“The moon had disappeared from the night, and again, with a lessened form, showed itself,while I still remained in the forest. My sensations had by this time become distinct,and my mind received every day additional ideas.My eyes became accustomed to the light and to perceive objects in their right forms;I distinguished the insect from the herb, and by degrees, one herb from another.I found that the sparrow uttered none but harsh notes,whilst those of the blackbird and thrush were sweet and enticing.
“One day, when I was oppressed by cold, I found a fire which had been left by some wandering beggars,and was overcome with delight at the warmth I experienced from it.In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain.How strange, I thought, that the same cause should produce such opposite effects!I examined the materials of the fire, and to my joy found it to be composed of wood.I quickly collected some branches, but they were wet and would not burn.I was pained at this and sat still watching the operation of the fire.The wet wood which I had placed near the heat dried and itself became inflamed.I reflected on this, and by touching the various branches,I discovered the cause and busied myself in collecting a great quantity of wood,that I might dry it and have a plentiful supply of fire.When night came on and brought sleep with it,I was in the greatest fear lest my fire should be extinguished.I covered it carefully with dry wood and leaves and placed wet branches upon it; and then,spreading my cloak, I lay on the ground and sank into sleep.
“It was morning when I awoke, and my first care was to visit the fire. I uncovered it,and a gentle breeze quickly fanned it into a flame.I observed this also and contrived a fan of branches,which roused the embers when they were nearly extinguished. When night came again I found,with pleasure, that the fire gave light as well as heat and that the discovery of this element was useful to me in my food,for I found some of the offals that the travellers had left had been roasted,and tasted much more savoury than the berries I gathered from the trees. I tried, therefore,to dress my food in the same manner, placing it on the live embers.I found that the berries were spoiled by this operation, and the nuts and roots much improved.
“Food, however, became scarce, and I often spent the whole day searching in vain for a few acorns to assuage the pangs of hunger.When I found this, I resolved to quit the place that I had hitherto inhabited,to seek for one where the few wants I experienced would be more easily satisfied.In this emigration I exceedingly lamented the loss of the fire which I had obtained through accident and knew not how to reproduce it.I gave several hours to the serious consideration of this difficulty,but I was obliged to relinquish all attempt to supply it, and wrapping myself up in my cloak,I struck across the wood towards the setting sun.I passed three days in these rambles and at length discovered the open country.A great fall of snow had taken place the night before, and the fields were of one uniform white;the appearance was disconsolate, and I found my feet chilled by the cold damp substance that covered the ground.
“It was about seven in the morning, and I longed to obtain food and shelter;at length I perceived a small hut, on a rising ground,which had doubtless been built for the convenience of some shepherd. This was a new sight to me,and I examined the structure with great curiosity. Finding the door open, I entered.An old man sat in it, near a fire, over which he was preparing his breakfast.He turned on hearing a noise, and perceiving me, shrieked loudly, and quitting the hut,ran across the fields with a speed of which his debilitated form hardly appeared capable.His appearance, different from any I had ever before seen, and his flight somewhat surprised me.But I was enchanted by the appearance of the hut; here the snow and rain could not penetrate;the ground was dry; and it presented to me then as exquisite and divine a retreat as Pandæmonium appeared to the dæmons of hell after their sufferings in the lake of fire. I greedily devoured the remnants of the shepherd’s breakfast, which consisted of bread, cheese, milk, and wine; the latter, however, I did not like. Then, overcome by fatigue, I lay down among some straw and fell asleep.
“It was noon when I awoke, and allured by the warmth of the sun,which shone brightly on the white ground, I determined to recommence my travels; and,depositing the remains of the peasant’s breakfast in a wallet I found,I proceeded across the fields for several hours, until at sunset I arrived at a village. How miraculous did this appear!The huts, the neater cottages, and stately houses engaged my admiration by turns.The vegetables in the gardens, the milk and cheese that I saw placed at the windows of some of the cottages,allured my appetite. One of the best of these I entered,but I had hardly placed my foot within the door before the children shrieked,and one of the women fainted. The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until,grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons,I escaped to the open country and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel, quite bare,and making a wretched appearance after the palaces I had beheld in the village. This hovel however,joined a cottage of a neat and pleasant appearance, but after my late dearly bought experience,I dared not enter it. My place of refuge was constructed of wood,but so low that I could with difficulty sit upright in it. No wood, however,was placed on the earth, which formed the floor, but it was dry;and although the wind entered it by innumerable chinks,I found it an agreeable asylum from the snow and rain.
“Here, then, I retreated and lay down happy to have found a shelter, however miserable,from the inclemency of the season, and still more from the barbarity of man.As soon as morning dawned I crept from my kennel,that I might view the adjacent cottage and discover if I could remain in the habitation I had found.It was situated against the back of the cottage and surrounded on the sides which were exposed by a pig sty and a clear pool of water.One part was open, and by that I had crept in;but now I covered every crevice by which I might be perceived with stones and wood,yet in such a manner that I might move them on occasion to pass out;all the light I enjoyed came through the sty, and that was sufficient for me.
“Having thus arranged my dwelling and carpeted it with clean straw, I retired,for I saw the figure of a man at a distance,and I remembered too well my treatment the night before to trust myself in his power. I had first,however, provided for my sustenance for that day by a loaf of coarse bread, which I purloined,and a cup with which I could drink more conveniently than from my hand of the pure water which flowed by my retreat.The floor was a little raised, so that it was kept perfectly dry,and by its vicinity to the chimney of the cottage it was tolerably warm.
“Being thus provided, I resolved to reside in this hovel until something should occur which might alter my determination.It was indeed a paradise compared to the bleak forest, my former residence,the rain-dropping branches, and dank earth.I ate my breakfast with pleasure and was about to remove a plank to procure myself a little water when I heard a step,and looking through a small chink, I beheld a young creature, with a pail on her head,passing before my hovel. The girl was young and of gentle demeanour,unlike what I have since found cottagers and farmhouse servants to be. Yet she was meanly dressed,a coarse blue petticoat and a linen jacket being her only garb;her fair hair was plaited but not adorned: she looked patient yet sad. I lost sight of her,and in about a quarter of an hour she returned bearing the pail,which was now partly filled with milk. As she walked along, seemingly incommoded by the burden,a young man met her, whose countenance expressed a deeper despondence.Uttering a few sounds with an air of melancholy,he took the pail from her head and bore it to the cottage himself. She followed,and they disappeared. Presently I saw the young man again, with some tools in his hand,cross the field behind the cottage; and the girl was also busied,sometimes in the house and sometimes in the yard.
“On examining my dwelling, I found that one of the windows of the cottage had formerly occupied a part of it,but the panes had been filled up with wood.In one of these was a small and almost imperceptible chink through which the eye could just penetrate.Through this crevice a small room was visible, whitewashed and clean but very bare of furniture.In one corner, near a small fire, sat an old man,leaning his head on his hands in a disconsolate attitude.The young girl was occupied in arranging the cottage;but presently she took something out of a drawer, which employed her hands,and she sat down beside the old man, who, taking up an instrument,began to play and to produce sounds sweeter than the voice of the thrush or the nightingale.It was a lovely sight, even to me, poor wretch who had never beheld aught beautiful before.The silver hair and benevolent countenance of the aged cottager won my reverence,while the gentle manners of the girl enticed my love.He played a sweet mournful air which I perceived drew tears from the eyes of his amiable companion,of which the old man took no notice, until she sobbed audibly; he then pronounced a few sounds,and the fair creature, leaving her work, knelt at his feet.He raised her and smiled with such kindness and affection that I felt sensations of a peculiar and overpowering nature;they were a mixture of pain and pleasure, such as I had never before experienced,either from hunger or cold, warmth or food; and I withdrew from the window, unable to bear these emotions.
“Soon after this the young man returned, bearing on his shoulders a load of wood.The girl met him at the door, helped to relieve him of his burden,and taking some of the fuel into the cottage, placed it on the fire;then she and the youth went apart into a nook of the cottage,and he showed her a large loaf and a piece of cheese.She seemed pleased and went into the garden for some roots and plants, which she placed in water,and then upon the fire. She afterwards continued her work,whilst the young man went into the garden and appeared busily employed in digging and pulling up roots.After he had been employed thus about an hour,the young woman joined him and they entered the cottage together.
“The old man had, in the meantime, been pensive,but on the appearance of his companions he assumed a more cheerful air, and they sat down to eat.The meal was quickly dispatched. The young woman was again occupied in arranging the cottage,the old man walked before the cottage in the sun for a few minutes,leaning on the arm of the youth. Nothing could exceed in beauty the contrast between these two excellent creatures.One was old, with silver hairs and a countenance beaming with benevolence and love;the younger was slight and graceful in his figure,and his features were moulded with the finest symmetry,yet his eyes and attitude expressed the utmost sadness and despondency.The old man returned to the cottage, and the youth,with tools different from those he had used in the morning, directed his steps across the fields.
“Night quickly shut in, but to my extreme wonder,I found that the cottagers had a means of prolonging light by the use of tapers,and was delighted to find that the setting of the sun did not put an end to the pleasure I experienced in watching my human neighbours.In the evening the young girl and her companion were employed in various occupations which I did not understand;and the old man again took up the instrument which produced the divine sounds that had enchanted me in the morning.So soon as he had finished, the youth began, not to play, but to utter sounds that were monotonous,and neither resembling the harmony of the old man’s instrument nor the songs of the birds;I since found that he read aloud, but at that time I knew nothing of the science of words or letters.
“The family, after having been thus occupied for a short time,extinguished their lights and retired, as I conjectured, to rest.”
Chapter 12
“I lay on my straw, but I could not sleep. I thought of the occurrences of the day.What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people, and I longed to join them,but dared not. I remembered too well the treatment I had suffered the night before from the barbarous villagers,and resolved, whatever course of conduct I might hereafter think it right to pursue,that for the present I would remain quietly in my hovel,watching and endeavouring to discover the motives which influenced their actions.
“The cottagers arose the next morning before the sun.The young woman arranged the cottage and prepared the food,and the youth departed after the first meal.
“This day was passed in the same routine as that which preceded it.The young man was constantly employed out of doors,and the girl in various laborious occupations within. The old man,whom I soon perceived to be blind, employed his leisure hours on his instrument or in contemplation.Nothing could exceed the love and respect which the younger cottagers exhibited towards their venerable companion.They performed towards him every little office of affection and duty with gentleness,and he rewarded them by his benevolent smiles.
“They were not entirely happy. The young man and his companion often went apart and appeared to weep.I saw no cause for their unhappiness, but I was deeply affected by it.If such lovely creatures were miserable, it was less strange that I,an imperfect and solitary being, should be wretched. Yet why were these gentle beings unhappy?They possessed a delightful house (for such it was in my eyes) and every luxury;they had a fire to warm them when chill and delicious viands when hungry;they were dressed in excellent clothes; and, still more,they enjoyed one another’s company and speech,interchanging each day looks of affection and kindness. What did their tears imply?Did they really express pain?I was at first unable to solve these questions,but perpetual attention and time explained to me many appearances which were at first enigmatic.
“A considerable period elapsed before I discovered one of the causes of the uneasiness of this amiable family:it was poverty, and they suffered that evil in a very distressing degree.Their nourishment consisted entirely of the vegetables of their garden and the milk of one cow,which gave very little during the winter,when its masters could scarcely procure food to support it. They often, I believe,suffered the pangs of hunger very poignantly, especially the two younger cottagers,for several times they placed food before the old man when they reserved none for themselves.
“This trait of kindness moved me sensibly. I had been accustomed, during the night,to steal a part of their store for my own consumption,but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on the cottagers,I abstained and satisfied myself with berries, nuts,and roots which I gathered from a neighbouring wood.
“I discovered also another means through which I was enabled to assist their labours.I found that the youth spent a great part of each day in collecting wood for the family fire,and during the night I often took his tools, the use of which I quickly discovered,and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days.
“I remember, the first time that I did this, the young woman,when she opened the door in the morning,appeared greatly astonished on seeing a great pile of wood on the outside.She uttered some words in a loud voice, and the youth joined her, who also expressed surprise.I observed, with pleasure, that he did not go to the forest that day,but spent it in repairing the cottage and cultivating the garden.
“By degrees I made a discovery of still greater moment.I found that these people possessed a method of communicating their experience and feelings to one another by articulate sounds.I perceived that the words they spoke sometimes produced pleasure or pain, smiles or sadness,in the minds and countenances of the hearers. This was indeed a godlike science,and I ardently desired to become acquainted with it.But I was baffled in every attempt I made for this purpose. Their pronunciation was quick,and the words they uttered, not having any apparent connection with visible objects,I was unable to discover any clue by which I could unravel the mystery of their reference.By great application, however, and after having remained during the space of several revolutions of the moon in my hovel,I discovered the names that were given to some of the most familiar objects of discourse;I learned and applied the words, _fire, milk, bread,_ and _wood._ I learned also the names of the cottagers themselves.The youth and his companion had each of them several names, but the old man had only one,which was _father._ The girl was called _sister_ or _Agatha,_ and the youth _Felix, brother,_ or _son_. I cannot describe the delight I felt when I learned the ideas appropriated to each of these sounds and was able to pronounce them.I distinguished several other words without being able as yet to understand or apply them, such as _good, dearest, unhappy._
“I spent the winter in this manner. The gentle manners and beauty of the cottagers greatly endeared them to me;when they were unhappy, I felt depressed; when they rejoiced, I sympathised in their joys.I saw few human beings besides them, and if any other happened to enter the cottage,their harsh manners and rude gait only enhanced to me the superior accomplishments of my friends.The old man, I could perceive, often endeavoured to encourage his children,as sometimes I found that he called them, to cast off their melancholy.He would talk in a cheerful accent, with an expression of goodness that bestowed pleasure even upon me.Agatha listened with respect, her eyes sometimes filled with tears,which she endeavoured to wipe away unperceived;but I generally found that her countenance and tone were more cheerful after having listened to the exhortations of her father.It was not thus with Felix. He was always the saddest of the group,and even to my unpractised senses, he appeared to have suffered more deeply than his friends.But if his countenance was more sorrowful, his voice was more cheerful than that of his sister,especially when he addressed the old man.
“I could mention innumerable instances which, although slight,marked the dispositions of these amiable cottagers. In the midst of poverty and want,Felix carried with pleasure to his sister the first little white flower that peeped out from beneath the snowy ground.Early in the morning, before she had risen,he cleared away the snow that obstructed her path to the milk-house, drew water from the well,and brought the wood from the outhouse, where, to his perpetual astonishment,he found his store always replenished by an invisible hand. In the day, I believe,he worked sometimes for a neighbouring farmer,because he often went forth and did not return until dinner, yet brought no wood with him.At other times he worked in the garden, but as there was little to do in the frosty season, he read to the old man and Agatha.
“This reading had puzzled me extremely at first,but by degrees I discovered that he uttered many of the same sounds when he read as when he talked.I conjectured, therefore, that he found on the paper signs for speech which he understood,and I ardently longed to comprehend these also;but how was that possible when I did not even understand the sounds for which they stood as signs?I improved, however, sensibly in this science,but not sufficiently to follow up any kind of conversation,although I applied my whole mind to the endeavour, for I easily perceived that,although I eagerly longed to discover myself to the cottagers,I ought not to make the attempt until I had first become master of their language,which knowledge might enable me to make them overlook the deformity of my figure,for with this also the contrast perpetually presented to my eyes had made me acquainted.
“I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers—their grace, beauty, and delicate complexions;but how was I terrified when I viewed myself in a transparent pool!At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror;and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am,I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification. Alas!I did not yet entirely know the fatal effects of this miserable deformity.
“As the sun became warmer and the light of day longer, the snow vanished,and I beheld the bare trees and the black earth. From this time Felix was more employed,and the heart-moving indications of impending famine disappeared. Their food,as I afterwards found, was coarse, but it was wholesome; and they procured a sufficiency of it.Several new kinds of plants sprang up in the garden, which they dressed;and these signs of comfort increased daily as the season advanced.
“The old man, leaning on his son, walked each day at noon, when it did not rain,as I found it was called when the heavens poured forth its waters. This frequently took place,but a high wind quickly dried the earth, and the season became far more pleasant than it had been.
“My mode of life in my hovel was uniform.During the morning I attended the motions of the cottagers,and when they were dispersed in various occupations, I slept;the remainder of the day was spent in observing my friends. When they had retired to rest,if there was any moon or the night was star-light,I went into the woods and collected my own food and fuel for the cottage. When I returned,as often as it was necessary, I cleared their path from the snow and performed those offices that I had seen done by Felix.I afterwards found that these labours, performed by an invisible hand, greatly astonished them;and once or twice I heard them, on these occasions, utter the words _good spirit, wonderful_;but I did not then understand the signification of these terms.
“My thoughts now became more active, and I longed to discover the motives and feelings of these lovely creatures;I was inquisitive to know why Felix appeared so miserable and Agatha so sad. I thought (foolish wretch!) that it might be in my power to restore happiness to these deserving people.When I slept or was absent, the forms of the venerable blind father, the gentle Agatha,and the excellent Felix flitted before me.I looked upon them as superior beings who would be the arbiters of my future destiny.I formed in my imagination a thousand pictures of presenting myself to them,and their reception of me. I imagined that they would be disgusted, until,by my gentle demeanour and conciliating words,I should first win their favour and afterwards their love.
“These thoughts exhilarated me and led me to apply with fresh ardour to the acquiring the art of language.My organs were indeed harsh, but supple;and although my voice was very unlike the soft music of their tones,yet I pronounced such words as I understood with tolerable ease. It was as the ass and the lap-dog;yet surely the gentle ass whose intentions were affectionate, although his manners were rude,deserved better treatment than blows and execration.
“The pleasant showers and genial warmth of spring greatly altered the aspect of the earth.Men who before this change seemed to have been hid in caves dispersed themselves and were employed in various arts of cultivation.The birds sang in more cheerful notes, and the leaves began to bud forth on the trees. Happy, happy earth!Fit habitation for gods, which, so short a time before, was bleak, damp, and unwholesome.My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature;the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil,and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy.”
Chapter 13
“I now hasten to the more moving part of my story.I shall relate events that impressed me with feelings which, from what I had been, have made me what I am.
“Spring advanced rapidly; the weather became fine and the skies cloudless.It surprised me that what before was desert and gloomy should now bloom with the most beautiful flowers and verdure.My senses were gratified and refreshed by a thousand scents of delight and a thousand sights of beauty.
“It was on one of these days, when my cottagers periodically rested from labour—the old man played on his guitar,and the children listened to him—that I observed the countenance of Felix was melancholy beyond expression;he sighed frequently, and once his father paused in his music,and I conjectured by his manner that he inquired the cause of his son’s sorrow.Felix replied in a cheerful accent, and the old man was recommencing his music when someone tapped at the door.
“It was a lady on horseback, accompanied by a country-man as a guide.The lady was dressed in a dark suit and covered with a thick black veil. Agatha asked a question,to which the stranger only replied by pronouncing, in a sweet accent, the name of Felix.Her voice was musical but unlike that of either of my friends. On hearing this word,Felix came up hastily to the lady, who, when she saw him, threw up her veil,and I beheld a countenance of angelic beauty and expression. Her hair of a shining raven black,and curiously braided; her eyes were dark, but gentle, although animated;her features of a regular proportion, and her complexion wondrously fair, each cheek tinged with a lovely pink.
“Felix seemed ravished with delight when he saw her, every trait of sorrow vanished from his face,and it instantly expressed a degree of ecstatic joy,of which I could hardly have believed it capable; his eyes sparkled,as his cheek flushed with pleasure; and at that moment I thought him as beautiful as the stranger.She appeared affected by different feelings; wiping a few tears from her lovely eyes,she held out her hand to Felix, who kissed it rapturously and called her,as well as I could distinguish, his sweet Arabian. She did not appear to understand him,but smiled. He assisted her to dismount, and dismissing her guide, conducted her into the cottage.Some conversation took place between him and his father,and the young stranger knelt at the old man’s feet and would have kissed his hand,but he raised her and embraced her affectionately.
“I soon perceived that although the stranger uttered articulate sounds and appeared to have a language of her own,she was neither understood by nor herself understood the cottagers.They made many signs which I did not comprehend,but I saw that her presence diffused gladness through the cottage,dispelling their sorrow as the sun dissipates the morning mists.Felix seemed peculiarly happy and with smiles of delight welcomed his Arabian. Agatha,the ever-gentle Agatha, kissed the hands of the lovely stranger, and pointing to her brother,made signs which appeared to me to mean that he had been sorrowful until she came.Some hours passed thus, while they, by their countenances, expressed joy,the cause of which I did not comprehend. Presently I found,by the frequent recurrence of some sound which the stranger repeated after them,that she was endeavouring to learn their language;and the idea instantly occurred to me that I should make use of the same instructions to the same end.The stranger learned about twenty words at the first lesson; most of them, indeed,were those which I had before understood, but I profited by the others.
“As night came on, Agatha and the Arabian retired early.When they separated Felix kissed the hand of the stranger and said, ‘Good night sweet Safie.’ He sat up much longer, conversing with his father,and by the frequent repetition of her name I conjectured that their lovely guest was the subject of their conversation.I ardently desired to understand them, and bent every faculty towards that purpose, but found it utterly impossible.
“The next morning Felix went out to his work,and after the usual occupations of Agatha were finished,the Arabian sat at the feet of the old man, and taking his guitar,played some airs so entrancingly beautiful that they at once drew tears of sorrow and delight from my eyes.She sang, and her voice flowed in a rich cadence,swelling or dying away like a nightingale of the woods.
“When she had finished, she gave the guitar to Agatha, who at first declined it.She played a simple air, and her voice accompanied it in sweet accents,but unlike the wondrous strain of the stranger.The old man appeared enraptured and said some words which Agatha endeavoured to explain to Safie,and by which he appeared to wish to express that she bestowed on him the greatest delight by her music.
“The days now passed as peaceably as before,with the sole alteration that joy had taken place of sadness in the countenances of my friends.Safie was always gay and happy; she and I improved rapidly in the knowledge of language,so that in two months I began to comprehend most of the words uttered by my protectors.