Jurgen | Page 4

The
harm done by the tumblebug seems to us very slight, whereas the harm
done by the self-styled artist may be very great."
Jurgen now looked more attentively at this queer creature: and he saw
that the tumblebug was malodorous, certainly, but at bottom honest and
well-meaning; and this seemed to Jurgen the saddest thing he had
found among the Philistines. For the tumblebug was sincere in his
insane doings, and all Philistia honored him sincerely, so that there was
nowhere any hope for this people.
Therefore King Jurgen addressed himself, as his need was, to submit to
the strange customs of the Philistines. "Now do you judge me fairly,"
cried Jurgen to his judges, "if there be any justice in this mad country.
And if there be none, do you relegate me to limbo or to any other place,
so long as in that place this tumblebug is not omnipotent and sincere
and insane."
And Jurgen waited....

* * * * *

JURGEN
... amara lento temperet risu

1.
Why Jurgen Did the Manly Thing
It is a tale which they narrate in Poictesme, saying: In the 'old days
lived a pawnbroker named Jurgen; but what his wife called him was
very often much worse than that. She was a high-spirited woman, with
no especial gift for silence. Her name, they say, was Adelais, but

people by ordinary called her Dame Lisa.
They tell, also, that in the old days, after putting up the shop-windows
for the night, Jurgen was passing the Cistercian Abbey, on his way
home: and one of the monks had tripped over a stone in the roadway.
He was cursing the devil who had placed it there.
"Fie, brother!" says Jurgen, "and have not the devils enough to bear as
it is?"
"I never held with Origen," replied the monk; "and besides, it hurt my
great-toe confoundedly."
"None the less," observes Jurgen, "it does not behoove God-fearing
persons to speak with disrespect of the divinely appointed Prince of
Darkness. To your further confusion, consider this monarch's industry!
day and night you may detect him toiling at the task Heaven set him.
That is a thing can be said of few communicants and of no monks.
Think, too, of his fine artistry, as evidenced in all the perilous and
lovely snares of this world, which it is your business to combat, and
mine to lend money upon. Why, but for him we would both be
vocationless! Then, too, consider his philanthropy! and deliberate how
insufferable would be our case if you and I, and all our fellow
parishioners, were to-day hobnobbing with other beasts in the Garden
which we pretend to desiderate on Sundays! To arise with swine and lie
down with the hyena?--oh, intolerable!"
Thus he ran on, devising reasons for not thinking too harshly of the
Devil. Most of it was an abridgement of some verses Jurgen had
composed, in the shop when business was slack.
"I consider that to be stuff and nonsense," was the monk's glose.
"No doubt your notion is sensible," observed the pawnbroker: "but
mine is the prettier."
Then Jurgen passed the Cistercian Abbey, and was approaching
Bellegarde, when he met a black gentleman, who saluted him and said:

"Thanks, Jurgen, for your good word."
"Who are you, and why do you thank me?" asks Jurgen.
"My name is no great matter. But you have a kind heart, Jurgen. May
your life be free from care!"
"Save us from hurt and harm, friend, but I am already married."
"Eh, sirs, and a fine clever poet like you!"
"Yet it is a long while now since I was a practising poet."
"Why, to be sure! You have the artistic temperament, which is not
exactly suited to the restrictions of domestic life. Then I suppose your
wife has her own personal opinion about poetry, Jurgen."
"Indeed, sir, her opinion would not bear repetition, for I am sure you
are unaccustomed to such language."
"This is very sad. I am afraid your wife does not quite understand you,
Jurgen."
"Sir," says Jurgen, astounded, "do you read people's inmost thoughts?"
The black gentleman seemed much dejected. He pursed his lips, and
fell to counting upon his fingers: as they moved his sharp nails glittered
like flame-points.
"Now but this is a very deplorable thing," says the black gentleman, "to
have befallen the first person I have found ready to speak a kind word
for evil. And in all these centuries, too! Dear me, this is a most
regrettable instance of mismanagement! No matter, Jurgen, the
morning is brighter than the evening. How I will reward you, to be
sure!"
So Jurgen thanked the simple old creature politely. And when Jurgen
reached home his wife was nowhere to be seen. He looked on all