directly opposed to that of Professor Thomas Cracker, in his
capacity as a representative of that modern science which regards
the universe as being made up of dead lumps of matter, in which, in
some inexplicable way, life and consciousness are produced by means
of mechanical motion, due to the friction caused by their coming
accidentally in contact with each other. I am also clairvoyant enough
to foresee that Mr Cracker and his learned colleagues will treat this
story with contempt, if they should ever condescend to notice it; but
this cannot be helped, and I resign myself to my fate.
I will therefore not enter into a discussion concerning the merits of
a philosophy resulting from looking at the universe in its spiritual
aspect, or compare it with the absurdities resulting from a blind
belief in materialism and its superstitions, but proceed to say that
Adalga being a spirit, in possession of an intelligence not due to
mechanical friction, but due to the presence of an intelligent power
in her own constitution, this intelligence of which she was possessed
became manifested in her, and as time went on its manifestations
increased, as might have been scientifically proved by the observation
that she became more clever and intelligent. From this it may be
inferred that the princess was in possession of a mind capable of
cognizing things by means of her bodily senses, and the facts which
I witnessed every day went to corroborate the correctness of this
theory. Moreover, there were indications that her mind was capable
of cognizing the actuality of spiritual truths or principles; but
being only a gnome, she was not capable of intricate reasoning and
complicated argumentation.
I often argued with her about the supposed immortality of the soul,
and it seemed to me that Adalga was not substantial enough to be more
than an ideal, and could therefore not be an enduring reality, because
ideals require substance for becoming realised. In other words, the
princess often appeared to me like a thought, that may delight the
present generation but be forgotten by the next. What she needed was
“matter” or firmness, such as results from fixedness or stability
of the spirit, and I came to the conclusion that I could supply her
with the required material elements by her union with me. I know
that I will be accused of making wild statements, unsupported by any
well-authenticated scientific theory, but it will be seen that by
means of my logical and inductive reasoning I arrived at the end at the
same result, which Adalga seems to have perceived instinctively, and
without any scientific training of her imagination, merely by her own
direct perception.
It may be inferred that Adalga had a soul, because she was alive and
capable of having emotions, and in that soul seemed to be dormant a
spark of a higher or spiritual life or consciousness, producing in her
longings for the unknown, such as were expressed in her song in the
cave; longings which she herself could not explain, be it that her mind
was not sufficiently developed to understand her own nature, or that
she was deficient in a scientific training of her imagination.
The tribe to which Adalga belonged was that of the _Sagani_, the
noblest of all the tribes among the gnomes, whose intellectual capacity
was nearest to that of man. Being a Sagana, it was in her power to
elongate her body, a circumstance which was at first terrifying,
and afterwards somewhat annoying to me; for often while we were
sitting side by side, with arms interlinked, and engaged in the sweet
occupation of exchanging our sentiments, would she forget herself, and
suddenly elongating her body shoot up some twenty-five feet high by
sheer force of habit, upsetting me or carrying me up into space before
I had time to let go of her arm or take it away from my waist. I begged
her to restrain herself, and not to do so again in my presence; but
self-restraint is a power entirely unknown among the gnomes. It is only
possible for those beings who are in possession of a certain amount
of spiritual self-consciousness, or, in other words, who feel or know
that they are somehow superior to their own nature, as I am bound to
say, even if I risk being accused of believing in the existence of
something supernatural. The gnomes do not realise anything higher than
their own elemental nature, and can therefore not restrain it. Only
man can do or keep from doing certain things from a sense of duty and
superiority. It is true that even animals seem to restrain themselves,
but it is their fear or other instincts which restrains them, and not
the experience of anything higher than their natural animal state; they
do not experience any superiority over their animal nature, because
no such superiority is existing in them; their motives for action are
all to be found in their own natural world, while man’s motives may
sometimes spring from something superior than his own animal nature,
namely, from a higher and divine nature in him.
To my remonstrances the princess used to answer:
“It is my longing for the high, the sublime, and exalted which causes
me to elongate my body involuntarily. I wish to grasp the infinite, and
this makes me shoot up involuntarily.”
“This, my dear,” I replied, “is not the proper way, and would not
be permitted in polite society among us. Moreover, you cannot reach
infinitude in this manner, which reminds me of the performances of
certain scientific theologians, who continually keep searching for God
by means of a telescope. We cannot reach the infinite by stretching
our limbs; we must grow and unfold from within by the power which we
accumulate. This power, as it grows and expands, will cause our souls
to unfold and develop. Instead of seeking for support outside of
ourselves, we ought to be like a storage-battery, filled with a living
power, that will radiate all over the world. This power is called love.”
“And can your clever men of science make love?” asked the princess.
“Oh yes!” I answered; “love-making is a favourite occupation with many
of our people; but the love they make is not the genuine article,
but merely a spurious imitation. Genuine love cannot be made or
manufactured, it is eternal; all we can do is to establish the
conditions under which it may become manifest.”
“Oh how I wish I could learn all that you know!” exclaimed Adalga.
“Will you not instruct me?”
“With the greatest pleasure!” I answered. “The first thing which you
will require to learn is to distinguish the true from the false. You
gnomes know that which is true, because you perceive it, but you do not
distinguish it sufficiently from that which is false, because falsehood
is unknown to you. The first requirement for you to attain a higher
state of civilisation is therefore to become acquainted with all sorts
of falsehoods, deceptions, and lies.”
Adalga seemed to be frightened, and I therefore continued to explain.
“Listen!” I said. “You know that which is, because you perceive it;
but you must also learn to know that which is not, so that you may
distinguish it from that which actually is, and not mistake mere
appearances for realities.”
“But if that which is not has no existence, how can we know it?” asked
the princess.
“We cannot truly know that which is not,” I said, “except by
experiencing its nothingness. We must ourselves become liars and
cheats, otherwise we will always have only a vague idea of what lying
and cheating means. We must be able to perceive that which is not, so
that we may get some idea of that which is.”
“But how can I perceive that which is not,” asked Adalga, “if there is
nothing to perceive?”
“In the easiest way in the world,” was my answer. “It only requires
a scientifically trained imagination. We will then be able to see
anything we like, even if there is nothing.”
The princess was delighted. She looked at me with a face expressive of
great admiration, and said:
“As the glowing tiny spark of the ruby grows into a large red light
when it is joined by the flame, so my admiration of thee grows in
beholding thy knowledge. No longer art thou veiled to my eyes, for the
secret has been revealed, and I behold in thee not a man, but one of
the sons of Lucifer, the god to whom no gnome can approach.”
“Nonsense!” I said. “The story of Lucifer is only a nursery tale, an
exploded humbug, annihilated by science. What do you mean? Who is the
Lucifer of whom you are speaking?”
“The god of darkness! He who knows that which is not and does not know
that which is; he whose temple is beyond the limits of our city, whose
portals no gnome can enter without losing his light. Follow me!”
Thus saying, the princess dissolved, and assuming her spherical shape
floated away, while I followed her as fast as my legs would carry me,
for my curiosity was greatly excited.
Beyond the city of _Gnana_, the capital of the kingdom of the gnomes,
there is a wilderness composed of forests, jungles, and swamps. There
you find sandy deserts interspersed with an occasional spot of verdure,
and innumerable bogs over which will-o’-the-wisps are aimlessly
wandering. Some parts are entirely bare of vegetation, others are
covered with a luxuriant growth of curious trees, resembling the Poison
Ivy (_Atrus toxicodendron_), upon which grows a tasteless fruit. There
was also a species of crab-apple trees, and another bearing a certain
kind of nuts, which were awfully hard to crack, and contained nothing
but ashes. In some places the spot was covered with fine-looking but
poisonous toad-stools, and the ways were full of entangled vines and
briers. The main road was leading to nowhere; for after following it
until you were exhausted to death, you would find yourself exactly upon
the spot from which you started at the beginning.
In the midst of this labyrinth there stands a curious-looking castle,
looking very solid and strong, with many fortifications; built of
sandstone. There are thick walls, surrounded by moats, buttresses, and
counterforts guarded by banquettes, abuttes, scarps and palisades,
fraises and parapets, ditches and _trous de loup_, all of which look
very formidable; but the light has such a peculiar influence upon
the material of which the castle is built, as to cause the walls to
decompose and rapidly crumble away. The very foundation of the building
has so little solidity as to cause the walls slowly but continually to
sink, so that it requires a continual repairing and building at the
top to cause the castle to remain above the ground and to maintain a
respectable appearance.
It was in front of that castle that the princess reassumed her
corporeal form, and as I approached nearer I found the walls ornamented
with skeletons and skulls, and upon the top of the building waved a
flag, consisting of a great many pieces of cloth of many different
sizes and colours, sewed together in a haphazard manner, and this flag
bore the inscription:
_Knowledge is Power._
At the entrance of the fort there was a kind of a temple made of
jet-black stone. A few steps led up to a door.
“These walls,” said my companion, “are the remnant of what was once
a city built by a now extinct race of demons,” and pointing to the
temple, she added, “Here is the temple of him who knows that which is
not, and does not know that which is.”
“And what is to be seen in there?” I asked.
“Who knows?” exclaimed the princess. “This place is shunned by every
gnome, and no one dares to enter. It is said, however, that it is
inhabited by insane spooks, and by the remnant of a certain class of
people who have spent their lives in doing many useless things. They
are said to follow their accustomed occupations in an automatic manner,
doing the same things over and over again without coming to an end.”
“And who were they, when they lived?” I asked.
“Nobody knows,” answered Adalga. “None of these creatures knew himself
while he lived; how could anybody know him after he died?”
I expressed my determination to enter, upon which the princess grew
very much alarmed, and begged me to desist; but the more she sought
to dissuade me from my purpose, the greater grew my curiosity to
investigate the mysteries of Lucifer’s temple.
“Do not enter, O Mulligan!” cried the princess. “It will destroy your
light.”
“I have no light to lose,” I answered. “I am not a gnome.”
“Woe to me!” she cried. “Shall I lose you and my life even before
our union has become completed! Stop this rash undertaking! Stop, O
Mulligan, stop!”
“I must see the mystery of Lucifer!” I exclaimed, while tearing myself
away from Adalga’s arms and making a rush for the door, which I
entered, while the princess remained outside, wringing her hands and
filling the kingdom of the gnomes with her lamentations and cries.
The room into which I entered appeared at first perfectly empty and
dark; but after a little while I was able to see two luminous spots
of a reddish yellow light at a distance, and some dark and voluminous
object loomed up. Vague and undefinable nebulous shapes seemed to be
flitting before my eyes and moving about. I confess that at first
I experienced a feeling of something like fear and repugnancy; but
nerving my courage, I went forward, and soon stood before a gigantic
figure representing a green frog squatting upon a stone, and from the
eyes of the frog shone the phosphorescent lights which I had observed
when I entered, looking like two fiery balls. The jaws of the frog
were wide open, as if it were ready to devour anything whatever coming
within its reach. Gradually my eyes became accustomed to the gloom, and
I could read an inscription upon the pedestal saying--
_Nulla Ratio Sine Phosphore._
Many years after that event I presented this inscription to the
Academy, and respectfully asked for an explanation of its meaning.
There were a few who claimed that it said it was necessary for the
brain to contain phosphorus, so that the principle of mind could become
active therein, and make a man capable of reasoning; but the great
majority of the Academicians claimed that reason itself was a product
of phosphorus, and a mode of motion of its molecules in the brain.
I was no longer afraid. I climbed upon the pedestal and examined the
head of the frog, when I found that in the place of a brain there was a
large lump of phosphorus enclosed in a film of coloured glass. It was
the light of the phosphorus shining through the coloured glass that
caused the lurid glow which came from the goggle eyes of the frog.
This discovery made me laugh. “This, then,” I said to myself, “is
the celebrated Lucifer of whom the gnomes are afraid. Evidently
the scientists of that extinct race attempted to create a living
and thinking being in an artificial manner by making a compound of
phosphorus to serve for a brain; but for all that they produced nothing
but the dead image of a bull-frog.” I felt tempted to smash the frog or
to take the phosphorus, but for some cause, which is not quite clear to
myself, I made up my mind to let it alone.
I now became also able to see more clearly the nebulous forms that
wandered about in space, and to my horror I found among them not only
the shades of some prominent people well known in history, but also the
apparitions of some persons with whom I was well acquainted. Among them
was one who had spent all his life in trying to invent a _perpetuum
mobile_, and who to my knowledge is still living. As I approached him,
I found him engaged in his usual occupation. He seemed to be aware of
my presence, for he said--
“There is only one little hinge which prevents the instrument from
going. When this is overcome it will work all right, and my name will
be inscribed in the register of the Academy.”
“And of what benefit,” I asked, “will it be to you to have your name
thus inscribed, when you yourself are only a ghost?”
It is said that ghosts, like the gnomes, cannot speak otherwise than
as they think, because they have not sense enough to prevaricate. He
looked at me in surprise, and merely answered--
“Fool!”
He had become so much emaciated, and his voice sounded so hollow, that
I began to doubt whether he actually was the one I had known in our
world; I therefore asked him who he was.
“Alas!” replied the ghost mournfully, “I do not know who I am.
While I was among the living I knew everything about science and
philosophy, medicine and theology, spiritism and psychic research,
but unfortunately I never knew myself. It is said that I made many
inventions and discoveries, but as I do not know myself, I do not know
who invented and discovered these things, and whether it was I or
another; moreover I have forgotten them all.”
“But,” I said, “why do you not try to find out who you are?”
Another deep sigh expressed the profundity of his grief as he said--
“Life is short, and I have no time to attend to that matter. First, I
will finish this _perpetuum mobile_, and after that I may have leisure
to find out who I am and for what purpose I exist. I have now put these
wheels together for the ten thousand six hundred and ninety-fifth
time, and there is only one little hinge. After this business has been
accomplished I will turn my attention to more serious matters.”
I felt a deep pity for the ghost, in whom I now well recognised my
friend, for the words spoken by him I had often heard him express
before. I therefore said--
“There is nothing to be said against entering into scientific
experiments and increasing one’s store of knowledge in regard to the
laws of external nature and its phenomena; but a far more important
thing it is to know one’s own self and the object of one’s existence,
so that one may act accordingly, and make the best use of life.”
“I know it,” answered the ghost, “and I often said so myself, but I
have now no time to attend to philosophical questions; I must finish
this wheel.”
“Perhaps,” I said, “you would succeed better if you were first to
learn to know your real self and its powers, and construct your wheel
afterwards, if you should still think it worth the while to spend your
time with such nonsense.”
When I said this the ghost became very angry, and said--
“Avaunt, fool! and do not torment me. Get thee gone!”
So saying, the ghost snapped his jaws at me in a furious manner, and I
barely escaped having my ear bitten off.
I mournfully turned away, sadly grieved that such a bright intellect
should have been allowed to evaporate in dreams; but I knew that
it was of no use to argue with him, for my own experience with the
jumping-jack had taught me what a great power a fixed idea has over
the mind.
Another ghost, fearfully emaciated, now attracted my attention. He
looked more like the shadow of a skeleton than a man, and was evidently
at the point of starvation, but engaged in the ludicrous occupation
of composing a bill of fare, while he himself had nothing whatever to
eat. I looked over his shoulder and saw him write out the following
prescription:
DEJEUNER À LA FOURCHETTE.
_Huîtres._
_Consommé tapioca à la Julienne._ _Potage crême d’asperges._
_Fruites au bleu; sauce à la Russe._
_Bœuf à la mode aux maccaroni a l’Italienne._
_Selle de mouton Hollandaise._
_Œufs bruillé aux melettes._
_Emincé de faiseur à la Windsor._
_Canard braisé en Bordeaux._
_Omelette souflée._ _Plum pudding._
_Purée de pommes et nocles au naturel._
_Fromage suisse._ _Glacé panachée aux gaufres cornets._
_Bordeaux._ _Champagne._
_Desert._ _Café._
“And where are all the good things whose names you have written?” I
asked.
“This,” he answered haughtily, “you will have to find out yourself. It
is sufficient if I indicate to you the order in which I might eat them
if I had them. Does this not satisfy you?”
“It might satisfy my curiosity,” I replied, “but it will not cure
your hunger or make you fat. You seem to me to need something more
substantial than mere theories.”
“Knowledge is power!” said the ghost. “When you have acquired the
knowledge how to eat in good style you may apply it as soon as you get
the chance.”
“Look here, my friend,” I answered, “it seems to me that you need very
much a chance to get something to eat, even if it were not served up in
the style proposed by you. Would it not be better to let this bill of
fare alone, and seek for some food?”
“I have no time to attend to that,” replied the ghost. “I must first
settle the theory; the practice may wait.”
“But by that time,” I said, “you may be starved to death.”
This remark seemed to annoy the ghost, for it was true, and ghosts
never like to hear any truth that goes against their own pet theories.
Being themselves made up of delusions, a spark of truth is to them a
foreign element, and burns them like fire.
“Go away!” he cried angrily. “Do not waste my time. I shall not permit
any scoffing at science.”
As I turned away I saw another ghost of still more pitiful aspect,
clothed in rags, the very personification of abject poverty. Want and
misery were looking out of his hollow cheeks, and his eyes were buried
deep in their sockets. He was making a long calculation.
“What are you calculating?” I asked.
“Do not disturb me,” he said. “I am calculating the interest which I
would receive if I were to inherit all of Mr Vanderbilt’s money and
estates, and how much, with the compound interest added to it, it would
amount to in one hundred years, and I want to see whether this would
be enough to enable me to live comfortably in my old age. I have now
been over this calculation for many years, but I must begin it again,
because the value of the stocks has again changed, and there is a
difference in the amount of the interest.”
I was surprised to hear that a person of such a beggarly appearance
should have such excellent financial prospects, and I said:
“When do you expect to make that inheritance, and could you not get now
some money on credit on the strength of your prospective income?”
To this the ghost replied:
“Alas, no! I have no prospect of making any inheritance whatever, and
there is no one who would lend me a penny; but it is such a comfort to
know how much money I might enjoy if I had it, and what an amount of
interest the capital would bring if I were in possession of it.”
“And could you not do some work for the purpose of earning some money?”
“Alas, no! I have no time for that; I must finish this calculation
first.”
“But what good will it do to you,” I asked, “to know all that stuff, as
long as you are in such a state of poverty?”
The ghost shivered. He looked at me scornfully, and said in an angry
tone--
“Knowledge is power! Do not waste my precious time. Begone!”
Thus going from one to another, I found all these spectres employed
in occupations which had no practical purpose, and served at best to
amuse their imagination or gratify their curiosity. They all spent
what little energy was left in them for the purpose of wasting their
time, making themselves believe that they were doing something useful.
They were all occupied with that which is not, and did not know that
which is. They amused themselves, so to say, in worrying about the
question what nothing might be if it were something, and in doing so
they turned the only something they had, namely, their energy, into
nothing. They were all dreams themselves, products of dreams, existing
in dreams, leading a dream-life and doing nothing but dreaming; all
they did was imaginary and had its origin in their own imagination. One
of the ghosts, becoming angry, flew at me and stumbled and fell down.
Thereupon it never occurred to him that he could get up again, but he
remained floundering upon the floor, uttering pitiful lamentations.
Some ghosts were playing cards, and although their continual losing
was a source of annoyance to them, they had not the power to stop;
others imagined that they had to imitate everything that they saw
another ghost doing. This class was very large. One ghost practised
target-shooting, but as he was all the time looking in quite another
direction than where the target was, he always missed the mark; but
wept bitterly and complained of his want of luck. But it is not
possible to mention all the follies which I saw the ghosts commit in
the palace of Lucifer; they were like insane people, reasoning cleverly
but without being in possession of reason. I pitied them, and sick at
heart I turned towards the door.