Best Fantasy Stories

Chapter 15 THE KOHEN IS INEXORABLE

Chapter 15

THE KOHEN IS INEXORABLEI determined to talk to the Kohen, and try for myself whether he

might not be accessible to pity. This greatest of cannibals might,

indeed, have his little peculiarities, I thought, and who has

not?—yet at bottom he seemed full of tender and benevolent feeling;

and as he evidently spent his whole time in the endeavor to make us

happy, it seemed not unlikely that he might do something for our

happiness in a case where our very existence was at stake.

The Kohen listened with deep attention as I stated my case. I

did this fully and frankly. I talked of my love for Almah and of

Almah's love for me; our hope that we might be united so as to live

happily in reciprocal affection; and I was going on to speak of the

dread that was in my heart when he interrupted me:

"You speak of being united," said he. "You talk strangely. Of

course you mean that you wish to be separated."

"Separated!" I exclaimed. "What do you mean? Of course we wish

to be united."

The Kohen stared at me as I said this with the look of one who

was quite puzzled; and I then went on to speak of the fate that was

before us, and to entreat his sympathy and his aid that we might be

saved from so hideous a doom. To all these words the Kohen listened

with an air of amazement, as though I were saying incomprehensible

things.

"You have a gentle and an affectionate nature," I said—"a nature

full of sympathy with others, and noble self-denial."

"Of course," said the Kohen, quickly, as though glad to get hold

of something which he could understand, "of course we are all so,

for we are so made. It is our nature. Who is there who is not

self-denying? No one can help that."

This sounded strange indeed; but I did not care to criticize it.

I came to my purpose direct and said,

"Save us from our fate."

"Your fate?"

"Yes, from death—that death of horror."

"Death?—horror? What do you mean by horror?" said the Kohen, in

an amazement that was sincere and unfeigned. "I cannot comprehend

your meaning. It seems as though you actually dislike death; but

that is not conceivable. It cannot be possible that you fear

death."

"Fear death!" I exclaimed, "I do—I do. Who is there that does

not fear it?"

The Kohen stared.

"I do not understand you," he said.

"Do you not understand," said I, "that death is abhorrent to

humanity?"

"Abhorrent!" said the Kohen; "that is impossible. Is it not the

highest blessing? Who is there that does not long for death? Death

is the greatest blessing, the chief desire of man—the highest aim.

And you—are you not to be envied in having your felicity so near?

above all, in having such a death as that which is appointed for

you—so noble, so sublime? You must be mad; your happiness has

turned your head."

All this seemed like hideous mockery, and I stared at the Kohen

with a gaze that probably strengthened his opinion of my

madness.

"Do you love death?" I asked at length, in amazement.

"Love death? What a question! Of course I love death—all men do;

who does not? Is it not human nature? Do we not instinctively fly

to meet it whenever we can? Do we not rush into the jaws of

sea-monsters, or throw ourselves within their grasp? Who does not

feel within him this intense longing after death as the strongest

passion of his heart?"

"I don't know—I don't know," said I. "You are of a different

race; I do not understand what you say. But I belong to a race that

fears death. I fear death and love life; and I entreat you, I

implore you to help me now in my distress, and assist me so that I

may save my life and that of Almah."

"I—I help you!" said the Kohen, in new amazement. "Why do you

come to me—to me, of all men? Why, I am nothing here. And help you

to live—to live! Who ever heard of such a thing?"

And the Kohen looked at me with the same astonishment which I

should evince if a man should ask me to help him to die.

Still, I persisted in my entreaty for his help.

"Such a request," said he, "is revolting; you must be mad. Such

a request outrages all the instincts of humanity. And even if I

could do such violence to my own nature as to help you to such a

thing, how do you think I could face my fellow-men, or how could I

endure the terrible punishment which would fall upon me?"

"Punishment!" said I. "What! would you be punished?"

"Punished!" said the Kohen. "That, of course, would be

inevitable. I should be esteemed an unnatural monster and the chief

of criminals. My lot in life now is painful enough; but in this

case my punishment would involve me in evils without end. Riches

would be poured upon me; I should be raised to the rank of Kohen

Gadol; I should be removed farther away than ever from the pauper

class—so far, indeed, that all hope in life would be over. I should

be made the first and noblest and richest in all the land."

He spoke these words just as if he had said, "the lowest,

meanest, poorest, and most infamous." It sounded like fresh

mockery, and I could not believe but that he was amusing himself at

my expense.

"This is cruel," said I. "You are mocking me."

"Cruel?—cruel?" said he; "what is cruel? You mean that such a

fate would be cruel for me."

"No, no," said I; "but alas! I see we cannot understand one

another."

"No," said the Kohen, musingly, as he looked at me. "No, it

seems not; but tell me, Atam-or, is it possible that you really

fear death—that you really love life?"

"Fear death!—love life!" I cried. "Who does not? Who can help

it? Why do you ask me that?"

The Kohen clasped his hands in amazement.

"If you really fear death," said he, "what possible thing is

there left to love or to hope for? What, then, do you think the

highest blessing of man?"

"Long life," said I, "and riches and requited love."

At this the Kohen started back, and stared at me as though I

were a raving madman.

"Oh, holy shades of night!" he exclaimed. "What is that you say?

What do you mean?"

"We can never understand one another, I fear," said I. "The love

of life must necessarily be the strongest passion of man. We are so

made. We give up everything for life. A long life is everywhere

considered as the highest blessing; and there is no one who is

willing to die, no matter what his suffering may be. Riches also

are desired by all, for poverty is the direst curse that can

embitter life; and as to requited love, surely that is the

sweetest, purest, and most divine joy that the human heart may

know."

At this the Kohen burst forth in a strain of high

excitement:

"Oh, sacred cavern gloom! Oh, divine darkness! Oh, impenetrable

abysses of night! What, oh, what is this! Oh, Atam-or, are you mad?

Alas! it must be so. Joy has turned your brain; you are quite

demented. You call good evil, and evil good; our light is your

darkness, and our darkness your light. Yet surely you cannot be

altogether insane. Come, come, let us look further. How is it! Try

now to recall your reason. A long life—a life, and a long one!

Surely there can be no human being in a healthy state of nature who

wishes to prolong his life; and as to riches, it is possible that

anyone exists who really and honestly desires riches? Impossible!

And requited love! Oh, Atam-or, you are mad to-day! You are always

strange, but now you have quite taken leave of your senses. I

cannot but love you, and yet I can never understand you. Tell me,

and tell me truly, what is it that you consider evils, if these

things that you have mentioned are not the very worst?"

He seemed deeply in earnest and much moved. I could not

understand him, but could only answer his questions with simple

conciseness.

"Poverty, sickness, and death," said I, "are evils; but the

worst of all evils is unrequited love."

At these words the Kohen made a gesture of despair.

"It is impossible to understand this," said he. "You talk

calmly; you have not the air of a madman. If your fellow-countrymen

are all like you, then your race is an incomprehensible one. Why,

death is the greatest blessing. We all long for it; it is the end

of our being. As for riches, they are a curse, abhorred by all.

Above all, as to love, we shrink from the thought of requital.

Death is our chief blessing, poverty our greatest happiness, and

unrequited love the sweetest lot of man."

All this sounded like the ravings of a lunatic, yet the Kohen

was not mad. It seemed also like the mockery of some teasing demon;

but the gentle and self-denying Kohen was no teasing demon, and

mockery with him was impossible. I was therefore more bewildered

than ever at this reiteration of sentiments that were so utterly

incomprehensible. He, on the other hand, seemed as astonished at my

sentiments and as bewildered, and we could find no common ground on

which to meet.

"I remember now," said the Kohen, in a musing tone, "having

heard of some strange folk at the Amir, who profess to feel as you

say you feel, but no one believes that they are in earnest; for

although they may even bring themselves to think that they are in

earnest in their professions, yet after all everyone thinks that

they are self-deceived. For you see, in the first place, these

feelings which you profess are utterly unnatural. We are so made

that we cannot help loving death; it is a sort of instinct. We are

also created in such a way that we cannot help longing after

poverty. The pauper must always, among all men, be the most envied

of mortals. Nature, too, has made us such that the passion of love,

when it arises, is so vehement, so all-consuming that it must

always struggle to avoid requital. This is the reason why, when two

people find that they love each other, they always separate and

avoid one another for the rest of their lives. This is human

nature. We cannot help it; and it is this that distinguishes us

from the animals. Why, if men were to feel as you say you feel,

they would be mere animals. Animals fear death; animals love to

accumulate such things as they prize; animals, when they love, go

in pairs, and remain with one another. But man, with his intellect,

would not be man if he loved life and desired riches and sought for

requited love."

I sank back in despair. "You cannot mean all this," I said.

He threw at me a piteous glance. "What else can you believe or

feel?" said he.

"The very opposite. We are so made that we hate and fear death;

to us he is the King of Terrors. Poverty is terrible also, since it

is associated with want and woe; it is, therefore, natural to man

to strive after riches. As to the passion of love, that is so

vehement that the first and only thought is requital. Unrequited

love is anguish beyond expression—anguish so severe that the heart

will often break under it."

The Kohen clasped his hands in new bewilderment.

"I cannot understand," said he. "A madman might imagine that he

loved life and desired riches; but as to love, why even a madman

could not think of requital, for the very nature of the passion of

love is the most utter self-surrender, and a shrinking from all

requital; wherefore, the feeling that leads one to desire requital

cannot be love. I do not know what it can be—indeed, I never heard

of such a thing before, and the annals of the human race make no

mention of such a feeling. For what is love? It is the ardent

outflow of the whole being—the yearning of one human heart to

lavish all its treasures upon another. Love is more than

self-denial; it is self-surrender and utter self-abnegation. Love

gives all away, and cannot possibly receive anything in return. A

requital of love would mean selfishness, which would be

self-contradiction. The more one loves, the more he must shrink

from requital."

"What!" cried I, "among you do lovers never marry?"

"Lovers marry? Never!"

"Do married people never love one another?"

The Kohen shook his head.

"It unfortunately sometimes happens so," said he, "and then the

result is, of course, distressing. For the children's sake the

parents will often remain with one another, but in many cases they

separate. No one can tell the misery that ensues where a husband

and wife love one another."

The conversation grew insupportable. I could not follow the

Kohen in what seemed the wildest and maddest flights of fancy that

ever were known; so I began to talk of other things, and gradually

the Kohen was drawn to speak of his own life. The account which he

gave of himself was not one whit less strange than his previous

remarks, and for this reason I add it here.

"I was born," said he, "in the most enviable of positions. My

father and mother were among the poorest in the land. Both died

when I was a child, and I never saw them. I grew up in the open

fields and public caverns, along with the most esteemed paupers.

But, unfortunately for me, there was something wanting in my

natural disposition. I loved death, of course, and poverty, too,

very strongly; but I did not have that eager and energetic passion

which is so desirable, nor was I watchful enough over my blessed

estate of poverty. Surrounded as I was by those who were only too

ready to take advantage of my ignorance or want of vigilance, I

soon fell into evil ways, and gradually, in spite of myself, I

found wealth pouring in upon me. Designing men succeeded in winning

my consent to receive their possessions; and so I gradually fell

away from that lofty position in which I was born. I grew richer

and richer. My friends warned me, but in vain. I was too weak to

resist; in fact, I lacked moral fibre, and had never learned how to

say 'No.' So I went on, descending lower and lower in the scale of

being. I became a capitalist, an Athon, a general officer, and

finally Kohen.

"At length, on one eventful day, I learned that one of my

associates had by a long course of reckless folly become the

richest man in all the country. He had become Athon, Melek, and at

last Kohen Gadol. It was a terrible shock, but I trust a salutary

one. I at once resolved to reform. That resolution I have steadily

kept, and have at least saved myself from descending any lower. It

is true, I can hardly hope to become what I once was. It is only

too easy to grow rich; and, you know, poverty once forfeited can

never return except in rare instances. I have, however, succeeded

in getting rid of most of my wealth, chiefly through the fortunate

advent of Almah and afterward of yourself. This, I confess, has

been my salvation. Neither of you had any scruples about accepting

what was bestowed, and so I did not feel as though I was doing you

any wrong in giving you all I had in the world. Most of the people

of this city have taken advantage of your extraordinary

indifference to wealth, and have made themselves paupers at your

expense. I had already become your slave, and had received the

promise of being elevated to the rank of scullion in the cavern of

the Mista Kosek. But now, since this event of your love for Almah,

I hope to gain far more. I am almost certain of being made a

pauper, and I think I can almost venture to hope some day for the

honor of a public death."

To such a story I had nothing to say. It was sheer madness; yet

it was terribly suggestive, and showed how utterly hopeless was my

effort to secure the assistance of such a man toward my escape from

death.

"A public death!" I said, grimly. "That will be very fortunate!

And do you think that you will gain the dignity of being eaten up

afterward?"

The Kohen shook his head in all seriousness.

"Oh no," said he; "that would be far beyond my deserts. That is

an honor which is only bestowed upon the most distinguished."