MAN AND SUPERMAN
—“Master of the Universe,” breathed a new-born soul, “what shall I be on earth?”—“All that flesh and blood can be,” came the reply.—“This, and nothing more?”—“Are the blessings of Heaven small to thee?” said the Voice.
And forthwith thunder-laden clouds encompassed the young soul. She was pierced by heavenly shafts; and she passed through the fires eternal.
—“This, and nothing more?” breathed the young soul again.—“Flesh and Blood,” came the reply.—“Curse me, then,” prayed the young soul.Again the Dark Clouds encompassed the soul. She was taken through the Innermost chambers of Heaven; she saw the Light Eternal; she drank of the Heavenly Music; and, on the wings of the Angel of Life, she was borne Earth-wards.
—“It is Satan incarnate that is come to Earth,” said one-half of the Children of Men.—“It is a Prophet of God that is come to earth,” said the other half.—“Let us stone him,” said the former.—“Let us adore him,” said the latter.
But stones would not harm the stranger; adoration of man never gained his ear. Within him burned the Fires Eternal; without—Discord and Corruption reigned supreme. The light was as darkness; and the mortal ear knew not the Music of Heaven. ;
“Whither and wherefore,” cried a voice within him, “why those ears that can not hear, why those eyes that can not see; whence these hellish tortures; whence this unquenchable thirst for the secrets of Heaven; whence this longing for Light?”
But Silence and Darkness was the reply. To and fro he was carried in the Land of the Living, a riddle to the Children of Men, an object of wonder and fear. A fire unearthly shot from his gaze; his groans sent terror into the hearts of Man and of Beast.—
And while he was passing through the Land of the Living, he saw blind humanity craw] into the mire; he saw the tears of the suffering fall to the ground, and the hem of his robe was wet with them.——
And in the fullness of time it came to pass that the clod of Flesh and Blood was consumed by the heavenly fires; then the soul, no more young, stood before the Heavenly Throne.
—“Child of my Spirit,” said the Voice, “blessed art thou
now through the curses of Heaven; heavenly curses are ultimate blessings.”
—Master of the Universe,” breathed the soul in reply, “send me once more to the Children of Men; for now I can speak the tongue of Angels and of Men.”
—“So be it,” said the Voice, and a Teacher of Mankind was born on Earth.—
THE KING’S HIGHWAY
When I was a child I spoke as a child; the little village I lived in was my world, and my world was my village.
One day I thought my troubles weighed too heavily on me; and I came to my Chief, the Elder of my village. He answered me: encouraged me, upbraided me, and praised me.
In the course of time my village grew to be a town; and I grew with it. And my town was my world, and my world was my town. By and by I saw my troubles grow in number and in weight.
Then I thought of my good Chief again and again. But the Village Elder was not a Village Elder any more: the Burgomaster they called him then. And the road to the Burgomaster was long; and it was not meet to talk of little things to the Burgomaster. So I tried to sift my troubles and to weigh them, in order to speak to my Chief only of the biggest of them all. But the more I sifted and weighed, and weighed and sifted, the more did I get confused. For some of my troubles, which looked big to me, would not tip the scales at all; and many would get lost in the meshes of the sieve. Day in, day out, year in, year out, I weighed, and sifted, and measured, but my difficulties grew apace. One day I shut my eyes, closed my ears, and fell a-thinking. Then it dawned upon me that in reality there was only one great trouble to complain of: I could neither measure, nor weigh, nor sift my troubles. And I thought I was ready to go to my Chief. But when I took to the road, I learned that my town had grown to be a great metropolis. No man could fix the boundaries thereof; and no one spoke any more of the Burgomaster of the town. It was of the King that they spoke——I sat down at the roadside to rest, and fell a-thinking.
A little child came tripping along.
—“Whither goest thou?” the little one asked me.
—“I am going to the King,” said I. Here the little one smiled upon me, and I felt abashed.
“I can neither weigh, nor sift, nor measure my troubles,” I continued.
—“But why shouldst thou weigh them, and sift them, and measure them?” asked the little one, wonderingly.
Presently I felt the scales fall from my eyes; and I could not think any more of going to the King.—