me ? " then a scream : " Save me, Heaven, from the abysm ! " " Leanira ! Leanira ! " Euphorion was groping helplessly, heart-broken, stammering like a bewildered child. " It is some hideous dream, only a dream, my darling ! Had I a light " A lance of the flowing lightning lit the cavern to the extremity, where a yawning cleft panted forth thick rivers 74 (Lbt Statue in t!;r 2Ur of smoke, and corseleted in that dun vapor appeared the terrible form of Troglodytes. With an agonized cry Leanira fled into the tempest. Euphorion clutched at his belt and beat his head, sprang after and seized her. " Monster ! " She tore the fastening out of her tunic, and with the blind ferocity of a tigress, drove it into his arm ; he repulsed her ; she was swept down the escarpment and fainted at the base, while he, stumbling back, plucked from his flesh the poisonous fang. Then lifting his white face to the black and howling heavens, he ut tered an awful cry. And his cry came back to him, echoed and reechoed from all points of the laboring darkness, hundreds of wailing cries, a chorus of dismay ; and running up the escarp ment came myriads of struggling hu man forms, of faces pale as ashes driven before the blast. 75 " O GOD ! " exclaimed the leader of the elder chorus, " here at last ! - refuge, the Cave of Love ! " " Back, madman ! Do you leap for life into the Troglodyte Abyss ? " "Euphorion!" halloed the leader; and others of the chorus, straining up : " Why, the cave is spouting streams of smoke and mud ! " Then a widespread terror, caught up with velocity by those behind. Men turned hither and thither, but upon the very crest of the moment a bituminous torrent, rolling out of the cave, plunged down the escarpment and swung again to the cliff. Upon the farther bank stood Botas, holding Leanira ; he ges tured in despair through the wreaths of smoke, then hastened away with her, or was swept by the wind into the gloom. But the chorus, imprisoned upon the frozen island, flung them- 76 CL hr tatttc in the 3i selves down in a last appeal to the gods. " Euphorion, pray for us ! Helio- phanes has ruined us ! Call loud to the gods, oh thou beautiful One ! even out of the depths of darkness the gods will hear thee." " Hear me ? None so hateful to the gods as I. " Behold me, the Troglodyte-slayer ! " I dreamed it in my dreams ; I heard it shouted at my ear by the thunder- voices of the gods ; I rode on to my destiny before the banners of the gale. To what purpose ? A cobweb slumber wipes all from my mind. A woman what ! a monster out of hell has hurled down upon us this ruin." " O Euphorion, would God we might save thee ! thou art mad, Euphorion ; the fatal, bewildering darkness stran gles thee with floods of chaos, and com pels thee to utter the voice of the blasphemer." Like the jaws of a monster was the cave fanged with icicles ; and shaken like a willow upon the brink of that in fernal torrent Euphorion flung out his 77 (ZT&e >tattte in t&e air arms to the ferocious dark. A blazing and reechoing darkness ! for wherever the sharp wind tore the vitals of heaven, light gushed in rivers down the steep of^ night, and the valley was lit up with flashes alternating with dreadful gloom. " Oh, ye gods, how was I unworthy ? Tell it to me, Heaven, with a thun derbolt through my heart. What ! you spoke it to me distinctly, but all na ture has gone mad. Crags, root in the sky ; streams, flow up to your sources ; stars, plunge and stab ocean, since murderous midnight leaps upon mid day, and love vomits chaos." Earth cried aloud in all her deep basins and vaulted corridors ; her an cient foundations seemed to labor to the upward marching of the Powers of Darkness, till beneath that confused heaven, lacerated with vermilion fire, was blown the vast dissonance. " Trog lodytes, Troglodytes ! " cried the human chorus, and as far as the limit of the frozen island they pressed back, and Euphorion stood alone. He felt with his benumbed fingers for a knife ; what he drew forth was the shrivelled spray, 78 Statue in tljc 3Ut the same given him by Leanira. When he had clutched that fatal, bitter spray, he cursed it ; like a torch overborne in the night-tempest, his love blew out, the cold of chaos seized upon his heart and ate into his vitals ; he reeled in the last flash of the sun and dropped. Out of the cave broke Melanion upon a harpy, exulting ; monsters hurried forth in legions, all muitiformed, mal formed distortions, roaring a chant that shook the convulsive ether from plain to firmament ; 'and with them and after them an immeasurable column of bistre hurled itself against the zenith, then like a thunder-clap total darkness fell over earth. Far at sea the waves dashed the blind ships upon the rocks, mast and keel snapping like poppy stems. And the powers of cold built as an impermeable barrier an iron cloud between heaven and earth, and scourged the miraculous statue ; the dark blast roared in the temple, and around the altar smitten and piled with snow, it blew withered leaves over the hearths of ruined homes, the cattle and small calves breathed away their lives upon 79 art 3 1 APOLLO wept. But Eros, drawing himself erect, with tearless eyes sighed out of his agony : " Yet hast thou seen that when Euphorion met Leanira a sacred statue was created in the air? Hast thou seen how the harpies strove in vain to destroy it, and the blast has shaken it, and icicles have buried it in vain ? Didst thou know it ? And nothing could harm it ! O where, in the long procession of the ages, has there been a miracle like this, that a being subject to death should create ? I was firstborn of all the gods, and I have seen heaven part from earth like a bubble, and mountains pass away like drops of dew, but never this new won der. And barred from earth by the will of Fate I have prayed continually for some whisper out of the bosom of the Eternal." 83 Cfje &tatttt in tfce Si Eros listened, and gradually, as dawn dies into day, came over him a rosy flush that kindled in a sparkling smile, and this again issued in rapid words : " That man should inspire Thought into the material, and out of the form less wrest immortal Beauty ! When has Earth known this marvel since God sang her into being ? For never fire, cataracts, nor deeply roaring Ocean lions, those terrestrial light nings, nor all the innumerable toiling swarms that dwell in the restless air and ever-moving waters, have been able to create. And behold the reason why the storm could not dash that image into fragments, nor cold destroy it : Echoing the thought of God, it sprang out of the imperishable soul. "Man, like God, has created, oh marvel, oh miracle beyond conception, that mortal being should through love raise himself to the celestial ! " And, with that word, Eros shook flames from his shoulders like plumes ; fire burst out of his hips, his thighs, and heart ; and from his streaming 84 C(je Statue in tjjc Sir hair, astonished eyes and lips, carna tion, so wreathing him in an aureole like the petals of a blazing and symmet rical rose, out of whose palpitating vor tex a voice like a soaring conflagration : " As God created in the chaotic ether a mighty universe, and I, Eros, sprang forth, so man, and even as death was overwhelming him, has created in ether a little universe, a small Eros. Chaos and Death can not subdue him, for even we, the deathless, are with that creative power but passively endowed ; while he, spontaneously creating, has proved himself a child of the Eternal." And dazed, half-blinded, even though a god, Apollo saw this incorporeal heat turn himself with an astounding mus cular velocity, expand, and soar upward to inconceivable height, the rose of flame now wheeling about him in gigan tic convolutions that flooded all heaven with an incandescent vapor. As a cloud at sunset builds his flaming bat tlements upon the limits of the uni verse, so Eros towered aloft, a ruddy and exorbitant glory, and out of the heart of this glory the joyous titanic Clje Stattte in t&e 9Ur voice still chanted : " Man, like God, has created ! " and so chanting, the whole enormous wheeling aureole of fire rushed upon the iron cloud, that burst with sonorous claps of thunder and dissolved in rainbows. Shuddering, Apollo slid his glorious limbs through the opening, and sped along a beam that drove like a sword through the body of Darkness. 86 EXACTLY where Heliophanes, blinded by Melanion, had fallen, Apollo dropped like a meteor. As his heels struck earth, sparks flew up, and snow and air blossomed in gold : around him grew an ever-widening light, and all within its circumference the tempest was hushed. Apollo leaned over the prophet, in whose throat life barely fluttered, and placing lips to his ear sighed. When that breath had sunken into the lifeless hollow of his ear and touched his tired spirit, Heliophanes sighed also and awoke. Behold ! he was wrapped in the delicate golden ether that exudes from the body of an Immortal. For the divine radiance piercing even his blindness, life and memory flooded the soul of Helio phanes : he flung himself joyously at the feet of the god ; but the glorious One, dropping a finger upon his lip, revealed to him all, the league of the 87 in dark powers and the guile of Mela- nion, the creation of the statue, the second opening into the Troglodyte Abyss, and finally he concluded : "Thus was it given these dark powers to swerve the will of Fate, and lo ! the very swerving moves on toward the glorious end. For in this swerving, as in an eddy, that fair caprice was created ; and it was by this token, that man, like God, creates, that Eros tore the iron cloud, and I descended to declare unto thee that love, tender love, human love, has defeated the giants of Chaos, and their own device has be come their final overthrow. For look : the dark powers dispersed in upper air no longer guard the Troglodyte Abyss. This lies open at the readiest point of descent, the Cave of Love. And there lies Euphorion. To him! with heaven-inspired lips awaken him : now, now should he leap into the abyss. Yet now it must be by his own choice. Like God he has created, like God he is free to choose. If he choose to leap, then the sacrificial knife is in thy hand ; give it to him for a weapon; this 88 Statue in tlje 3Ur branch I tear from the sacred tree thou shalt give him for a torch. Has ten, a winged messenger of Heaven shall guide thee. Nor have fear for thy daughter; Botas has rescued and will guard her. But run quickly, for should the natural warmth rouse the chorus, they would seize Euphorion and slay thee. And now the storm has sunken to a breeze ; dark shadows sweep over the sky, the wings of the retreating harpies. Run, hasten to Euphorion ; I fly to the upper air, to combat with Eros the powers of Cold and Darkness." He ceased, and vanished in a golden cloud. From zenith to horizon, the vapor was rent in huge mountainous masses over which the sun poured cat aracts of pure silver ; a soft-feathered eagle descended, fanning the prophet with his wings ; and Heliophanes sprang forward over brilliantly sparkling snow. -T > IN a wild part of the valley, near the Cave of Love, Botas was pressing Leanira to his heart, warming her to life. Everywhere, save for a few clots, the snow had vanished, and the beau tiful, cloudless heaven gave forth a caressing breath. As she revived, Leanira turned upon the herdsman a startled look, then breaking into tears, cried : " O Botas, dear Botas, let me die in the snow ! " And she dropped face down, refusing to speak or move. Botas was perplexed. He was afraid to touch her with his rough, awkward hand. He got up on his feet, and looked helplessly about. Presently from a 'leafless thicket he heard a twitter of voices, and running for ward, met a whole chorus of maidens. " Heaven be thanked ! Kind ladies, gentle ladies, I beg you, come speak to my foster-daughter ; she has been 90 Cbc Statue in t(jr air crazed by that dreadful tempest, but perhaps you may be able to rouse her." The maidens replied: "We may stop but a moment : we are bearing a sacred statue to the Cave of Love." " What is that statue ? " said Botas. " A divine statue we discovered. During the storm we were driven into a remote part of the palace, and there all of us became unconscious. When we revived, the sun was shining clear, and behold ! a wonder of a statue. Then we knew that Eros himself had visited earth, checked the storm, and saved us ; and that he carved this image in token of his affection. So we lifted it, and all agreed to go at once and enshrine it in the Cave of Love, lest ever that terrible tempest fall upon us again." The ranks parted, and there in the midst, and borne by two lovely girls, was the statue created in the air. When Botas saw it he exclaimed, "Indeed the hand of a god." And he fell down upon his knees, touching the little feet with simplicity, and kissing them with awe. Rising, he said : " I 9 1 Or Statue in tljc Sir beg you, kind friends, bring the statue this way ; if we place her at his feet the god will pity her." Leanira recognized the smiling image ; irresistibly she embraced it, weeping ; at that heavenly touch all her grief, her terror, her hatred against Euphorion, melted away as snow before the face of the sun, or as darkness flees before light. At length Botas, taking gentle hold of her, said : " Dear child, we must now let the statue go, these maidens are about to enshrine it in the Cave of Love. For it is a sacred statue ; Eros himself has just visited earth and wrought it." Leanira sprang to her feet, for into her heart a great light had broken. " No, no, Botas, oh never ! It was the son of Eros, not Eros, and yet it was Eros ; for this morning, when Eu phorion met me in the palace, he led me to a secret chamber, where he played upon a harp, and it was our love that created this statue in the air." " She is mad ! " some of the girls said ; and others, "How strange that she should know where we found it." 92 Statue in tftc But Leanira, with an impassioned gesture, cried : " Oh, believe me, it was Euphorion. He is my love, and I am his ; this day was to be our bridal, but the storm overtook us at the Cave of Love, and how it was let me not speak of it now ! that we parted in such fury and anger. My own fault, for he did nothing. Mercy on me, what a dreadful thought ! Kind friends, dear friends, I do beg you delay but a mo ment ; let me run back to the cave, let me be first to see him, for should he see this statue before he does me, it would grieve him deeply, and break my heart. Indeed, I am most un worthy, but he, he is beautiful, he is noble beyond conception. Look, I kneel to you all. Botas, I kneel to you, too. O if you have had kind fathers and mothers that you loved, if ever you would have dear husbands to protect you, then pity me." She rose and took Botas' hand quite simply. "Botas, when I was a little girl you did promise me a gift upon my wedding-day. I ask it of you now ; it is this : take me to the Cave of Love." 93 C|)e Statue in tfjc 9Ur " Leanira," stammered Botas, " I can not ; the chorus may still be there, and they have declared Ah, there, there, that is enough ! Well, then, if you will ! They are enraged with you." "Enraged?" said Leanira. "Ah, no wonder ! Every one should be en raged with me, since I have offended the son of Eros. Are you afraid for me, Botas ? I am not afraid, no ; if they were angry to kill me, I am not afraid ; I am not afraid of the whole world, now I know he will forgive me. Why, Botas, do you suppose he would let any one harm us ? " She wept with a divine gladness, then brushed away the tears. Again she turned to the chorus with a tender majesty, a sub lime humility. One and all they melted in sobs and tears. "We remain." Botas placed his arm about Leanira to support her onward. From orchards and river-banks and radiant meadows the snow had vanished like a dream. 94 BUT already Heliophanes, guided by the shining eagle, had reached the Cave of Love ; had threaded his way hastily amid the prostrate chorus, and breathed upon the son of Eros with god-inspired lips. "I come with message of the gods, and tidings of Leanira." Euphorion started to his knee as one rescued by a prodigy ; his breath came in a deep inspiration, and the blood mounted to face and lips. " Do you not remember me, Eupho rion ? Heliophanes? Then know me by this god-given token. When re cently you and my daughter Leanira met, your love created a statue in the air. Here was the crisis ; for it was through this accident that Eros was enabled to tear the storm-cloud, and Apollo to descend and declare unto me that you are the destined slayer of Troglodytes. And this was indeed the fatal day, but all went contrary to ex- 95 in t{je 3Ut pectation. For the dark powers gained this very critical day wherein to swerve the stream of Fate, although they could not stem it. At dawn they confused you with dreams ; they roused the storm, they ripped this opening behind the cave, and poured forth floods of chaos ; the terror of the moment crazed Leanira, though, believe me, she loves you. Have no fear for her ; Botas has rescued and will guard her. Why are you dumb ? Do you not be lieve me ? O Euphorion ! now is the time for action. Look around, a second opening into the Troglodyte Abyss." Euphorion wheeled about : he saw the yawning darkness, the slime and smoke of chaos that hung in a thick web from the roof of the cave, or wavered in a heavy fringe about its mouth ; he saw the clots of glutinous black slime that polluted the fast van ishing snow. " It is ! it is ! That horrible tem pest ! My Leanira ! where is she ? Take me to her now ! " " Stop ! Now is no time to think of 96 Cbc Statue in tfcc Sir Leanira ; now is only time to leap. Now, quickly, while the opening lies before you unguarded. And look ! the chorus about you, should they revive, they would prevent you." "O Heliophanes, you are a man, not a monster; certainly you have a man's heart; you, too, have loved! Imagine what it were to you if in all your life you had held your love but a moment in your arms, and then had lost her. Oh, this I do declare, that this morning I would have leaped unhes itating into the abyss ; but then I had not loved. Think what I ask. One moment ! Heaven is not brutal to deny me that. No ! Heaven is gladdening the smallest clod, is warming the mean est worm. Shall I alone oh torture! Take me to Leanira. One embrace, one kiss, and I will return, and I will plunge into the chasm, and I will strug gle the better with Troglodytes for being fired through her love." " O God, what am I to say to him ? Love has made him mad. Cannot you see, the fatal day of the oracle ? And already the sun is sinking." Heli- 97 Statue in tbr 3Lir ophanes stopped, suffocating. He re called Euphorion and Leanira as they played about his knee ; he remembered how he had raised the children to his heart and fed them. Euphorion was speechless. Heliophanes, controlling himself, continued : " If an enemy were in the pass of your native valley, and you the only one to lead your people, would you delay for Leanira ? Remember, you have more than mortal power, you are the son of a god." With a deep sigh Euphorion an swered : " I am the son of a god, but I am also mortal. I can kill Troglodytes in accordance with Fate, but I may never return out of the abyss." Heliophanes replied : " Euphorion, we rise out of the Shadow ; we return into the Shadow. A few heroic men and surely thou, too shall rise to immortality with the gods." "Ah Heaven!" exclaimed Eupho rion, clenching his hand with a bitter cry. " Do not mock me with immor tality ! That without her would be an eternity of woe." 98 it be Statue in tljc 91 it Then said Heliophanes solemnly : " My son, I spoke this only to test thee. But now I say : Look abroad ; see everywhere desolation, the ruined homes. See the chorus at thy feet that were as dead men, and still may be dead, and consider that many more of thy countrymen lie strewn throughout the valley, all these helpless beings depending upon thee. Wouldst thou seize one precious second of thy pri vate happiness at the risk of their life and freedom ? That sacred statue that thy love created, was it for thee and Leanira alone ? No, but for the ful fillment of the universal oracle, for the salvation of the whole valley. What thy love, then, so amply prophesied let thy courage equally fulfill, not consid ering thy own peculiar life and joy, but the life and joy of all thy countrymen. Yet thou thyself choose. Thou hast created ; Fate no longer binds thee. Thou art free to descend, thou art free to go to Leanira. But first listen to the tale of a vision that has come over me at dawn. " Far westward I was tossing upon 99 Statue in t&e 3Ur a vast ocean shored by a continent of myth and barbaric pageant ; and might iest of all the myths, one told how ages ago a bridal pair had yielded their lives to save their country. For a sea mon ster ravaged it, and the god of ocean, revealing one night to this pair that with the sacrifice of their lives the plague should be arrested, they flung them selves side by side into the black enor mous pe"ril of ocean. Yet did they win what was worthier than life, worthier than love itself. Still to the people of the rescued fatherland reached the memory of that heroic deed, and to all generations kindled in their hearts glori ous impulses, as a star risen is reflected along the illimitable waters. And that old continent of myth and barbaric pageant is now never visited save by prophet or dreamer. For long before our earliest recorded events were even conceived in the womb of eternity, the ocean engulfed it and its civilization vanished : and in all that dissolution one heroic deed remains. " O Euphorion, the widest continents, the greatest nations as the smallest, are 100 Statue in t&e but little islands thrown up out of the ocean of Time and Chaos. There we spring, beautiful plants trembling in the wind, and the seed of our endeavor falls in a narrow space, and leaps up in flowers fast perishing in the cold ; or else it is borne by the tempest over that billow where no root strikes, no flower unfolds. Happy it is if our en deavor take brief root in earth ; glorious it is if our endeavor, awarded us by Fate and bitter to do, be worthy of translation to heaven, there to bloom as an eternal star to guide the mariner, to lift up in inextinguishable aspiration myriads of human hearts. " O Euphorion, hear an old man that has struggled hard with life, and is now close to death. Pleasure vanishes ; Love perishes. Only one thing is immor tally beautiful, to do the deed that Heaven and Destiny have laid upon us." Euphorion stood looking down. The odor of the thyme that grew about his home overcame him, and he felt Lea- nira's arms steal tenderly around his neck. He drew his mantle over his 101 Statue in t&e ai head, that Heliophanes might not see the anguish in his face. Then uncovering his head and turn ing from the light, he beckoned to Heliophanes. Now for the first time, with a heart touched with pity, he saw the other's blindness. However, he said nothing, but taking his hand led him gently into the cave ; and so the two stood close to the rim of the Endless Dark. At one side the precipice fell abruptly ; at the other, Euphorion, drop ping his sandals and feeling with his foot, found projections in the irregular descent. Then he received from the prophet the sacrificial knife and the torch sent him by the god : thus he threw himself over. One moment his head kindled like a falling star, then darkness swallowed him. Heliophanes leaned against the rock in exhaustion of grief, his hands fell nerveless by his side, he had forgotten escape. At last with the thought of Leanira he began all trembling to gird himself. It was too late ; the chorus had risen to their feet. 102 THEY stood and looked at one an other in awe, as dead men might if brought to life, then knelt and kissed the warm earth with tears and sobs, and raised hands in thanksgiving, and rose again, and stood like brothers, shoulder to shoulder, or arm in arm, looking up and looking down the valley. One said : " The snow is gone ; the ground is almost dry. In this air, so warm and languid, one might imagine the grass would spring." And another : " Was it not, then, a fearful dream that the gods abandoned us, and that Chaos broke out of the cave and overwhelmed us ? " " No dream," responded the leader. "For look, in the shadow of the cliff are two or three clots of snow ; and see that rill of black slime yet trickling out of the cave. It was real ity ; but is this the day we fell into a swoon ? For if it is, then gods have been at work ; that avalanche of snow 103 Statue in t&e 3ttr is melted in thin air, and the trees seem ready to bud. Are we all here ? " They turned and examined carefully, and immediately a cry arose, " Eupho- rion is gone ! " They pressed into the cave, and one of the foremost, crying, " Oh, look! " lifted Euphorion's mantle from the very lip of the Troglodyte Abyss. Then cried the leader, with sudden passionate tears : " O my brothers, do you remember, in that dreadful climax when the horrors of the chasm broke out upon us, do you remember Eupho- rion in his madness repeated the words of that cursed blasphemer, imagining himself a Troglodyte-slayer ? O God ! he must have crawled in here, thinking to slay the monster, and so flung him self into the abyss ! " " Ah ! ah ! ah ! " wailed the chorus ; and like an echo rose from behind a rock a deep groan. " Can it be his ghost that mourns ? " whispered the weeping chorus. " Be loved Shade ! Float hither, or we living shall press into the dark of Chaos and strive to embrace thee." 104 tattt* in Then said the leader of the chorus : " Heliophanes, I speak for these whom shame strikes dumb. When blinded by Fate, men do sometimes deeds that never would have been done out of their own hearts. Pray for us to the eternal gods." Heliophanes replied gently : " Think no more of that which you have wrought in ignorance, believing that you did what was right and served the gods. Nor let any bitter grief nor funeral wailing mar your thanksgiving ; to those whom Ocean devoured Heaven has given a glorious reward. Feel only joy, my children, that with Earth's con vulsion the path to Chaos is closed, and with it is buried forever our shameful secret ; or if it rise to light, yet shall it declare that the beautiful courage in the heart of man has overcome Chaos." And embracing Botas tenderly, he said : "Heaven has given our valley a faithful son." Then turning to the chorus : " Know ye, every one, the basis of our salvation. This morning Eupho- rion and Leanira chancing in the pal- 116 Statue in t&e Sir ace upon a secret chamber, their love created a statue in the air. Thus, at a critical climax and in a very strange manner, was the oracle fulfilled, in the hearts of two lovers. For this united soul did for one rapturous instant embrace all humanity, triumphant over death. Therefore, having echoed God's own thought, Euphorion saw himself in just relation to his fellows ; and what deed remained he fervently accom plished. Us he has saved ; and for himself, out of the transitory he has builded the eternal love. Strife is ended ; labor, happily begun. Freely now we form that one humanity, whose spirit alone is of enduring worth, whose perfect image is Eros. So shall these mountains huge and savage melt into fertile hills, to whose summits the flocks shall stray ; snow shall never fall on leaf nor flower ; and for our people, we shall peacefully decline into old age, and our bodies slumber in the bosom of our mother, but our souls released shall dwell with the gods." To Euphorion and Leanira he said : "My children, before this daylight is 117 Statue tn tlic &i perished out of heaven, ye shall be married. Ye shall be married before that statue that your love created in the air." And even as he spoke, the fragrant world was alive with the flutter of girl ish voices : the maiden chorus was flocking up the escarpment. At the entrance to the cave they knelt, and, extending the Eros, said with awe : " O Heliophanes, may we bear it into the cave ? " Heliophanes replied : " Not until you first bear it forward to greet the depart ing day." Then addressing the aston ished chorus : " Behold the deed ! Ages ago God willed that Eros dwell in the chaotic ether, and the unsculptured void took form. So now once more he has wrought, not through divine but through human agency ; for even as Chaos was overwhelming us, Love made form to rise out of the formless, and hope to bourgeon in the hopeless. O let us forever cherish this emblem of an harmony that vanquishes Death, this vision of Immortality ! " 118 Statue in tljc air These last words had become very weak and broken ; tears rolled down his face and beard, and he stretched a trembling hand to Botas. A signal perfectly understood by the maidens, for they turned and advanced to the rim of the terrace. The younger man reverently supported the elder out of the cavern ; Euphorion and Leanira followed : last of all, the chorus streamed out into the glories of sunset. Behold, the breath of gods had ruf fled all the valley with a flower-caressing verdure ; the frozen crowns of the moun tains, relapsing, glided down gorges of lapis-lazuli, and to every fruit-tree clung the delicately blushing snow of blossom. The west was filled with the triumph of Heaven, and into the lake formed along the valley of swiftly dissolving snows, the sun had plunged a sword to the hilt. The chorus cried out in joy and amazement ; they tore away apple- boughs, and trailing them retired in homage to Eros. Then circling to greet Apollo, they faced the west : Euphorion and Leanira upon the marble 119 Statue in tlje air stairway ; in front of them, the maidens bearing aloft the miraculous statue ; Heliophanes and Botas to right and left ; to rearward, and rising up the terrace in well-ordered ranks, the cho rus, all shouting a paean to the golden vault of Heaven, and to the Sun, that momently in a delicate violet cloud veiled the intolerable splendor of his majesty. The last notes dissolved in fragrance ; and the lovers descending before the statue, Heliophanes joined their hands, and in a few broken words wedded them. Then the chorus struck earth with their spears. " Back to the cave ! Let us enshrine the sacred statue that was created in the air." 1 20 THE CHOICE OF BOOKS. BY FREDERIC HARRISON. iSmo. Cloth. 75 cents. " Mr. Harrison is an able and conscientious critic, a good logician, and a clever man; his faults are superficial, and his book will not fail to be valuable." N.Y. Times. Mr. JOHN MORLEY, in his speech on the study of literature, at the Mansion House, 26th February, 1887, said: " Those who are curious as to what they should read in the region of pure literature will do well to peruse my friend Frederic Harrison's volume called The Choice of Books. You will find there as much wise thought, eloquently and brilliantly put, as in any volume of its size." " Mr. Harrison furnishes a valuable contribution to the subject. It is full of suggestiveness and shrewd analytical criticism. It contains the fruits of wide reading and rich research." London Times. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. BY HIRAM CORSON, LL.D. iSmo. Cloth. 75 cents. "A most interesting volume." Boston Daily Advertiser. "The book is replete with useful suggestions, clearly and vigorously expressed, and deserves a wide circulation." Rochester Post Express. "Mr. Corson sets forth its charms so eloquently that his book should not be overlooked as a wise and weighty work on the subject." Philadelphia Public Ledger. " Educationalists who are progressive in their ideas should not fail to familiarize themselves with Professor Corson's suggestions; and in every family where culture is an aim this book ought to be a veritable source of inspiration." Boston Beacon. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. The Aims of Literary Study. BY HIRAM CORSON, LL.D. iSmo. Cloth, gilt. 75 cents. "A book whose intimate companionship every literary man should cultivate." Boston Budget. " A source of inspiration." Boston Beacon. " If a copy of this little book could be given to every teacher of English in the land, the rising gen eration would have reason to be thankful. Never before, perhaps, was the idea of literary education lifted to so high a plane and so successfully carried over from the realm of the purely intellectual into the region of the spiritual. Many of the utterances have the precision and brilliancy of epigrams." Tk e Evangelist. "A mammoth heap of information in a nutshell." Cleveland Gazette. " It is written in a clear, logical style, and also from a broad and comprehensive knowledge. The true spirit of literature and the right way of esti mating an author's worth are admirably set forth. The aims and ideals of the study are excellently set forth, and what is more, set forth in a clear, broad, and scholarly manner." Amherst Student. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. The Friendship of Nature. A NEW ENGLAND CHRONICLE OF BIRDS AND FLOWERS. iSmo. Cloth, gilt top. 75 cents. Large Paper Edition, with Illustrations. $3.00. " A charming chronicle it is, abounding in ex cellent descriptions and interesting comment." Chicago Evening Jottrnal. " The author sees and vividly describes what she sees. But more, she has rare insight and sees deeply, and the most precious things lie deep." Boston Daily Advertiser. " There is much of the feeling of Henry D. Thor- eau between the covers of this book, and the ex pression is characterized by a poetic appreciation of the value of word-combination which is admirable." Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. " A delightful little book, . . . which brings one into intimate acquaintance with nature, the wild flowers, the fields, and the brooks." Springfield Union. "Thoroughly delightful reading." Boston Cour ier. "A very clever little book. It ... takes us through a New England year, describing the birds, flowers, and woods in a most poetical and delight ful mood." Detroit Free Press. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. By MRS. JULIA C. R. DORR. A Cathedral Pilgrimage. iSmo. Cloth. Each volume 75 cents. " These sketches of English travel have the most delicate appreciation of life and scenes in relation to American sentiment and feeling." Boston Globe. " Her prose is as poetic as her exquisite verse. Her sketches have the calm, serene atmosphere of the scenes they celebrate." Boston Courier. " Fresh, original, and altogether fascinating." Boston Daily Advertiser. " The light and delicate manner in which she treats her subject makes it very agreeable reading." Cleveland World. " Written in the easy conversational style which compels the reader to realize the things described." St. Paul Pioneer-Press. "These are simple, picturesque, cheery records of a delightful journey. Far from affectation." New York Tribune. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-25m-8,'46( 9852) 444 PS 2255 Le Con -fa a - L4978 The statue in the air< THERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 000034516 5 PS 2235 L497s