Meanwhile Duke Jurgen held the lance erect, shaking it with his
right hand. This lance was large, and the tip of it was red with
blood.
"Behold," said Jurgen, "I am a man born of a woman incomprehensibly.
Now I, who am miraculous, am found worthy to perform a miracle, and
to create that which I may not comprehend."
Anaïtis took salt and water from the child, and mingled these. "Let
the salt of earth enable the thin fluid to assume the virtue of the
teeming sea!"
Then, kneeling, she touched the lance, and began to stroke it
lovingly. To Jurgen she said: "Now may you be fervent of soul and
body! May the endless Serpent be your crown, and the fertile flame
of the sun your strength!"
Said the hooded man, again: "So be it!" His voice was high and
bleating, because of that which had been done to him.
"That therefore which we cannot understand we also invoke," said
Jurgen. "By the power of the lifted lance"--and now with his left
hand he took the hand of Anaïtis,--"I, being a man born of a woman
incomprehensibly, now seize upon that which alone I desire with my
whole being. I lead you toward the east. I upraise you above the
earth and all the things of earth."
Then Jurgen raised Queen Anaïtis so that she sat upon the altar, and
that which was there before tumbled to the ground. Anaïtis placed
together the tips of her thumbs and of her fingers, so that her
hands made an open triangle; and waited thus. Upon her head was a
network of red coral, with branches radiating downward: her gauzy
tunic had twenty-two openings, so as to admit all imaginable
caresses, and was of two colors, being shot with black and crimson
curiously mingled: her dark eyes glittered and her breath came fast.
Now the hooded man and the two naked girls performed their share in
the ceremonial, which part it is not essential to record. But Jurgen
was rather shocked by it.
None the less, Jurgen said: "O cord that binds the circling of the
stars! O cup which holds all time, all color, and all thought! O
soul of space! not unto any image of thee do we attain unless thy
image show in what we are about to do. Therefore by every plant
which scatters its seed and by the moist warm garden which receives
and nourishes it, by the comminglement of bloodshed with pleasure,
by the joy that mimics anguish with sighs and shudderings, and by
the contentment which mimics death,--by all these do we invoke thee.
O thou, continuous one, whose will these children attend, and whom I
now adore in this fair-colored and soft woman's body, it is thou
whom I honor, not any woman, in doing what seems good to me: and it
is thou who art about to speak, and not she."
Then Anaïtis 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. To
serve me is better than all else. When you invoke me with a heart
wherein is kindled the serpent flame, if but for a moment, you will
understand the delights of my garden, what joy unwordable pulsates
therein, 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 in
your life: and other pleasures you will take with your left hand,
not thinking of them entirely: for I am the desire which uses all of
a 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 who
am all pleasure, all ruin, and a drunkenness of the inmost sense,
desire you."
Now Jurgen held his lance erect before Anaïtis. "O secret of all
things, hidden in the being of all which lives, now that the lance
is exalted I do not dread thee: for thou art in me, and I am thou. I
am the flame that burns in every beating heart and in the core of
the farthest star. I too am life and the giver of life, and in me
too is death. Wherein art thou better than I? I am alone: my will is
justice: and there comes no other god where I am."
Said the hooded man behind Jurgen: "So be it! but as you are, so
once was I."
The two naked children stood one at each side of Anaïtis, and waited
there trembling. These girls, as Jurgen afterward learned, were
Alecto and Tisiphonê, two of the Eumenidês. And now Jurgen shifted
the red point of the lance, so that it rested in the open triangle
made by the fingers of Anaïtis.
"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 my
station honor thee in honoring this desire which uses all of a man.
Make open therefore the way of creation, encourage the flaming dust
which is in our hearts, and aid us in that flame's perpetuation! For
is not that thy law?"
Anaïtis answered: "There is no law in Cocaigne save, Do that which
seems good to you."
Then said the naked children: "Perhaps it is the law, but certainly
it is not justice. Yet we are little and quite helpless. So
presently we must be made as you are for now you two are no longer
two, and your flesh is not shared merely with each other. For your
flesh becomes our flesh, and your sins our sins: and we have no
choice."
Jurgen lifted Anaïtis from the altar, and they went into the chancel
and searched for the adytum. There seemed to be no doors anywhere in
the chancel: but presently Jurgen found an opening screened by a
pink veil. Jurgen thrust with his lance and broke this veil. He
heard the sound of one brief wailing cry: it was followed by soft
laughter. So Jurgen came into the adytum.
Black candles were burning in this place, and sulphur too was
burning there, before a scarlet cross, of which the top was a
circle, and whereon was nailed a living toad. And other curious
matters Jurgen likewise noticed.
He laughed, and turned to Anaïtis: now that the candles were behind
him, she was standing in his shadow. "Well, well! but you are a
little old-fashioned, with all these equivocal mummeries. And I did
not know that civilized persons any longer retained sufficient
credulity to wring a thrill from god-baiting. Still, women must be
humored, bless them! and at last, I take it, we have quite fairly
fulfilled the ceremonial requisite to the pursuit of curious
pleasures."
Queen Anaïtis was very beautiful, even under his bedimming shadow.
Triumphant too was the proud face beneath that curious coral
network, and yet this woman's face was sad.
"Dear fool," she said, "it was not wise, when you sang of the Léshy,
to put an affront upon Monday. But you have forgotten that. And now
you laugh because that which we have done you do not understand: and
equally that which I am you do not understand."
"No matter what you may be, my dear, I am sure that you will
presently tell me all about it. For I assume that you mean to deal
fairly 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 I
shall try to help you. Now I have noticed that every woman is most
truly herself," says Jurgen, oracularly, "in the dark."
Then Jurgen looked at her for a moment, with twinkling eyes: then
Anaïtis, standing in his shadow, smiled with glowing eyes: then
Jurgen blew out those black candles: and then it was quite dark.
23.