Dreams | Page 9

have come, and the ages have gone, but the band of Inevitable
Necessity has not been cut."

And I looked and saw in her eyes the terrible patience of the centuries;
the ground was wet with her tears, and her nostrils blew up the sand.
And I said, "Has she ever tried to move?"
And he said, "Sometimes a limb has quivered. But she is wise; she
knows she cannot rise with the burden on her."
And I said, "Why does not he who stands by her leave her and go on?"
And he said, "He cannot. Look--"
And I saw a broad band passing along the ground from one to the other,
and it bound them together.
He said, "While she lies there he must stand and look across the
desert."
And I said, "Does he know why he cannot move?"
And he said, "No."
And I heard a sound of something cracking, and I looked, and I saw the
band that bound the burden on to her back broken asunder; and the
burden rolled on to the ground.
And I said, "What is this?"
And he said, "The Age-of-muscular-force is dead. The
Age-of-nervous-force has killed him with the knife he holds in his hand;
and silently and invisibly he has crept up to the woman, and with that
knife of Mechanical Invention he has cut the band that bound the
burden to her back. The Inevitable Necessity it broken. She might rise
now."
And I saw that she still lay motionless on the sand, with her eyes open
and her neck stretched out. And she seemed to look for something on
the far- off border of the desert that never came. And I wondered if she
were awake or asleep. And as I looked her body quivered, and a light

came into her eyes, like when a sunbeam breaks into a dark room.
I said, "What is it?"
He whispered "Hush! the thought has come to her, 'Might I not rise?'"
And I looked. And she raised her head from the sand, and I saw the
dent where her neck had lain so long. And she looked at the earth, and
she looked at the sky, and she looked at him who stood by her: but he
looked out across the desert.
And I saw her body quiver; and she pressed her front knees to the earth,
and veins stood out; and I cried; "She is going to rise!"
But only her sides heaved, and she lay still where she was.
But her head she held up; she did not lay it down again. And he beside
me said, "She is very weak. See, her legs have been crushed under her
so long."
And I saw the creature struggle: and the drops stood out on her.
And I said, "Surely he who stands beside her will help her?"
And he beside me answered, "He cannot help her: she must help herself.
Let her struggle till she is strong."
And I cried, "At least he will not hinder her! See, he moves farther
from her, and tightens the cord between them, and he drags her down."
And he answered, "He does not understand. When she moves she
draws the band that binds them, and hurts him, and he moves farther
from her. The day will come when he will understand, and will know
what she is doing. Let her once stagger on to her knees. In that day he
will stand close to her, and look into her eyes with sympathy."
And she stretched her neck, and the drops fell from her. And the
creature rose an inch from the earth and sank back.

And I cried, "Oh, she is too weak! she cannot walk! The long years
have taken all her strength from her. Can she never move?"
And he answered me, "See the light in her eyes!"
And slowly the creature staggered on to its knees.
And I awoke: and all to the east and to the west stretched the barren
earth, with the dry bushes on it. The ants ran up and down in the red
sand, and the heat beat fiercely. I looked up through the thin branches
of the tree at the blue sky overhead. I stretched myself, and I mused
over the dream I had had. And I fell asleep again, with my head on my
saddle. And in the fierce heat I had another dream.
I saw a desert and I saw a woman coming out of it. And she came to the
bank of a dark river; and the bank was steep and high. (The banks of an
African river are sometimes a hundred feet high, and consist of deep
shifting sands, through which in the course of ages the river has worn
its