Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac has recently acquired a new lease
of fame as the hero of Edmond Rostand's romantic comedy.
Probably he is better known in France as a fighter than as a
wit and a poet. Born about 1620, he entered the Regiment of
the Guards in his nineteenth year, and quickly became renowned
for his bravery. He was an indefatigable duellist; when he was
about twenty years old, he found a hundred men assembled to
insult one of his friends, and he attacked them, killed two,
mortally wounded seven, and dispersed all the rest. He died at
Paris in 1655, struck by a huge beam falling into the street.
As an author he was strangely underrated by his
fellow-countrymen. Molière was the only man who really
appreciated him. For some centuries his works have been more
esteemed in England than in France. Many English writers, from
Dean Swift to Samuel Butler, the author of "Erewhon," have
been inspired by his "Voyage to the Moon," the English
equivalent of the original title being, "Comic History of the
States and Empires of the Moon and the Sun." This entertaining
satire is as fresh as it was on the day it was written: flying
machines and gramophones, for instance, are curiously modern.
His inimitable inventiveness makes him the most delightful of
French writers between Montaigne and Molière.
_I.--Arrival on the Moon_
After many experiments I constructed a flying machine, and, sitting on
top of it, I boldly launched myself in the air from the crest of a
mountain. I had scarcely risen more than half a mile when something went
wrong with my machine, and it shot back to the earth. But, to my
astonishment and joy, instead of descending with it, I continued to rise
through the calm, moonlight air. For three-quarters of an hour I mounted
higher and higher. Then suddenly all the weight of my body seemed to
fall upon my head. I was no longer rising quietly from the Earth, but
tumbling headlong on to the Moon. At last I crashed through a tree, and,
breaking my fall among its leafy, yielding boughs, I landed gently on
the grass below.
I found myself in the midst of a wild and beautiful forest, so full of
the sweet music of singing-birds that it seemed as if every leaf on
every tree had the tongue and figure of a nightingale. The ground was
covered with unknown, lovely flowers, with a magical scent. As soon as I
smelt it I became twenty years younger. My thin grey hairs changed into
thick, brown, wavy tresses; my wrinkled face grew fresh and rosy; and my
blood flowed through my veins with the speed and vigour of youth.
I was surprised to find no trace of human habitation in the forest. But
in wandering about I came upon two strong, great animals, about twelve
cubits long. One of them came towards me, and the other fled into the
forest. But it quickly returned with seven hundred other beasts. As they
approached me, I perceived that they were creatures with a human shape,
who, however, went on all-fours like some gigantic kind of monkey. They
shouted with admiration when they saw me; and one of them took me up by
the neck and flung me on his back, and galloped with me into a great
town.
When I saw the splendid buildings of the city I recognised my mistake.
The four-footed creatures were really enormous men. Seeing that I went
on two legs, they would not believe that I was a man like themselves.
They thought I was an animal without any reasoning power, and they
resolved to send me to their queen, who was fond of collecting strange
and curious monsters.
All this, of course, I did not understand at the time. It took me some
months to learn their language. These men of the Moon have two dialects;
one for the nobility, the other for the common people. The language of
the nobility is a kind of music; it is certainly a very pleasant means
of expression. They are able to communicate their thoughts by lutes and
other musical instruments quite as well as by the voice.
When twenty or thirty of them meet together to discuss some matter, they
carry on the debate by the most harmonious concert it is possible to
imagine.
The common people, however, talk by agitating different parts of their
bodies. Certain movements constitute an entire speech. By shaking a
finger, a hand, or an arm, for instance, they can say more than we can
in a thousand words. Other motions, such as a wrinkle on the forehead, a
shiver along a muscle, serve to design words. As they use all their body
in speaking in this fashion, they have to go naked in order to make
themselves clearly understood. When they are engaged in an exciting
conversation they seem to be creatures shaken by some wild fever.
Instead of sending me at once to the Queen of the Moon, the man who had
captured me earned a considerable amount of money by taking me every
afternoon to the houses of the rich people. There I was compelled to
jump and make grimaces, and stand in ridiculous attitudes in order to
amuse the crowds of guests who had been invited to see the antics of the
new animal.
But one day, as my master was pulling the rope around my neck to make me
rise up and divert the company, a man came and asked me in Greek who I
was. Full of joy at meeting someone with whom I could talk, I related to
him the story of my voyage from the Earth.
"I cannot understand," I said, "how it was I rose up to the Moon when my
machine broke down and fell to the Earth."
"That is easily explained," he said. "You had got within the circle of
lunar influence, in which the Moon exerts a sort of sucking action on
the fat of the body. The same thing often happens to me. Like you, I am
a stranger on the Moon. I was born on the Sun, but, being of a roving
disposition, I like to explore one planet after another. I have
travelled a good deal in Europe, and conversed with several persons
whose names you no doubt know. I remember that I was once famous in
ancient Greece as the Demon of Socrates."
"Then you are a spirit?" I exclaimed.
"A kind of spirit," he replied. "I was one of the large company of the
Men of the Sun who used to inhabit the Earth under the names of oracles,
nymphs, woodland elves, and fairies. But we abandoned our world in the
reign of the Emperor Augustus; your people then became so gross and
stupid that we could no longer delight in their society. Since then I
have stayed on the Moon. I find its inhabitants more enlightened than
the inhabitants of the Earth."
"I don't!" I exclaimed. "Look how they treat me, as if I were a wild
beast! I am sure that if one of their men of science voyaged to the
Earth, he would be better received than I am here."
"I doubt it," said the Man of the Sun. "Your men of science would have
him killed, stuffed, and put in a glass case in a museum."
_II.--The Garb of Shame_
At this point our conversation was broken off by my keeper. He saw that
the company was tired of my talk, which seemed to them mere grunting. So
he pulled my rope, and made me dance and caper until the spectators
ached with laughter.
Happily, the next morning the Man of the Sun opened my cage and put me
on his back and carried me away.
"I have spoken to the King of the Moon," he said; "and he has commanded
that you should be taken to his court and examined by his learned
doctors."
As my companion went on four feet, he was able to travel as fast as a
racehorse, and we soon arrived at another town, where we put up at an
inn for dinner. I followed him into a magnificently furnished hall, and
a servant asked me what I would begin with.
"Some soup," I replied.
I had scarcely pronounced the words when I smelt a very succulent broth.
I rose up to look for the source of this agreeable smell; but my
companion stopped me.
"What do you want to walk away for?" said he. "Stay and finish your
soup."
"But where is the soup?" I said.
"Ah," he replied. "This is the first meal you have had on the Moon. You
see, the people here only live on the smell of food. The fine, lunar art
of cookery consists in collecting the exhalations that come from cooked
meat, and bottling them up. Then, at meal-time, the various jars are
uncorked, one after the other, until the appetites of the diners are
satisfied."
"It is, no doubt, an exquisite way of eating," I said; "but I am afraid
I shall starve on it."
"Oh, no, you will not," said he. "You will soon find that a man can
nourish himself as well by his nose as by his mouth."
And so it was. After smelling for a quarter of an hour a variety of
rich, appetising vapours, I rose up quite satisfied.
In the afternoon I was taken to the palace of the king, and examined by
the greatest men of science on the Moon. In spite of all that my friend
had said on my behalf, I was adjudged to be a mere animal, and again
shut up in a cage. The king, queen, and courtiers spent a considerable
time every day watching me, and with the help of the Man of the Sun I
soon learned to speak a little of their, music-language. This caused a
great deal of surprise. Several persons began to think that I was really
a man who had been dwarfed and weakened from want of nourishment.
But the learned doctors again examined me, and decided that, as I did
not walk on four legs, I must be a new kind of featherless parrot.
Thereupon I was given a pole to perch on, instead of a nice warm bed to
lie in; and every day the queen's fowler used to come and whistle tunes
for me to learn. In the meantime, however, I improved my knowledge of
the language, and at last I spoke so well and intelligibly that all the
courtiers said that the learned doctors had been mistaken. One of the
queen's maids of honour not only thought that I was a man, but fell in
love with me. She often used to steal to my cage, and listen to my
stories of the customs and amusements of our world. She was so
interested that she begged me to take her with me if ever I found a way
of returning to the Earth.
In my examination by the learned doctors I had stated that their world
was but a Moon, and that the Moon from which I had come was really a
world. It was this which had made them angry against me. But my friend,
the Man of the Sun, at last prevailed upon the king to let me out of the
cage on my retracting my wicked heresy. I was clad in splendid robes,
and placed on a magnificent chariot to which four great noblemen were
harnessed, and led to the centre of the city, where I had to make the
following statement:
"People, I declare to you that this Moon is not a Moon but a world; and
that the world I come from is not a world but a Moon. For this is what
the Royal Council believe that you ought to believe."
The Man of the Sun then helped me to descend from the chariot, and took
me quickly into a house, and stripped me of my gorgeous robes. "Why do
you do that?" I asked. "This is the most splendid dress I have ever seen
on the Moon."
"It is a garb of shame," said my companion. "You have this day undergone
the lowest degradation that can be imposed on a man. You committed an
awful crime in saying that the Moon was not a Moon. It is a great wonder
you were not condemned to die of old age."
"Die of old age?" I said.
"Yes," replied my companion. "Usually, when a Man of the Moon comes to
that time of life in which he feels that he is losing his strength of
mind and body, he invites all his friends to a banquet. After explaining
what little hope he has of adding anything to the fine actions of his
life, he asks for permission to depart. If he has led a bad life, he is
ordered to live; but if he has been a good man, his dearest friend
kisses him, and plunges a dagger in his heart."
As he was talking, the son of the man in whose house we were staying
entered the room. My companion quickly rose on his four feet, and made
the young man a profound bow. I asked him why he did this. He told me
that on the Moon parents obey their children, and old men are compelled
to show to young men the greatest respect.
"They are of opinion," said my companion, "that a strong and active
young man is more capable of governing a family than a dull, infirm
sexagenarian. I know that on your Earth old men are supposed to be wise
and prudent. But, as a matter of fact, their wisdom and prudence
consists merely of a timid frame of mind and a disinclination to take
any risks."
The father then entered the room, and his son said to him in an angry
voice:
"Why have you not got our house ready to sail away? You know the walls
of the city have gone some hours ago. Bring me at once your image!"
The man brought a great wooden image of himself, and his son whipped it
furiously for a quarter of an hour.
"And now," said the young man at last, "go and hoist the sails at once!"
_III.--Marvels of the Moon_
There are two kinds of towns on the Moon: travelling towns and sedentary
towns. In the travelling towns, each house is built of very light wood,
and placed on a platform, beneath the four corners of which great wheels
are fixed. When the time arrives for a voyage to the seaside or the
forest, for a change of air, the townspeople hoist vast sails on the
roofs of their dwellings, and sail away altogether towards the new site.
In the sedentary towns, on the other hand, the houses are made with
great strong screws running from the cellars to the roofs, which enable
them to be raised or lowered at discretion. The depth of the cellar is
equal to the height of every house; in winter, the whole structure is
lowered below the surface of the ground; in spring, it is lifted up
again by means of the screw.
As, owing to the father's neglect, the house in which we were staying
could not set sail until the next day, my companion and I accepted an
invitation to stay the night there. Our host then sent for a doctor, who
prescribed what foods I should smell, and what kind of bed I should lie
in.
"But I am not sick!" I said to the Man of the Sun.
"If you were," he replied, "the doctor would not have been sent for. On
the Moon, doctors are not paid to cure men, but to keep them in good
health. They are officers of the state, and, once a day, they call at
every house, and instruct the inmates how to preserve their natural
vigour."
"I wish," I. said, "you could get him to order me a dozen roasted larks
instead of the mere smell of them. I should like to taste some solid
food just for a change."
He spoke to the doctor, and at a sign from him, our host took a gun and
led me into his garden.
"Are those the kind of birds you mean?" he said, pointing to a great
swarm of larks singing high up in the sky.
I replied that they were, and he shot at them, and thirty larks tumbled
over at our feet, not merely dead, but plucked, seasoned, and roasted.
"You see," said my host, "we mix with our gunpowder and shot a certain
composition which cooks as well as kills."
I picked up one of the birds and ate it. In sober truth, I have never
tasted on Earth anything so deliciously roasted.
When I had finished my repast, I was conducted to a little room, the
floor of which was strewn with fine orange blossoms about three feet
deep. The Men of the Moon always sleep on these thick, soft heaps of
fragrant flowers, which are chosen for them every day by their doctors.
Four servants came and undressed me, and gently rubbed my limbs and my
body, and in a few moments I was fast asleep.
Early next morning I was awakened by the Man of the Sun, who said to me:
"I know you are anxious to return to your Earth and relate the story of
all the strange and wonderful things you have seen on the Moon. If you
care to while away an hour or two over this book, I will prepare for
your return voyage."
The book which he put into my hand was an extraordinary object. It was a
kind of machine, full of delicate springs, and it looked like a new kind
of clock. In order to read it, you had to use, not your eyes, but your
ears. For on touching one of the springs, it began to speak like a man.
It was a history of the Sun, and I was still listening to it when my
companion arrived.
"I am now ready," he said. "On what part of the Earth would you like to
land?"
"In Italy," I replied. "That will save me the cost and trouble of
travelling to Rome--a city I have always longed to see."
Taking me in his arms, the Man of the Sun rose swiftly up from the Moon
and carried me across the intervening space, and dropped me rather
roughly on a hill near Rome. When I turned to expostulate with him, I
found that he had disappeared.
* * * * *