Shortcomings of Prince Jurgen
Now the just recorded on the of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist: and Jurgen in Cocaigne, and with the of that country.
In the of Queen Anaïtis, all manner of were without any cessation. Jurgen, who himself to be of an authority upon such contrivances, was soon by his own innocence. For Anaïtis him was being done in Cocaigne, to this and to that side, under the direction of Anaïtis, Jurgen to be a nature of with the Moon; and who, in consequence, not in Cocaigne but the of life the Moon any power over tides. It was the mission of Anaïtis to and turn and deflect: in this the Moon her makes for straightforwardness. So Anaïtis and the Moon were allies. These of their private relations, however, as to Jurgen, are not very repeatable.
"But you the Moon, Prince Jurgen, to the day of the Moon. Or so, at least, I have heard."
"I doing nothing of the sort. But I it to one day to the Moon's majesty. For night is to the Moon, each night that was the friend of lovers,--night, the and of all life."
"Why, indeed, there is something in that argument," says Anaïtis, dubiously.
"'Something', do you say! why, but to my way of it proves the Moon is seven times more than any of the Léshy. It is merely, my dear, a question of arithmetic."
"Was it for that you did not Pandelis and her Mondays with the other Léshy?"
"Why, to be sure," said Jurgen, glibly. "I did not it at all that such an Léshy as Pandelis should name her day after the Moon: to me it blasphemy." Then Jurgen coughed, and looked at his shadow. "Had it been Sereda, now, the case would have been different, and the Moon might well have the compliment."
Anaïtis appeared relieved. "I shall report your explanation. Candidly, there were in store for you, Prince Jurgen, your language was misunderstood. But that which you now say puts a different upon matters."
Jurgen laughed, not the mystery, but he always say was of him.
"Now let us see a little more of Cocaigne!" Jurgen.
For Jurgen was by the of Cocaigne, and for a week or ten days industriously. Anaïtis, who reported the Moon's to be satisfied, now no to him, and they together.
"For all men that live have but a little while to live," said Anaïtis, "and none his thereafter. So that a man nothing save a of his body: and yet the of man is of much pleasure. As thus and thus," says Anaïtis. And she to her Prince Consort.
For Jurgen that he had in and proper Queen Anaïtis, by in the Breaking of the Veil, which is the marriage of Cocaigne. His relations with Dame Lisa had, of course, no legal in Cocaigne, where the Church is not Christian and the Law is, Do that which good to you.
"Well, when in Rome," said Jurgen, "one must be romantic. But this proves that nobody when he is being into respectability: and did a a high queen with less premeditation."
"Ah, my dear," says Anaïtis, "you were by the of Fate."
"I do not like that of speech. It makes one too trivial, to be by a finger. No, it is not to call what me a finger."
"By the long arm of coincidence, then."
"Much more appropriate, my love," says Jurgen, complacently: "it more dignified, and not my self esteem."
Now this Anaïtis who was Queen of Cocaigne was a tall dark woman, thinnish, and lovely, and very restless. From the her new Prince Consort was puzzled by her fervors, and presently was by them. He failed to how anyone be so over Jurgen. It unreasonable. And in her more moments this nature positively him: for transports such as these not but of the female spider, who ends such by her partner.
"Thus to be loved is very flattering," he would reflect, "and I again am Jurgen, of none. But so, I am mortal. She ought to that, in common fairness."
Then the of Anaïtis, while flattering, was out of reason. She everybody, that every a for Jurgen, and that not for a moment he be trusted. Well, as Jurgen conceded, his toward Stella, that ill-starred of Indawadi, had in point of displayed, when viewed from an and point of view, an which, when by hastily, might, just possibly, appear to approach remotely, in one or two respects, to temporary of Anaïtis, if there were people so as to such conceivable.
But the main thing, the feature, which Anaïtis not be to understand, was that she had her in what was, in effect, a experiment, necessarily in the dark. The to the were always performed in darkness: that. For the rest, this Stella had so-and-so; in she was to a to prove her if she could: so Jurgen had to with her. Besides, why keep talking about this Stella, after a so and as that to which Anaïtis had out of hand resorted? why keep to a which was to Jurgen and visibly the nature in all legend? Was it to anyone concerned? That was the way in which Jurgen put it.
Still, he of Anaïtis. Barring her when to passion, she was a and creature, although in Jurgen's opinion narrow-minded.
"My love," he would say to her, "you appear positively unable to keep away from persons! You are always out the people who to be and straightforward, and you are plans to these people. Ah, but why about them? What need have you to wear out, and to your entire time to such proselitizing, when you might be so much more employed? You should learn, in to as well as to others, to be of all things; and to that in a being of man's nature a of is to every now and then, you might prefer."
But Anaïtis had high as to her mission, and told him that he ought not to speak with of such matters. "I would be much at home with you and the children," she would say, "but I that it is my duty--"
"And your to whom, in heaven's name?"
"Please do not such expressions, Jurgen. It is my to the power I serve, my very to my creator. But you have no of religion, I am afraid; and the is often a to me."
"Ah, but, my dear, you are as to who you, and for what purpose you were made. You nature were in the Mythopoeic age by the of old nations: and you your religiously. That is as it should be. But I have no such as to my and mission in life, I appear at all events to have no natural for being diverted, I do not take to it wholeheartedly, and these are we have to face." Now Jurgen put his arm around her. "My dear Anaïtis, you must not think it selfishness on my part. I was with a something that is for anyone who to be as as most people: and you will have to love me in of it."
"I almost wish I had you as I saw you in that corridor, Jurgen. For I toward you then and there. I almost wish I had you at all. I cannot help being of you: and yet you laugh at the I know to be of me, and sometimes you make me laugh, too."
"But, darling, are you not just the least, littlest, tiniest, very bigoted? For instance, I can see that you think I ought to more in your dances, and your pleasures, and your caresses, and all your other diversions. And I do think they do you credit, great credit, and I your no less than your industry--"
"You have no of reverence, Jurgen, you to have no at all of what is to one's creator. I you cannot help that: but you might at least it me to you talk so of my religion."
"But I do not talk flippantly--"
"Indeed you do, though. And it not at all well, let me tell you."
"--Instead, I but point out that your necessitates, upon the whole, an I lack. You, my pet, were by perversity: and it is the part of to one's in fashions to that creator. So, I do not your religious connections, dear, and nobody these of your more than I do. I that to these so a of which is me. In fine, I have not your temperament, I am more sceptical. You may be right; and I cannot go so as to say you are wrong: but still, at the same time--! That is how I about it, my precious, and that is why I find, with of these ceremonials, a of in my responses: and finally, darling, that is all there is to it."
"I in my whole had such a Prince Consort! Sometimes I think you do not a about me one way or the other, Jurgen."
"Ah, but I do for you very much. And to prove it, come now let us try some brand-new diversion, at of which the will be and the earth will or something of that sort, and then I will take the children fishing, as I promised."
"No, Jurgen, I do not like you just now. You take all the out of it with your jeering. Besides, you are always with the children. Jurgen, I you are of the children than you are of me. And when you are not with them you are locked up in the Library."
"Well, and was there such a as the Library of Cocaigne? All the that you nature have I recorded there: and to read of your and me. For it is to upon pleasures, and to make about them is the most of avocations: it is the of them that I would discourage, as and mussy. Besides, the Library is the only spot I have to myself in the palace, what with your nature making the most of life all over the place."
"It is necessary, Jurgen, for one in my position to more or less. And I cannot close the doors against my own relatives."
"Such riffraff, though, my darling! Such and ends! I cannot you upon your kindred, for I do not on at all with these combinations, that are one-third man and the other two-thirds a of or or or or or or what not. Priapos is the only male who comes here in anything like the of a complete being: and I had he away, I who am Jurgen cannot but be of him."
"And why, pray?"
"Well, where I go with Caliburn, Priapos a I envy--"
"Like all the Bacchic he a thyrsos, and it is a weapon, certainly; but it is not of much use in conflict."
"My darling! and how do you know?"
"Why, Jurgen, how do always know these things?--by intuition, I suppose."
"You that you judge all by than reason? Indeed, I say that is true of most women, and men are daily and delighted, about equally, by your illogical method of together. But to to the of your kindred, your Apis, for example, may be a very good of fellow: but, say what you will, it is ill-advised of him to be going about in public with a bull's head. It makes him conspicuous, if not actually ridiculous: and it puts me out when I try to talk to him."
"Now, Jurgen, pray that you speak of a very myth, and that you are being irreverent--"
"--And moreover, I take the of repeating, my darling, that though this Ba of Mendes is your cousin, it me to have to meet three-quarters of a socially--"
"But, Jurgen, I must as a master of Ba to my of the Sacæ--"
"Even so, my dear, in a may that her guests will not make of themselves. I often wish that this of ordinary were more by Ba and Hortanes and Fricco and Vul and Baal-Peor, and by all your other who come to visit you in such a condition. It a of respect for you, my darling."
"Oh, but it is all in the family, Jurgen--"
"Besides, they have no conversation. They bellow--or or or low or or purr, according to their incarnations,--about and until I am to the of by their imbecility."
"If you were more practical, Jurgen, you would that it speaks for anyone to be in his vocation--"
"And your female relatives are just as annoying, with their enigmas, and their moons, and their roses that color and gardening, and their that I have time to with them. And the entire pack until the house is positively with and and and and and and and talys, and I do not know what other toys that I am on!"
"Which of those has been making up to you?" says Anaïtis, her snapping.
"Ah, ah! now many of your female are enough--"
"I it! Oh, but you need not think you me--!"
"My darling, pray consider! be about it! Your guests at present are Sekhmet in the of a lioness, Io as a cow, Hekt as a frog, Derceto as a sturgeon, and--ah, yes!--Thoueris as a hippopotamus. I it to your of justice, dear Anaïtis, if of ladies with such tastes in dress a like you can be jealous."
"And I know perfectly well who it is! It is that Ephesian hussy, and I had times noticed her behavior. Very well, oh, very well, indeed! nevertheless, I shall have a plain word or two with her at once, and the sooner she out of my house the better, as I shall tell her frankly. And as for you, Jurgen--!"
"But, my dear Lisa--!"
"What do you call me? Lisa was an of mine. Why do you call me Lisa?"
"It was a of the tongue, my pet, an but not of ideas. As for the Ephesian Diana, she me of an pine-cone, with that of all over her, and I can you of your having no particular to be of her. It was of the female in I spoke. Of they all make at me: I cannot well help that, and you should have as much when you such an Prince Consort. What do these when to you my is faithful?"
"It is not your I am over, Jurgen, for I you have none. Yes, you have succeeded in me to distraction, if that is any to you. However, let us not talk about it. For it is now necessary, imperative, that I go into Armenia to take part in the for Tammouz: people would not it at all if I away from such orgies. And I shall no from the trip, much as I need the change, because, without speaking of that famous of yours, you are always up to some double-dealing, and I shall not know into what you may be yourself."
Jurgen laughed, and her. "Be off, and to your religious duties, dear, by all means. And I promise you I will safe locked in the Library till you come back."
Thus Jurgen among the of perversity, and to their customs. Death ends all for all, they contended, and life is brief: for how years do men endure, and how is the most and nature away by the Philologists! So the wise person, and the nature myth, will take his of while there is yet time to take anything, and will waste none of his upon and by questions.
"Oh, but by all means!" said Jurgen, and he himself with a rose garland, and his wine, and his Anaïtis. Then, when the of the Sacæ was at full-tide, he would to Anaïtis, "I will be in a moment, darling," and she would at him as he very from his couch, and went, with the of a reel, into the Library. She that Jurgen had no of back: and she of his taking the position in the social life of Cocaigne to which he was no less by his rank as Prince Consort than by his personal abilities. For Anaïtis did not think that, as natural endowments, her Jurgen had much to such a as Priapos, say, from what she of both.
So it was that Jurgen custom. "Because these nature may be right," said Jurgen; "and I cannot go so as to say they are wrong: but still, at the same time--!"
For Jurgen was to no with a "I do not know." Jurgen was no more able to give up the meaning of life than a swimming: indeed, he in a of and doubt, as his native element. That death ended all might very well be the case: yet if the outcome proved otherwise, how much more it would be, for concerned, to have relations with the of his second life, by having done it was they of him here.
"Yes, I that something is of me," says Jurgen: "and without what it is, I am sure, somehow, that it is not an in pleasure. Besides, I do not think death is going to end all for me. If only I be my with King Smoit, and with that little Sylvia Tereu, was not a dream! As it is, plain me I am not to the universe: but with this reasoning, somehow, not travel my belief. No, it is only to my own to go a little more than do these nature myths, since I the to a free-thinking materialist. To that we know nothing assuredly, and cannot know anything assuredly, is to take too much on faith."
And Jurgen paused to shake his black two or three times, very sagely.
"No, I cannot in being the end of all: that would be too a to a to have Jurgen. No, it is just as I said to the man: I cannot in the of Jurgen by any overlords; so I shall see to it that Jurgen nothing which he cannot more or less excuse, in case of inquiries. That is safer."
Now Jurgen was his again: and he sighed.
"For the of Cocaigne do not satisfy me. They are all well in their way; and I admit the that in and two are than one. Yes, Anaïtis makes me an excellent wife. Nevertheless, her do not satisfy me, and to make the most of life is not enough. No, it is something else that I desire: and Anaïtis not me."
