helgi
New Member
passage from A Day Well Spent
As Lionel awoke he blinked witlessly and smiled from his bed. “Friends, I have just awoken from the strangest of dreams. I dreamt that you, Oliver, were a slave… a slave to the lowest man alive! And that wherever you went you carried the man upon your back, and he called you by the names of mulechild and camelkisser. And in the dream I myself was there, though not as you know me now, but as a great boar bleeding upon the back of a horse! And in the dream we crossed paths, you carrying your wicked master and I bound upon my steed. As I was tied so fast upon the back of my horse I was unable to help you and so could only open my mouth and call from the snout, asking your master why he treated you so poorly, as if you were nothing but a wretched beast. He pulled you to a halt and spoke very proudly and haughtily. He said,
‘If a man wishes to prove himself more than ordinary men and leave people to question whether he is, in fact, a god, then he may either trouble himself to do great deeds or suffer his fellow man to do base deeds. This man, this fellow, as with all my servants, I have suffered to do such base acts that by the power of shame he has lost the power of speech, and so cannot speak against my philosophies. Indeed, he has become the very proof of my philosophies! And now I ride upon his back from city to city, winning prestige from princes and kings alike. I ride him into the very courts of the land, and the startled and envious dukes yield and make way as I present myself before the king. And if anyone is curious and asks me why the man lets me ride upon him I say that he knows me to be a great man, and that even my feet have better things to do than touch the ground!’”
The comrades laughed well at this, one and all. Oliver blushed at having been the subject of such a dream, but Lionel assured him that his own shame was greater for having dreamt the dream and for having had the foul taste to tell it. He assured Oliver, “One should not be ashamed for what part they have played in another’s dream. After all, an actor must most often play the dullard, but he can do so without blushing, I think.”
Wolfgang came forth in mockery. “Nonsense! Dreams are the infallible discourse between man and God! And Oliver is not much more than a beast! When you are better he will give you a ride upon his back!”
As Lionel awoke he blinked witlessly and smiled from his bed. “Friends, I have just awoken from the strangest of dreams. I dreamt that you, Oliver, were a slave… a slave to the lowest man alive! And that wherever you went you carried the man upon your back, and he called you by the names of mulechild and camelkisser. And in the dream I myself was there, though not as you know me now, but as a great boar bleeding upon the back of a horse! And in the dream we crossed paths, you carrying your wicked master and I bound upon my steed. As I was tied so fast upon the back of my horse I was unable to help you and so could only open my mouth and call from the snout, asking your master why he treated you so poorly, as if you were nothing but a wretched beast. He pulled you to a halt and spoke very proudly and haughtily. He said,
‘If a man wishes to prove himself more than ordinary men and leave people to question whether he is, in fact, a god, then he may either trouble himself to do great deeds or suffer his fellow man to do base deeds. This man, this fellow, as with all my servants, I have suffered to do such base acts that by the power of shame he has lost the power of speech, and so cannot speak against my philosophies. Indeed, he has become the very proof of my philosophies! And now I ride upon his back from city to city, winning prestige from princes and kings alike. I ride him into the very courts of the land, and the startled and envious dukes yield and make way as I present myself before the king. And if anyone is curious and asks me why the man lets me ride upon him I say that he knows me to be a great man, and that even my feet have better things to do than touch the ground!’”
The comrades laughed well at this, one and all. Oliver blushed at having been the subject of such a dream, but Lionel assured him that his own shame was greater for having dreamt the dream and for having had the foul taste to tell it. He assured Oliver, “One should not be ashamed for what part they have played in another’s dream. After all, an actor must most often play the dullard, but he can do so without blushing, I think.”
Wolfgang came forth in mockery. “Nonsense! Dreams are the infallible discourse between man and God! And Oliver is not much more than a beast! When you are better he will give you a ride upon his back!”