THIRD PART.
46. XLVI. THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA. (continued)
For whatever CAN run its course of all things, also in this long lane
OUTWARD--MUST it once more run!--
And this slow spider which creepeth in the moonlight, and this moonlight
itself, and thou and I in this gateway whispering together, whispering of
eternal things--must we not all have already existed?
--And must we not return and run in that other lane out before us, that
long weird lane--must we not eternally return?"--
Thus did I speak, and always more softly: for I was afraid of mine own
thoughts, and arrear-thoughts. Then, suddenly did I hear a dog HOWL near
me.
Had I ever heard a dog howl thus? My thoughts ran back. Yes! When I was
a child, in my most distant childhood:
--Then did I hear a dog howl thus. And saw it also, with hair bristling,
its head upwards, trembling in the stillest midnight, when even dogs
believe in ghosts:
--So that it excited my commiseration. For just then went the full moon,
silent as death, over the house; just then did it stand still, a glowing
globe--at rest on the flat roof, as if on some one's property:--
Thereby had the dog been terrified: for dogs believe in thieves and
ghosts. And when I again heard such howling, then did it excite my
commiseration once more.
Where was now the dwarf? And the gateway? And the spider? And all the
whispering? Had I dreamt? Had I awakened? 'Twixt rugged rocks did I
suddenly stand alone, dreary in the dreariest moonlight.
BUT THERE LAY A MAN! And there! The dog leaping, bristling, whining--now
did it see me coming--then did it howl again, then did it CRY:--had I ever
heard a dog cry so for help?
And verily, what I saw, the like had I never seen. A young shepherd did I
see, writhing, choking, quivering, with distorted countenance, and with a
heavy black serpent hanging out of his mouth.
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