Dreams and Dream Stories | Page 8

house in the midst of this forest, and why are there no shutters to the
windows? Are you mad, or a fool, that you do not know every one can
see from without into your lighted rooms?" He looked at me with
stupid despair. "I never thought of the shutters," said he. As we stood
talking, the robbers outside congregated in great numbers, and the old
man fled from the room with his treasure bags into another apartment.

But this also was brilliantly illuminated within, and the windows were
shutterless. The robbers followed his movements easily, and so pursued
him from room to room all round the house. Nowhere had he any
shelter. Then came the sound of gouge and mallet and saw, and I knew
the assassins were breaking into the house, and that before long, the
owner would have met the death his folly had invited, and his treasure
would pass into the hands of the robbers. --Paris, Aug. 3, 1877

VII. The Forest Cathedral
I found myself--accompanied by a guide, a young man of Oriental
aspect and habit--passing through long vistas of trees which, as we
advanced, continually changed in character. Thus we threaded avenues
of English oaks and elms, the foliage of which gave way as we
proceeded to that of warmer and moister climes, and we saw overhead
the hanging masses of broad-leaved palms, and enormous trees whose
names I do not know, spreading their fingered leaves over us like great
green hands in a manner that frightened me. Here also I saw huge
grasses which rose over my shoulders, and through which I had at
times to beat my way as through a sea; and ferns of colossal
proportions; with every possible variety and mode of tree-life and every
conceivable shade of green, from the faintest and clearest yellow to the
densest blue-green. One wood in particular I stopped to admire. It
seemed as though every leaf of its trees were of gold, so intensely
yellow was the tint of the foliage. In these forests and thickets were
numerous shrines of gods such as the Hindus worship. Every now and
then we came upon them in open spaces. They were uncouth and rudely
painted; but they all were profusely adorned with gems, chiefly
turquoises, and they all had many arms and hands, in which they held
lotus flowers, sprays of palms, and colored berries. Passing by these
strange figures, we came to a darker part of our course, where the
character of the trees changed and the air felt colder. I perceived that a
shadow had fallen on the way; and looking upwards I found we were
passing beneath a massive roof of dark indigo-colored pines, which
here and there were positively black in their intensity and depth.
Intermingled with them were firs, whose great, straight stems were

covered with lichen and mosses of beautiful variety, and some looking
strangely like green ice-crystals. Presently we came to a little
broken-down rude kind of chapel in the midst of the wood. It was built
of stone; and masses of stone, shapeless and moss-grown, were lying
scattered about on the ground around it. At a little rough-hewn altar
within it stood a Christian priest, blessing the elements. Overhead, the
great dark sprays of the larches and cone-laden firs swept its roof. I sat
down to rest on one of the stones, and looked upwards a while at the
foliage. Then turning my gaze again towards the earth, I saw a vast
circle of stones, moss-grown like that on which I sat, and ranged in a
circle such as that of Stonehenge. It occupied an open space in the
midst of the forest; and the grasses and climbing plants of the place had
fastened on the crevices of the stones. One stone, larger and taller than
the rest, stood at the junction of the circle, in a place of honor, as
though it had stood for a symbol of divinity. I looked at my guide, and
said, " Here, at least, is an idol whose semblance belongs to another
type than that of the Hindus." He smiled, and turning from me to the
Christian priest at the altar, said aloud, "Priest, why do your people
receive from sacerdotal hands the bread only, while you yourselves
receive both bread and wine?" And the priest answered, "We receive no
more than they. Yes, though under another form, the people are
partakers with us of the sacred wine with its particle. The blood is the
life of the flesh, and of it the flesh is formed, and without it the flesh
could not consist. The communion is the same." Then the young man
my guide turned again to me and waved his hand towards the stone
before me. And as I