Daâh: The First Human

by Edmond Haraucourt

  For the first time, the Human has received the impression of Infinity.

  LXXII. Low Tide

  Immediately, Daâh and his children accommodated themselves to this new region. After the rude shock of their encounter with the Sea, the emotion calmed down; after an hour, the Ocean was summarily recorded.

  It was the autumn equinox, and the tide had just reached its full height. The fury of the breaking waves lost its prestige by admitting its impotence; they soon perceived that the formidable beast was unable to emerge from its lair, and that it was roaring in vain; it rolled with ease enormous blocks that the entire horde could not displace by the thickness of a leaf, and it was obvious that it would be capable of throwing a Hippopotamus as a child throws a chestnut, but the prey that it tries to seize remain safe as long as they remain a mere two paces away from its reach; they could even throw stones at it without it succeeding to avenge itself; at the most, it spits; they spat on it in order to mock it, and they laughed in loud bursts before the monstrous waves.

  They thought they had defeated it when it withdrew. They followed it. The saltiness of the water no longer astonished anyone. In the holes abandoned by the reflux, they found a host of crustaceans and mollusks, and rock fish, the abundance of a new pasture, and joy. Eels, maladroit Serpents, fled under the drying plants, where they killed them with clubs; Crabs appeared like redoubtable Spiders; they recognized Lobsters as giant Scorpions, whose tails clattered in anger, and one of them sliced clean through a woman’s thumb with its blue pincers. The Shrimp were the Flies of the sea; the Octopodes with Tigers’ eyes, when they bit into them, drooled blackly and wound their tentacles around arms, planting their suckers on the skin of faces. By hammering them with stones they opened up Oysters and Scallops. The entrails and gills of fish were savored with even more delight than their flesh, which lacked blood.

  They had a feast, sitting on reefs quilted with wrack, and when their stomachs were full, their mouths continued even so to chew raw fish and amused themselves by spitting out showers of scales, which made them laugh.

  Afterwards enormous algae, torn up from the depths, furnished festoons of ribbons, of which one alone was sufficient to encircle a torso with a resplendent adornment.

  In the sand of the beaches empty shells gleamed with varied colors, like stone flowers; others resembled teeth doubtless extracted from beasts that the sea had devoured; many had holes. A young female threaded them on to a thin piece of seaweed and then suspended the brilliant necklace around her neck. As a surplus of joy, the pleasures the day were increased by an unusual security provided by the absence of predators.

  However, when the waves returned with the rising tide, they swallowed up two young males who had lingered too long on one of the reefs. No one lamented them, for that fatal accident was in the natural order of things.

  What surprised them more was to find the two bodies on the shore the following day, almost intact; the Sea, after having nibbled them, had not deigned to eat them.

  That disdain seemed offensive. More than one had a strong desire to show the Sea that human children were not repugnant, and that one could eat them without disgust—but Daâh, who knew the world, after his fashion, knew by experience that all gestures are imitated, and he did not want to teach enemies what they did not have the idea of doing. Since the Sea did not know that children are good to eat, let it remain ignorant. Shaking his head to indicate no, he frowned at those who wanted to utilize that fresh flesh and, with an authoritarian gesture, ordered them to go and hide their feast on the heath behind a rock.

  LXXIII. The Land of the Suns

  In any case, a more copious windfall was reserved for them. As they went along the strand, they encountered the corpse of a Whale run aground in a cove. Deposited there by the tempest, doubtless several days before, the flesh was adding a stink to the wind. They were filled with admiration; they had never seen a monster of such dimensions. In that blue mass with the white underbelly they recognized a dead Cloud. Daâh, with a knowing expression, proposed that explanation by pointing at the sky and simulating a fall; no one hesitated to believe him. They circled around the colossus, inspecting it. With great difficulty, a doorway was opened in the thick skin; when it was large enough, the entrails flowed out; they went inside the beast.

  They went into it in single file, great and small, tearing off shreds, which they devoured on the spot; the idea of an edible grotto amused them enormously. They gorged themselves on fetid grease; clamors of contentment emerged from the hole; sometimes, a naked individual, all sticky with black blood, emerged in order to breathe in the violent air of the sea.

  There were days of idleness, for they stayed there for two days; such a beautiful prey merited the halt.

  Another reason also invited them not to hurry; the day before, Ta had only been dragging herself along with difficulty. The rude effort of traversing the forest of gorse had exhausted her last reserves of strength; she had only caught up with the horde in the twilight of the second dusk; she did not want to march any longer. Shivering in the hollow of a rock, she received with a plaintive expression the slices of whale meat that the children brought her; she sucked them without biting into them.

  Suddenly, on the third morning, after a more violent pressure, the tempest ceased. In an instant, the firmament cleared and the azure appeared, with a radiant Sun. Little white Clouds fled after the others and vanished. Light inundated everything.

  Never before had the Nomads seen a sky so pure; never had the blue persisted for such a long time. Dazzled and open-mouthed, with half-closed eyes, they gazed through their lashes at the splendor that wounded the pupils. The Sea, suddenly blue, glittered; a multitude of little Suns danced on it and crackled, more numerous than mosquitoes on ponds; they played alongside one another, brilliant, pretty and happy, all young; even tinier ones lit up on the tips of damp blades of grass. The humans, bewildered by such a novel spectacle, no longer budged. Not a sound emerged from their throats.

  Finally, in the silence, a child cried with pleasure, and then a woman. Almost immediately, Daâh burst out laughing, drawing himself up to his full height, and he beat his torso with mighty blows of his fist, in order to say to his family:

  This is the Chief who was able to lead you to the Land of the Suns!

  Then, a howl of victory rose from all throats into the light.

  LXXIV. The First God

  Old Ta, still crouched in the hollow of her rock, has heard that clamor of the delirious horde, rushing to the joy of living, from some distance away. The joy of living is no longer for her; old Ta senses that. An intuition informs her of her impending end. The light that is enthusing the others makes her feel ill. She has put her hand over her eyes to protect them, but gradually, she parts her fingers.

  The entire heath, somber before, is enlivened, as if the myriads of corollas had suddenly blossomed. In that sudden light falling from the sky, that entire earth becomes a flower; the russet cereals agitate their stems, and the belated florets of autumn light up mauve and violet petals in the blonde vegetation; facing the sea, so blue, the burned ferns shine in sprays of gold; even on the waves, white bouquets spread out and sway as they advance; the brown granites have become rosy, and those gigantic flowers are lilac shadows vibrating in the placid breeze.

  The dying woman widens her eyes now, in order to drink in more of the magnificence of the illuminated sea and the colored land. In order to see and feel more she crawls away from her rock. The light envelops her, the mild air caresses her. To extend all of her body to the benefit of that warmth, she props herself up on her knees, her torso forward, her arms widespread, palms onto the ground. Very slowly, on all fours, she moves.

  She dares to raise her face toward the Sun again. In the time required to open and shut her eyes, she has seen it! It is not dull and round like the pale balls that one sometimes perceives in the clouds above the forest. Tressed with bristling points, it projects around it things that squirt and sting; it is lik
e a resplendent rain springing forth and striping the surrounding sky. She has surely seen the rays the she believes she can hear. They go:

  “Dzi! Dzi!”

  She feels them stinging her skin; she admires the way that they shine on the hairs of her arms and thighs. They are alive. They penetrate into her utmost depths. Their warmth circulates in her veins and reanimates her; she feels radiant, like the sun; she believes that she is carrying it within her; her being expands. While the others, in the distance, continue to howl their inebriation, she excites herself in order to savor that supreme benefit more. Gravely, she gazes into space, with all her might. The world is becoming beautiful just as she is about to quit it, but she can see it, and all of her agonizing life in concentrated in her pupils.

  Immobilized, she contemplates the universe; she is the first spectator.

  She no longer dares to raise her eyes toward the splendor that is sizzling at the zenith, but she can still hear it.

  “Dzi!”

  She listens. Waves are breaking gently on the beach, lisping softly. In the harmony of the light, she discerns the harmony of sounds. The voices of the horde only reach her now as a distant murmur; they are drowning in the great All.

  The universal vibration cradles Ta’s soul, which dissolves and floats; she dreams; ideas that rare still nebulous are disengaged deep within her; with the clairvoyance of those who are about to die, she watches them rise.

  She sees herself. She is very tiny, in the midst of an immense light; she is alone, and always has been. She is being released. Everything is abandoning her, even life. No one is paying any attention to her. She observes that without bitterness; she expects no more, of others or of herself...

  Now, in her misery, help has come from someone: a force that is sent to her expands and warms her. She feels assisted, and she knows by whom. From the depths of her distress, she loves that which loves her; gratitude rises within her.

  “Dzi!”

  The Sun is good. She raises eyes toward it that give thanks. But the benefactor will not tolerate being looked in the face. Quickly, she has closed her eyes again, and, in order to receive the radiance in her heart, she strives to raise her upper body; she pushed the earth with her palms, her knees dig in. Finally sitting on her heels, she extends her arms toward the star; she offers her hairy breast to it. She implores it to vivify her a little, a little more.

  She prays.

  “Dzi... Dzi...”

  Divinity is conceived; a woman has just given birth to the first human god.

  Dzi of light, beneficent Dzi, protector of life, father of the world...

  Soon, the Sun will be God.

  LXXV. The Vanquished God

  From the rising tide, however, a gust of wind suddenly blew, and Ta looked ahead, anxiously.

  From the dull background in the distance, the storm is advancing once again over the Sea. The violet-tinted water is traversed by glaucous frissons, and is degrading all the way from the edge of the sky to the edge of the land; a somber band, extended over the horizon, is broadening under the mass of Clouds that is descending toward her, as if their weight were dragging them down. The Wind is a mere breath. The breaking waves are no longer foaming over the rocks. A sly silence extends over the motionless waters, seemingly emerging from the sea. The Sun has disappeared. A bright hole is diminishing in the distance. The Sea and the sky unite, and are only one.

  Then, suddenly, a wave leaps up in the rocks, slapping the air. A wan gleam, which comes from nowhere, wanders as if seeking to flee. It has only lasted a moment. A squall, tearing the totality of the dark cloud, scatters shreds of cloud. The Sea, in a moment, becomes pale, and the entirety of the visible world, the waves, the coast and the heath, disappears at a stroke in the universal Rain.

  It falls, intensely; the wind curls it up; its columns, swollen and twisted, like funnels, run toward the land, and their curves snake among the inlets and the reefs. Under that recommencing flood, the moribund woman extends her back; crawling on all fours, backwards, she returns to her shelter. She does not even grumble; she is docile and resigned; since birth, she has been accustomed to obeying forces, without wondering whether things would be better if they were otherwise, without comparing what is with what might be.

  Returned beneath her rock, she gazes into the distance bleakly. Rocky islets suspended in the mist float out there, like great birds the color of mud. She remembers having seen them a little while ago like flowers; a desolation descends upon her, as vast as the rain and as heavy as the sea; the good Sun, which paid heed to her, has been vanquished and eaten; her hope dies of the same blow; nothing will protect her any longer; she renounces and abandons herself. She wedges her spine against the granite. She consents to die.

  But life is still stubborn, and the rude ancestor does not die.

  LXXVI. The White Flies

  The torrents of the downpour fell for two days. The horde, which found ample food along the strand, waited patiently. All in all, life was good, since they only had to suffer without having to tremble; the absence of predators constituted a new pleasure, which they enjoyed even though it suggested a kind of malaise, equally new. The unanimity of large beasts in not wanting to dwell in the region was somewhat disquieting; it resembled a warning; it gave an impression of exile, and the humans, in whom the sense of animal solidarity still had the force of an instinct, were suspicious. The young males, especially, more bellicose and more nomadic, began to get bored with not fighting and remaining in the same place.

  Hock scarcely quit old Ta, and every evening, Daâh returned to shelter with them; the horde imitated him. As one single rock could not be sufficient to shelter them all, three groups were formed, a short distance from one another, in the hollows of three refuges. Under the granite ceiling, they had cleared away the sandy soil without difficulty; by night, they piled into the moist holes.

  Suddenly, the wind veered, blowing from the north; all day long, a furious breath whipped the sea and skimmed the heath; the rain stopped. The dying woman’s teeth chattered and she tightened the pelt of a horse around her, which gusts of wind tried to tear away from her; burning with fever and thirst, she crawled on her belly to a puddle in order to gulp a little muddy water.

  The night was glacial; the wind only slackened as morning approached.

  There was then a very strange dawn, scarcely bright, and an entirely new sky; instead of the voluminous clouds, which ordinarily pursued one another, a green-tinted mass stagnated in immobility.

  The thunder fell silent; a mutism succeeded its perpetual rumbling, which numbed the heath and even the sea. The weight of an invisible burden oppressed their chests; a lassitude devoid of a cause made their limbs heavy; their faces became bleak in the penumbra without anyone knowing why.

  That semi-darkness lasted for another two days. Then tiny white things began to descend from the opaque sky.

  Rare at first, and then multitudinous, they came silently, like dead Flies; gradually, but very quickly, they became so numerous that they filled the air; nothing of the world could any longer be seen.

  Stupidly bewildered, the humans gazed at that pale and mute invasion, which they had never seen. On their arms, their hands, their shoulders and all over their bodies, those incomprehensible flies settled gently, and vanished...

  They had the impression of an impenetrable force tightening around them, enclosing them in a circle forever. In that grayness, frightened silhouettes were seen, which raised their arms, running as if in search of a way out; they generated fear in their turn, so much did they seem no longer to be real human beings but shadows. No matter how close they were, they seemed to be distant; their cries of terror were stifled by the avalanche.

  Panic took hold of the horde. They started to flee in all directions.

  The Snow fell until dusk, and it fell throughout the night; the following day, it continued.

  It took possession of the world for centuries.

  LXXVII. The White Land

&n
bsp; The naked humans gathered under the three rocks, uniquely attentive to protecting themselves from the cold and reassuring one another by huddling together, remained curled up and silent. Massed and entangled, skin against skin, tightening scraps of fur over them, they displayed nothing but a cluster of haggard and bushy faces, issuing from a thicket of fleeces, with round eyes and lips parted in terror. Their flared nostrils sniffed the mystery of the surroundings. Of their perpetual mobility, nothing remained to those creatures but an anxious swiveling of the head on the pivot of the neck, as if they were searching relentlessly for the open gap through which they might escape toward life.

  They scented death everywhere. From dusk to dawn and from dawn to dusk the white ground extended with an irreducible exactitude, and they watched it rise. An even plain spread out coldly, livid in the vicinity, dull in the distance. Anyone who tried to set foot on it sank into it thigh-deep. In spite of the hunger that was beginning to torture their stomachs, no one dared venture forth into the hazards of that world, which no longer had any form. The memory of the Whale run aground on the shore was no longer capable of giving them courage. One hungry individual, however, wanted to go toward that meat regardless; he never came back.

  The certainty of a definitive impotence was increasingly affirmed; slowly, it was disengaged from the universal menace; slowly, it fell in dense flakes, to enter into the depths of souls. The horror that penetrated them all, at the mere thought of leaving the group and isolating themselves in that desert, even in order to find something to eat, became an obsession, and the obsession became a thought.