THE PROPHETIC MIRAGE
Triton's city had one hundred gates from which paved roads led to every
corner of that vast continent; but through one of these gates passed a
road which led no whither. This gate looked upon the snowy mountains,
where dwelt the invisible God of Nothingness and Desolation. Thither
those only were wont to withdraw who became sick and weary of the
earthly felicity of the City of Delight. The very threshold of this gate
was overgrown with grass, for it was very seldom opened.
Bar Noemi cast not a single glance behind him till he had reached the
mountains. There, where the vegetation of the south came to an end, and
the pine succeeded the palm; there, on the top of the nearest pine tree,
sat the beautiful bird, the dove with golden plumage, which flitted on
before Bar Noemi as he reached the mountains, just as she had done
before on the ocean, guiding the fugitive through the barren wilderness
of mountain and forest.
The region of spontaneously growing trees and grasses soon came to an
end, and now began that inhospitable zone where the earth does not
willingly open her bosom, where she is a step-mother to lazy sons,
hiding her benefits from all but those who labour for them. This is
surely the spot whither God brought Adam out of Paradise, _blessed_ him,
and said: "Thou shalt eat thy bread in the sweat of thy countenance!"
The wise men of old were in error when they called this a curse, for
labour is a blessing, and the sweat-drops on the brow are the noblest
jewels of him who was created after God's own image.
Rock succeeded rock. Bar Noemi and Byssenia mounted higher and higher,
and the exhilaration with which they breathed the invigorating air made
them feel as if they were nearer heaven already.
On the top of an elevated rocky plateau, the dove alighted on the ground
in front of them, as if it would say: "Halt here." The white and blue
bells, mingling with the fragrant grass, seemed to be nodding a welcome
to the new arrivals; the love-song of a little yellow bird resounded
from the green bushes opposite; everything around them seemed so
strangely fair and new.
And now, for the first time, Bar Noemi threw a glance behind him. The
abandoned city lay beneath him in a thick, yellow mist, which gave to
the whole region a corpse-like hue, a mist not to be driven away by any
breeze that blows. On the high roofs of the cities lying in the plain,
burned sacrificial fires on gigantic altars; fires whose heavy,
dark-blue smoke could not rise up to Heaven; something seemed to press
it earthwards where, like a curse-laden cloud, it lodged immovably above
the houses, enshrouding the cupolas of the towers and the rigid
likenesses of the idols.
Far away on the distant horizon, a delusive mirage performed its
juggling tricks, by sketching in the sky the outlines of an inverted
city. Towers and palaces stand in the dizzy height with their roofs
turned upside down, and the palms stretched down their crowns from
above. The next moment everything had melted away--the plain, right up
to the very gates of Triton's city, swam in a vast sea, over which the
overhanging palms and the inverted battlements seemed to throw down
far-stretching shadows, whilst the white sails of ships flitted across
the space where the city had been. In a few moments the sea also
vanished; the Fata Morgana withdrew her delusive spells. The land again
appeared with its woods, meadows, and cities.
Bar Noemi and Byssenia gazed with astonishment at this marvel, whose
wondrous significance only they who could penetrate the secrets of the
divine counsels might interpret. Involuntarily they folded their hands
and prayed together from the very depths of their hearts that the
Almighty would turn away His strong, avenging arm from a people who had
forsaken Him, and not visit them with the furiousness of His heavy
displeasure.