THE AUTHOR'S RETURN TO HIS FATHER-LAND, AND THE END OF THE FIFTH
MONARCHY.
Although perfectly sensible, my limbs were entirely benumbed; and I lay
helpless for a long time. Meanwhile I ruminated on my singular course.
The events of the past years rose one after another with clearness in my
mind; particularly those of my exaltation and fame. Here was I, the late
founder of the splendid fifth monarchy, metamorphosed to a poor and
hungry bachelor-of-arts; a change so terrible and unprecedented, that it
might well have disturbed the strongest brain. I seriously examined my
present circumstances--were they real? or did I dream? Alas? the tremors
of terror and uncertainty only gave place to the pangs of sorrow and
regret.
"Almighty Father!" I exclaimed, and towards heaven
Stretched my trembling hands, "what sin provoked thy vengeance,
That all thy thunders crash upon my head?
Where am I? whence came I? how shall I escape
Thy anger."
Truly! should one look over the journals of all times, he will neither
in ancient nor modern history find a parallel to so great a fall; with
the single exception of that of Nebuchadnezzar, who from the greatest of
kings was changed to a dumb beast.
I began to descend the mountain by the path which leads to Sandvig. When
about half way down, I observed some boys, whom I beckoned towards me,
repeating the words: _Jeru pikal salim_, which in the Quamitic language
signify: show me the way. The lads, however, were apparently frightened
at seeing a man in a strange dress, and with a hat on his head
glittering with golden rays; for they rushed down the mountain in great
haste, arriving at Sandvig an hour before me. The rumor of the strange
appearance on the mountain was spread about and caused terror throughout
the town; the notion was, that the _shoemaker of Jerusalem_ wandered
among the mountains. This impression arose thus: the boys on being
questioned by the townsmen, replied that I had told them who I was. I
afterwards learnt that my words, Jeru pikal salim, had been interpreted
by sound, and that this clew, acted upon by fear and superstition, had
been developed into the strangest of fables. This story was unquestioned
by this simple people, inasmuch as the adventures of the travelling
shoemaker were then newly reported, and it had been asserted that he had
been seen a short time before in Hamburg.
When, towards evening, I entered Sandvig, I observed that the
inhabitants were collected in large flocks, to gaze at me. As I
approached them and spoke, they all took to flight, except one old man:
him I addressed, and begged of him to give me lodging at his house. He
asked me, "where I was born, whence I came, &c." I answered him, with a
sigh: "When I come to your house, I will relate events that will seem
incredible to you, and whose equals you will not find in any history."
The old man then took me by the hand and led me to his house. When there
I demanded drink; he gave me a glass of beer. When I recovered my
breath, after this draught, I addressed the old man thus: "You see
before you a human being, who has been a bolt for the changing winds of
fortune; one, who has been pursued by a fatality more controlling and
more unhappy than was ever experienced by mortal."
"Moral and physical revolutions may be effected in a moment, without
surprising men; but what has befallen me is beyond the reach of human
imagination!"
"It is the traveller's fate;" my landlord answered; "many strange events
and changes might happen on a voyage of sixteen hundred years."
I did not understand this, and requested him to tell me what he meant by
sixteen hundred years. He replied: "If one may believe history, it is
now sixteen hundred years since Jerusalem was destroyed, and I doubt
not, venerable man, that you were already of age at its destruction. If
what is said of you is true, you must have been born in the reign of
Tiberius. I know that this matter is rather supposed than proved. The
inhabitants of this place, however, believe you to be the shoemaker of
Jerusalem, celebrated in history, who, since the time of Christ, has
travelled about the world. Nevertheless, the more I look at you, the
greater resemblance I find to an old friend of mine, who twelve years
since perished on the top of a neighboring mountain." At these words, I
looked carefully at my host. In a moment the fog was cleared from before
my eyes. I saw before me my dear friend Abelin, in whose house, at
Bergen, I had spent many happy days. I ran to his embrace with
outstretched arms. "Then 'tis you, my dear Abelin! I can scarcely
believe my eyes. Here you see Klim again, who has just returned from the
subterranean world. I am the same, who twelve years since plunged into
the mountain cave." He fell upon my neck and with tearful eyes, demanded
where I had been and what had happened to me. I told him all that had
occurred. At first he would not credit me; but afterwards he
acknowledged that all must have been so, for I could never have invented
such strange adventures.
Abelin advised me not to repeat these things to others, and to keep
myself secluded in his house. He told the people, who rushed to his
house to see the "shoemaker of Jerusalem," that I had vanished; for he
justly concluded this to be the best and most satisfactory answer he
could make to an ignorant and superstitious peasantry. I remained in
concealment until clothes, more suitable to the surface of the earth,
than those I brought from below, were made, when Abelin reported me to
be a relative of his, lately a student in Trondhjim, on a visit. He
recommended me to the bishop of Bergen, who promised to me the first
rectorship that should become vacant. This office was much to my taste,
for it seemed to have a likeness to my former state, a school-master
being a miniature of royalty. The rod may be likened to the sceptre; the
desk to the throne. After waiting for a vacancy in vain, I determined,
from necessity, to accept the first office I could get. At this time the
sacristan of the church died; his place was offered to me by the bishop
and accepted. An amusing promotion to one who had lately reigned over
many great kingdoms. Nevertheless, since nothing is so ridiculous as
poverty, and since it is foolish to throw away dirty water, before clean
is at hand, I think it would have been still more laughable to have
refused it. Fulfilling the duties of this office, I now live in
philosophic ease.
Shortly after my induction, a marriage with a merchant's daughter was
proposed to me. I could have liked the girl, but as it was probable that
the empress of Quama was yet alive, I did not care to make myself
obnoxious to the ban of polygamy. M. Abelin, however, into whose bosom I
was used to pour my doubts, and all the pressures of my heart, abridged
this fear, and advised me to marry; which I did. With this wife I have
lived six years in peaceful and affectionate union. During this period
she has borne me three fine sons, wholly worthy of their half brother,
the prince of Quama.
To my wife, I never told my subterranean adventures; but I can never
forget, for a moment, the splendor that once surrounded me. To this
day, I often express myself in signs and words, which, however
consistent in the mighty ruler and magnificent tyrant, are little
adapted to the humble sacristan of Bergen.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE SUPPLEMENT OF ABELIN.
Niels Klim lived to the year 1695. His irreprehensible life and amiable
disposition endeared him to all. Yet were the priests now and then angry
with him for his great sedateness and reservedness, which they called
pride and haughtiness. I, who knew the man, wondered much at the
modesty, humility and patience with which he, who had been monarch over
many nations, executed his mean and vulgar duties. So long as his
strength permitted, he would, at a certain time in the year, ascend the
mountain and gaze into the cave, out of which he came to the surface.
His friends observed that he always returned weeping, and immediately
shut himself in his chamber, where he remained alone the rest of the
day.
His wife informed me, that she frequently heard him murmur in his
dreams, of armies and navies. His library consisted mostly of political
works; for this selection he was blamed by several, who thought this
description of books unfit for a sacristan.
Of the "subterranean travels," there is but a single copy, written by
his own hand, which is in my possession.
I have often had it in mind to publish them, but several important
reasons have hindered me from doing so.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] A porteur is one who carries his employer in a chair, from place to
place.
[2] This name is taken to be predicated.
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| Transcriber's Notes |
| |
| Page 30: form amended to from ("My European clothes were |
| taken from me....") |
| Page 43: pennyless amended to penniless |
| Page 50: sapplings amended to saplings |
| Page 55: pityless amended to pitiless |
| Page 56: chrystal amended to crystal; nutricious amended |
| to nutritious |
| Page 70: Closing quotes added to the paragraph ending "... |
| mitigate our torments." |
| Page 98: Martianic amended to Martinianic |
| Page 109: sea-yoyage amended to sea-voyage |
| Page 122: unwieldly amended to unwieldy |
| Page 127: indescriminately amended to indiscriminately |
| Page 135: Tanquites amended to Tanaquites |
| Page 144: "they have made no advance because": no |
| punctuation at end of paragraph _sic_ |
| Page 155: Opening quotes added to the paragraph starting |
| "The learned and unlearned...." |
| Page 157: preeminent amended to preeminent |
| Page 161: Kispusiania amended to Kispunianania |
| Page 165: Tanqui amended to Tanaqui |
| Page 168: Full stop after "battle array" amended to a |
| comma. |
| Page 172: Kespusianania amended to Kispunianania |
| Page 183: hefore amended to before |
| Page 185: Closing quotes added after "... plunged into the |
| mountain cave." |
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