Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice

by James Branch Cabell

  22.

  As to a Veil They Broke

  So it was that Jurgen came into Cocaigne, wherein is the bedchamberof Time. And Time, they report, came in with Jurgen, since Jurgenwas mortal: and Time, they say, rejoiced in this respite from theslow toil of dilapidating cities stone by stone, and with his eyestired by the finicky work of etching in wrinkles, went happily intohis bedchamber, and fell asleep just after sunset on this fineevening in late June: so that the weather remained fair andchangeless, with no glaring sun rays anywhere, and with one largestar shining alone in clear daylight. This was the star of VenusMechanitis, and Jurgen later derived considerable amusement fromnoting how this star was trundled about the dome of heaven by alargish beetle, named Khepre. And the trees everywhere kept theirfirst fresh foliage, and the birds were about their indolent eveningsongs, all during Jurgen's stay in Cocaigne, for Time had gone tosleep at the pleasantest hour of the year's most pleasant season. Sotells the tale.

  And Jurgen's shadow also went in with Jurgen, but in Cocaigne as inGlathion, nobody save Jurgen seemed to notice this curious shadowwhich now followed Jurgen everywhere.

  In Cocaigne Queen Anaitis had a palace, where domes and pinnaclesbeyond numbering glimmered with a soft whiteness above the top of anold twilit forest, wherein the vegetation was unlike that which isnourished by ordinary earth. There was to be seen in these woods,for instance, a sort of moss which made Jurgen shudder. So Anaitisand Jurgen came through narrow paths, like murmuring green caverns,into a courtyard walled and paved with yellow marble, wherein wasnothing save the dimly colored statue of a god with ten heads andthirty-four arms: he was represented as very much engrossed by awoman, and with his unoccupied hands was holding yet other women.

  "It is Jigsbyed," said Anaitis.

  Said Jurgen: "I do not criticize. Nevertheless, I think thisJigsbyed is carrying matters to extremes."

  Then they passed the statue of Tangaro Loloquong, and afterward thestatue of Legba. Jurgen stroked his chin, and his color heightened."Now certainly, Queen Anaitis," he said, "you have unusual taste insculpture."

  Thence Jurgen came with Anaitis into a white room, with copperplaques upon the walls, and there four girls were heating water in abrass tripod. They bathed Jurgen, giving him astonishing caressesmeanwhile--with the tongue, the hair, the finger-nails, and the tipsof the breasts,--and they anointed him with four oils, then dressedhim again in his glittering shirt. Of Caliburn, said Anaitis, therewas no present need: so Jurgen's sword was hung upon the wall.

  These girls brought silver bowls containing wine mixed with honey,and they brought pomegranates and eggs and barleycorn, andtriangular red-colored loaves, whereon they sprinkled sweet-smellinglittle seeds with formal gestures. Then Anaitis and Jurgen broketheir fast, eating together while the four girls served them.

  "And now," says Jurgen, "and now, my dear, I would suggest that weenter into the pursuit of those curious pleasures of which you weretelling me."

  "I am very willing," responded Anaitis, "since there is no one ofthese pleasures but is purchased by some diversion of man's nature.Yet first, as I need hardly inform you, there is a ceremonial to beobserved."

  "And what, pray, is this ceremonial?"

  "Why, we call it the Breaking of the Veil." And Queen Anaitisexplained what they must do.

  "Well," says Jurgen, "I am willing to taste any drink once."

  So Anaitis led Jurgen into a sort of chapel, adorned with veryunchurchlike paintings. There were four shrines, dedicated severallyto St. Cosmo, to St. Damianus, to St. Guignole of Brest, and to St.Foutin de Varailles. In this chapel were a hooded man, clothed inlong garments that were striped with white and yellow, and two nakedchildren, both girls. One of the children carried a censer: theother held in one hand a vividly blue pitcher half filled withwater, and in her left hand a cellar of salt.

  First of all, the hooded man made Jurgen ready. "Behold the lance,"said the hooded man, "which must serve you in this adventure."

  "I accept the adventure," Jurgen replied, "because I believe theweapon to be trustworthy."

  Said the hooded man: "So be it! but as you are, so once was I."

  Meanwhile Duke Jurgen held the lance erect, shaking it with hisright hand. This lance was large, and the tip of it was red withblood.

  "Behold," said Jurgen, "I am a man born of a woman incomprehensibly.Now I, who am miraculous, am found worthy to perform a miracle, andto create that which I may not comprehend."

  Anaitis took salt and water from the child, and mingled these. "Letthe salt of earth enable the thin fluid to assume the virtue of theteeming sea!"

  Then, kneeling, she touched the lance, and began to stroke itlovingly. To Jurgen she said: "Now may you be fervent of soul andbody! May the endless Serpent be your crown, and the fertile flameof the sun your strength!"

  Said the hooded man, again: "So be it!" His voice was high andbleating, because of that which had been done to him.

  "That therefore which we cannot understand we also invoke," saidJurgen. "By the power of the lifted lance"--and now with his lefthand he took the hand of Anaitis,--"I, being a man born of a womanincomprehensibly, now seize upon that which alone I desire with mywhole being. I lead you toward the east. I upraise you above theearth and all the things of earth."

  Then Jurgen raised Queen Anaitis so that she sat upon the altar, andthat which was there before tumbled to the ground. Anaitis placedtogether the tips of her thumbs and of her fingers, so that herhands made an open triangle; and waited thus. Upon her head was anetwork of red coral, with branches radiating downward: her gauzytunic had twenty-two openings, so as to admit all imaginablecaresses, and was of two colors, being shot with black and crimsoncuriously mingled: her dark eyes glittered and her breath came fast.

  Now the hooded man and the two naked girls performed their share inthe ceremonial, which part it is not essential to record. But Jurgenwas rather shocked by it.

  None the less, Jurgen said: "O cord that binds the circling of thestars! O cup which holds all time, all color, and all thought! Osoul of space! not unto any image of thee do we attain unless thyimage show in what we are about to do. Therefore by every plantwhich scatters its seed and by the moist warm garden which receivesand nourishes it, by the comminglement of bloodshed with pleasure,by the joy that mimics anguish with sighs and shudderings, and bythe contentment which mimics death,--by all these do we invoke thee.O thou, continuous one, whose will these children attend, and whom Inow adore in this fair-colored and soft woman's body, it is thouwhom I honor, not any woman, in doing what seems good to me: and itis thou who art about to speak, and not she."

  Then Anaitis said: "Yea, for I speak with the tongue of every woman,and I shine in the eyes of every woman, when the lance is lifted. Toserve me is better than all else. When you invoke me with a heartwherein is kindled the serpent flame, if but for a moment, you willunderstand the delights of my garden, what joy unwordable pulsatestherein, and how potent is the sole desire which uses all of a man.To serve me you will then be eager to surrender whatever else is inyour life: and other pleasures you will take with your left hand,not thinking of them entirely: for I am the desire which uses all ofa man, and so wastes nothing. And I accept you, I yearn toward you,I who am daughter and somewhat more than daughter to the Sun. I whoam all pleasure, all ruin, and a drunkenness of the inmost sense,desire you."

  Now Jurgen held his lance erect before Anaitis. "O secret of allthings, hidden in the being of all which lives, now that the lanceis exalted I do not dread thee: for thou art in me, and I am thou. Iam the flame that burns in every beating heart and in the core ofthe farthest star. I too am life and the giver of life, and in metoo is death. Wherein art thou better than I? I am alone: my will isjustice: and there comes no other god where I am."

  Said the hooded man behind Jurgen: "So be it! but as you are, soonce was I."

  The two naked children stood one at each side of Anaitis, and waitedthere trembling. These girls, as Jurgen afterward learned, wereAlecto and Tis
iphone, two of the Eumenides. And now Jurgen shiftedthe red point of the lance, so that it rested in the open trianglemade by the fingers of Anaitis.

  "I am life and the giver of life," cried Jurgen. "Thou that art one,that makest use of all! I who am a man born of woman, I in mystation honor thee in honoring this desire which uses all of a man.Make open therefore the way of creation, encourage the flaming dustwhich is in our hearts, and aid us in that flame's perpetuation! Foris not that thy law?"

  Anaitis answered: "There is no law in Cocaigne save, Do that whichseems good to you."

  Then said the naked children: "Perhaps it is the law, but certainlyit is not justice. Yet we are little and quite helpless. Sopresently we must be made as you are for now you two are no longertwo, and your flesh is not shared merely with each other. For yourflesh becomes our flesh, and your sins our sins: and we have nochoice."

  Jurgen lifted Anaitis from the altar, and they went into the chanceland searched for the adytum. There seemed to be no doors anywhere inthe chancel: but presently Jurgen found an opening screened by apink veil. Jurgen thrust with his lance and broke this veil. Heheard the sound of one brief wailing cry: it was followed by softlaughter. So Jurgen came into the adytum.

  Black candles were burning in this place, and sulphur too wasburning there, before a scarlet cross, of which the top was acircle, and whereon was nailed a living toad. And other curiousmatters Jurgen likewise noticed.

  He laughed, and turned to Anaitis: now that the candles were behindhim, she was standing in his shadow. "Well, well! but you are alittle old-fashioned, with all these equivocal mummeries. And I didnot know that civilized persons any longer retained sufficientcredulity to wring a thrill from god-baiting. Still, women must behumored, bless them! and at last, I take it, we have quite fairlyfulfilled the ceremonial requisite to the pursuit of curiouspleasures."

  Queen Anaitis was very beautiful, even under his bedimming shadow.Triumphant too was the proud face beneath that curious coralnetwork, and yet this woman's face was sad.

  "Dear fool," she said, "it was not wise, when you sang of the Leshy,to put an affront upon Monday. But you have forgotten that. And nowyou laugh because that which we have done you do not understand: andequally that which I am you do not understand."

  "No matter what you may be, my dear, I am sure that you willpresently tell me all about it. For I assume that you mean to dealfairly with me."

  "I shall do that which becomes me, Duke Jurgen--"

  "That is it, my dear, precisely! You intend to be true to yourself,whatever happens. The aspiration does you infinite honor, and Ishall try to help you. Now I have noticed that every woman is mosttruly herself," says Jurgen, oracularly, "in the dark."

  Then Jurgen looked at her for a moment, with twinkling eyes: thenAnaitis, standing in his shadow, smiled with glowing eyes: thenJurgen blew out those black candles: and then it was quite dark.