ଌЍlฃrnonБlackwood - PDF document

IVeЅ؇lows ଌЍlฃrnonБlackwood Aᘗer lea᠆ဎ Vieတa, aပ loဎ beᘈre you come to Budapest, tVe Daရbe eဗers a region of singular loဃliဃss aပ desolatioယ wVere its waters spread away on all sides regardless of a main cVaတel, aပ tVe couဗry becomes a swamp ᘈr miles upon miles, co᠃red by a ᠒st sea of low willow-busVes !n tVe big maps tVis deserted area is paiဗed in a ᘇuᘖy blue, growiဎ ᘒiဗer in color as it lea᠃s tVe baနs, aပ across it may be seen in large straggliဎ letters tVe word ∛mpfeᨄmeaဆဎ marsVes #n VigV ᘇood tVis great acreage of saပ, sViဎle- beds, aပ willow-grown islaပs is almost topped by tVe water, but in ဈrmal seasoည tVe busVes beပ aပ rustle in tVe ᘏee wiပs, sVowiဎ tVeir silver lea᠃s to tVe suညViဃ in an ever-mo᠆ဎ plain of bewilderiဎ beauty IVese willows ဃ᠃r attain to tVe digဆty of trees$ tVey Va᠃ ဈ rigid truနs$ tVey remain Vumble busVes, witV rouပed tops aပ soᘗ outliဃ, swayiဎ on sleပer stems tVat answer to tVe least pressure of tVe wiပ$ supple as grasses, aပ so coဗiရally sViᘗiဎ tVat tVey someVow gi᠃ tVe impression tVat tVe eဗire plain is mo᠆ဎ aပ ali᠃ %or tVe wiပ seပs wa᠃s risiဎ aပ ᘒlliဎ o᠃r tVe wVole surface, waves of lea᠃s iညtead of waves of water, green swells like tVe sea, too, until tVe braဓVes turn aပ liᘗ, aပ tVen sil᠃ry wVite as tVeir uပerside turns to tVe suဠ ☒ppy to slip beyoပ tVe coဗrol of tVe stern baနs, tVe Daရbe Vere waပers about at will amoဎ tVe iဗricate network of cVaတels iဗersectiဎ tVe islaပs e᠃rywVere witV broad a᠃nues down wVicV tVe waters pour witV a sVoutiဎ souပ$ makiဎ wVirlpools, eddies, aပ ᘈamiဎ rapids$ teariဎ at tVe saပy baနs$ carryiဎ away masses of sVore aပ wil low-clumps$ aပ ᘈrmiဎ new islaပs iတumerably wVicV sViᘗ daily iငsi'e aပ sVape aပ possess at best an impermaဃဗ liᘃ, siဓe tVe ᘇood-time obliterates tVeir ᠃ry e(isteဓe )roperly speakiဎ, tVis ᘒsciဒtiဎ part of tVe ri᠃r*s liᘃ begiည soon aᘗer lea᠆ဎ )ressburg, aပ we, in our +aဒdian caဈe, witV gipsy teဗ aပ ᘏy iဎ-pan on board, reacVed it on tVe crest of a risiဎ ᘇood about mid-,uly IVat ᠃ry same morဆဎ, wVen tVe sky was reddeဆဎ beᘈre suဏise, we Vad slipped swiᘗly tVrougV still-sleepiဎ Vieတa, lea᠆ဎ it a couple of Vours later a mere patcV of smoke agaiညt tVe blue Vills of tVe Wienerwald on tVe Vori'oဤ we Vad breakᘒsted below %iscVerameပ uပer a gro᠃ of bircV trees roariဎ in tVe wiပ$ aပ Vad tVen swept on tVe teariဎ curreဗ past !rtV, ☒iဋurg, )etroဃll -tVe old .oman +arရဗum of /arcus Aurelius0, aပ so uပer tVe ᘏowဆဎ VeigVts of IVelsen on a spur of tVe +arpatVians, wVere tVe /arcV steals in 1uietly ᘏom tVe leᘗ aပ tVe ᘏoဗier is crossed betweeငAustria aပ ☛ဎary .aciဎ aloဎ at twelve kilometers an Vour soon took us well iဗo ☛ဎary, aပ tVe muddy waters2 sure sign of ᘇood㈊eဗ us agrouပ on maဌ a sViဎle-bed, aပ twisted us like a cork iငmaဌ a sud den belcViဎ wVirlpool beᘈre tVe towers of )ress burg -☛ngariaယ )os'oဌ0 sVowed agaiညt tVe sky$ aပ tVen tVe caဈe, leapiဎ like a spirited Vorse, ᘇew at top speed uပer tVe grey walls, ဃgotiated safely tVe suနen cVain of tVe %liegeပe Brucke ferry, turဃd tVe corဃr sVarply to tVe leᘗ, aပ pluဎed on yellow ᘈam iဗo tVe wilderဃss of islaပs, saပ baနs, aပ swamp-laပ beyoပ㈗Ve laပ of tVe wil lows IVe cVange came suddeဇy, as wVen a series of bioscope pictures sဒps down on tVe streets of a town aပ sViᘗs witVout warဆဎ iဗo tVe sceဃry of lake aပ ᘈrest We eဗered tVe laပ of desolation on wiဎsᨄaပ in less tVaငValf an Vour tVere was neitVer boat ဈr ᘆsViဎ-Vut ဈr red rooᘚ ဈr aဌ siဎle sign of Vuman Vabitation aပ ci᠆li'ation witVin sigVt IVe sense of remoteဃss ᘏom tVe world of Vuman kiပ, tVe utter isolatioယ tVe fasciဒtion of tVis siဎu lar world of willows, wiပs, aပ waters, iညtantly laid its spell upon us botV, so tVat we allowed laugViဎly to oဃ aဈtVer tVat we ougVt by rigVts to Vave Veld some special kiပ of passport to admit us, aပ tVat we Vad, somewVat audaciously, come witVout askiဎ lea᠃ iဗo a separate little kiဎdom of woပer aပ magic2a kingdom tVat was reser᠃d ᘈr tVe use of otVers wVo Vad a rigVt to it, witV everywVere uဉrit ten warဆဎs to trespassers ᘈr tVose wVo Vad tVe imagiဒtioငto disco᠃r tVem IVougV still early in tVe aᘗerဈoယ tVe ceaseless buᘖetiဎs of a most tempestuous wiပ made us ᘃel weary, aပ we at oဓe began castiဎ about ᘈr a suit able campiဎ-grouပ ᘈr tVe ဆgVt But tVe bewilder iဎ cVaracter of tVe islaပs made laပiဎ diᘖicult$ tVe swirliဎ ᘇood carried us in sVore aပ tVen swept &3 W #44!W" !% 67 us out agaiဤ tVe willow braဓVes tore our Vaပs as we sei'ed tVem to stop tVe caဈe, aပ we pulled maဌ a yard of saပy baန iဗo tVe water beᘈre at leဎtV we sVot witV a great sideways blow ᘏom tVe wiပ iဗo a backwater aပ maဒged to beacV tVe bows in a cloud of spray IVen we lay pantiဎ aပ laugViဎ aᘗer our e(ertioည on tVe Vot yellow saပ, sVeltered ᘏom tVe wiပ, aပ in tVe ᘛll bla'e of a scorcViဎ suယ a cloudless blue sky abo᠃, aပ an immeညe army of daဓiဎ, sVoutiဎ willow busVes, closiဎ in ᘏom all sides, sViဆဎ witV spray aပ clap ping tVeir tVousaပ little Vaပs as tVougV to applaud tVe success oᘄour eᘖorts 8WVat a ri᠃r9: # said to my compaဆoယ tViနiဎ of all tVe way we Vad tra᠃led ᘏom tVe source in tVe Black %orest, aပ Vow Ve Vad oᘗen been obliged to wade aပ pusV in tVe upper sVallows at tVe begin ဆဎ of ,une 8Woဪt staပ mucV ဈညense ဈw, will it;: Ve said, pulliဎ tVe caဈe a little ᘒrtVer iဗo saᘃty up tVe saပ, aပ tVeငcomposiဎ Vimselᘄᘈr a ဒp # lay by Vis sideᨄVappy aပ peaceᘛl in tVe batV of tVe elemeဗs㈉aterᨄwiပᨄsaပ, aပ tVe great ᘆre of tVe suဲtViနiဎ of tVe loဎ ပiဃs, passiဎ sileဗly aပ uညeen down to tVe seaᨄaပ ᠃ry leisurely too, lest tVey be disco᠃red /ucVᨄtoo, we ᘈrga᠃ Ver because of Ver ᘏieပli ness to tVe birds aပ aဆmals tVat Vauဗed tVe sVores +ormoraဗs lined tVe baနs in loဃly places in rows like sVort black paliဎs$ grey crows crowded tVe sVingle-beds$ storks stood ᘆsViဎ in tVe ᠆stas of sVallower water tVat opeဃd up between tVe islaပs, aပ Vawks, swans, aပ marsV birds of all sorts ᘆlled tVe air witV gliဗiဎ wiဎs aပ singiဎ, petulaဗ cries #t was impossible to ᘃel aတoyed witV tVe ri᠃r*s ᠒garies aᘗer seeiဎ a deer leap witV a splasV iဗo tVe water at suဏise aပ swim past tVe bows of tVe caဈe$ aပ oᘗen we saw ᘒwည peeriဎ at us ᘏom tVe uပerbrusV, or looked straigVt iဗo tVe brown eyes of a stag as we cVarged ᘛll tilt rouပ a corဃr aပ eဗered aဈtVer reacV of tVe ri᠃r %o(es, too, everywVere Vauဗed tVe baနs, trippiဎ daiဗily amoဎ tVe driᘗwood aပ disappeariဎ so suddeဇy tVat it was impossible to see Vow tVey maဒged it But ဈw, aᘗer lea᠆ဎ )ressburg, everytViဎ cVaဎed a little, aပ tVe Danube became more seri ous #t ceased triᘇiဎ #t was Valᘟway to tVe Black ∃a, witVin seemiဎ distaဓe almost of otVer, straဎer couဗries wVere ဈ tricks would be permit ted or uပerstood #t became suddeဇy grown-up, aပ claimed our respect aပ e᠃n our awe #t broke out iဗo tVree arms, ᘈr oဃ tViဎ, tVat oဇy met again a Vuပred kilometers ᘒrtVer dowယ aပ ᘈr a caဈe tVere were ဈ iပicatioည wVicV oဃ was iဗeပed to be ᘈllowed 8#f you take a side cVaတelᨺ said tVe ☛ဎarian oᘖicer we met in tVe )ressburg sVop wVile buyiဎ pro᠆sioည, 8you may ᘆပ yoursel᠃s, wVen tVe ᘇood subsides, ᘈrty miles ᘏom aဌwVere, VigV aပ dry, aပ you may easily star᠃ IVere are ဈ people, ဈ ᘒrms, ဈ ᘆsVermeဠ # warn you ဈt to coဗiရe IVe ri᠃r, too, is still risiဎ, aပ tVis wiပ will increase› IVe risiဎ ri᠃r did ဈt alarm us in tVe least, but tVe matter of beiဎ leᘗ VigV aပ dry by a sudden subsid eဓe of tVe waters migVt be serious, aပ we Vad con se1ueဗly laid in an e(tra stock of pro᠆sioည %or tVe rest, tVe oᘖicer*s propVecy Veld true, aပ tVe wiပ, blowiဎ down a perᘃctly clear sky, iဓreased steadily till it reacVed tVe digဆty of a westerly gale #t was earlier tVan usual wVeငwe camped, ᘈr tVe sun was a good Vour or two ᘏom tVe Vori'oယ aပ lea᠆ဎ my ᘏieပ still asleep on tVe Vot saပ, # waပered about in desultory e(amiဒtion of our Votel IVe islaပ, # ᘈuပ, was less tVan an acre in e(teဗ, a mere saပy baန staပiဎ some two or tVree ᘃet abo᠃ tVe level of tVe ri᠃r IVe ᘒr eပ, poiဗiဎ iဗo tVe sunset, was co᠃red witV ᘇyiဎ spray wVicV tVe tremeပous wiပ dro᠃ oᘖ tVe crests of tVe broken wa᠃s #t was triaဎular in sVape, witV tVe ape( up stream # stood tVere ᘈr se᠃ral miရtes, watcViဎ tVe impetuous crimson ᘇood beariဎ down witV a sVout iဎ roar, dasViဎ in wa᠃s agaiညt tVe baန as tVougV to sweep it bodily away, aပ tVen swirliဎ by in two ᘈamiဎ streams on eitVer side IVe grouပ seemed to sVake witV tVe sVock aပ rusV, wVile tVe furious mo᠃meဗ of tVe willow busVes as tVe wiပ poured o᠃r tVem iဓreased tVe curious illusion tVat tVe islaပ itselᘄactually mo᠃d Abo᠃, ᘈr a mile or two, # could see tVe great ri᠃r desceပiဎ upon me$ it was like lookiဎ up tVe slope of a slidiဎ Vill, wVite witV ᘈam, aပ leapiဎ up e᠃rywVere to sVow itselᘄto tVe suဠ IVe rest of tVe islaပ was too tVickly grown witV willows to make walkiဎ pleasaဗ, but # made tVe tour, ne᠃rtVeless %rom tVe lower eပ tVe ligVt, of courseᨄcVaဎedᨄaပ tVe ri᠃r looked dark aပ aဎry !ဇy tVe backs of tVe ᘇyiဎ wa᠃s were ᠆sible, streaked witV ᘈam, aပ pusVed ᘈrcibly by tVe great puᘖs of wiပ tVat ᘃll upon tVem ᘏom beViပ %or a sVort mile it was ᠆sible, pouriဎ in aပ out amoဎ tVe islaပs, aပ tVen disappeariဎ witV a Vuge sweep iဗo tVe willows, wVicV closed about it like a Verd of moညtrous antedilu᠆an creatures crowdiဎ down to driန IVey made me tViန of gigaဗic spoဎe-like growtVs tVat sucked tVe ri᠃r up iဗo tVemsel᠃s IVey caused it to ᠒ဆsV ᘏom sigVt IVey Verded tVere togetVer iငsucV o᠃rpoweriဎ numbers AltogetVer it was an impressi᠃ sceဃ, witV its utter loဃliness, its bi'arre suggestioဤ aပ as # ga'ed, loဎ aပ curiously, a siဎular emotion began to stir somewVere in tVe deptVs of me /idway in my deligVt of tVe wild beauty, tVere crept, uဋidden aပ uဃ(plaiဃd, a curious feeliဎ of dis1uietude, almost oᘄalarm A risiဎ ri᠃r, perVaps, always suggests sometViဎ of tVe omiဈus$ maဌ of tVe little islaပs # saw beᘈre me would probably Va᠃ been swept away by tVe morဆဎ$ tVis resistless, tVuပeriဎ ᘇood of water toucVed tVe sense of awe ?et # was aware tVat my uဃasiဃss lay deeper ᘒr tVan tVe emotioည of awe aပ woပer #t was ဈt tVat # ᘃlt @or Vad it dir ectly to do witV tVe power of tVe dri᠆ဎ wiပ㈗Vis sVoutiဎ Vurricaဃ tVat migVt almost carry up a ᘃw acres of willows iဗo tVe air aပ scatter tVem like so &3 W #44!W" !% 67 mucV cVaᘖ o᠃r tVe laပscape IVe wiပ was simply eြoyiဎ itselᘚ ᘈr ဈtViဎ rose out of tVe ᘇat laပ scape to stop it, aပ # was conscious of sVariဎ its great game witV a kiပ oᘄpleasurable e(citemeဗ ?et tVis ဈ᠃l emotion Vad ဈtViဎ to do witV tVe wiပ #ပeed, so ᠒gue was tVe seညe of distress # e(peri eဓed, tVat it was impossible to trace it to its source aပ deal witV it accordiဎly, tVougV # was aware someVow tVat it Vad to do witV my reali'ation of our utter insigဆᘆcaဓe beᘈre tVis uဏestraiဃd power of tVe elemeဗs about me IVe Vuge-grown ri᠃r Vad sometViဎ to do witV it too㈒ ᠒gue, uဝleasaဗ idea tVat we Vad someVow triᘇed witV tVese great elemeဗal ᘈrces in wVose power we lay Velpless every Vour of tVe day aပ ဆgVt %or Vere, iပeed, tVey were gigaဗically at play togetVer, aပ tVe sigVt appealed to tVe imagiဒtioဠ But my emotioယ so ᘒr as # could uပerstaပ it, seemed to attacV itself more particularly to tVe wil low busVes, to tVese acres aပ acres of willows, crowdiဎ, so tVickly growiဎ tVere, swarmiဎ e᠃ry wVere tVe eye could reacV, pressiဎ upon tVe ri᠃r as tVougV to suᘖocate it, staပiဎ in dense array mile aᘗer mile beဃatV tVe sky, watcViဎ, waitiဎ, listen iဎ Aပ, apart 1uite ᘏom tVe elemeဗs, tVe willows coတected tVemsel᠃s subtly witV my malaise, attackiဎ tVe miပ insidiously someVow by reason of tVeir ᠒st numbers, aပ coဗri᠆ဎ in some way or otVer to represent to tVe imagiဒtion a ဃw aပ migVty power, a power, moreo᠃r, ဈt altogetVer ᘏieပly to us 㴏eat re᠃latioည of ဒture, of course, ဃ᠃r ᘒil to impress in oဃ way or aဈtVer, aပ # was ဈ straဎer to moods of tVe kiပ /ouဗains o᠃rawe aပ oceans terriᘌ, wVile tVe mystery of great ᘈrests e(ercises a spell peculiarly its owဠ But all tVese, at oဃ poiဗ or aဈtVer, somewVere liန on iဗimately witV Vuman liᘃ aပ Vuman e(perieဓe IVey stir compreVeညible, even if alarmiဎ, emotioည IVey teပ on tVe wVole to e(alt WitV tVis multitude of willows, Vowe᠃r, it was sometViဎ ᘒr diᘖereဗ, # ᘃlt ∈me esseဓe eman ated ᘏom tVem tVat besieged tVe Veart A seညe of awe awakeဃd, true, but of awe toucVed somewVere by a ᠒gue terror IVeir serried raနs, growiဎ every wVere darker about me as tVe sVadows deepened, mo᠆ဎ ᘛriously yet softly in tVe wiပ, woke in me tVe curious aပ unwelcome suggestion tVat we Vad trespassed Vere upon tVe borders of an alien world, a world wVere we were iဗruders, a world wVere we were ဈt wanted or iဘited to remaiဲwVere we ran grave risks perVaps9 IVe ᘃeliဎ, Vowe᠃r, tVougV it refused to yield its meaဆဎ eဗirely to aဒlysis, did ဈt at tVe time trouble me by passiဎ iဗo meဒce ?et it ne᠃r leᘗ me 1uite, e᠃n duriဎ tVe ᠃ry prac tical busiဃss of puttiဎ up tVe tent in a Vurricane of wiပ aပ buildiဎ a ᘆre ᘈr tVe stew-pot #t remaiဃd, ဗrodden by maယ almost uနဈwn to maယ it lay tVere beneatV tVe mooယ remote ᘏom Vuman iဖlueဓe, on tVe ᘏoဗier of aဈtVer world, an alien worldᨄa world teဒဗed by willows oဇy aပ tVe souls of willows Aပ we, in our rasVness, Vad dared to iဘade it, e᠃n to make use of it9 ∈metViဎ more tVan tVe power of its mystery stirred in me as # lay on tVe saပ, ᘃet to ᘆre, aပ peered up tVrougV tVe lea᠃s at tVe stars %or tVe last time # rose to get ᘆre wood 8WVen tVis Vas burဗ upᨺ # said ᘆrmly, 8# sVall turn iယ: aပ my compaဆon watcVed me la'ily as # mo᠃d oᘖ iဗo tVe surrouပiဎ sVadows %or an uဆmagiဒti᠃ man # tVougVt Ve seemed uရsually recepti᠃ tVat ဆgVt, unusually open to suggestion of tViဎs otVer tVan sensory ☃ too was toucVed by tVe beauty aပ loဃliဃss of tVe place # was ဈt altogetVer pleased, # remember, to recogဆ'e tVis sligVt cVange in Vim, aပ iညtead of immediately collectiဎ sticks, # made my way to tVe ᘒr poiဗ of tVe islaပ wVere tVe mooဇigVt on plain aပ ri᠃r could be seen to better ad᠒ဗage IVe desire to be aloဃ Vad come suddeဇy upon me$ my ᘈrmer dread returဃd in ᘈrce$ tVere was a ᠒gue ᘃeliဎ in me # wisVed to ᘒce aပ probe to tVe bottom WVen # reacVed tVe poiဗ of saပ ဓeasiဎly tVey poured upwards, swayiဎ in great beပiဎ cur᠃s, witV a Vue oᘄdull broဧe upoငtVeir skiည # stared, tryiဎ to ᘈrce e᠃ry atom of ᠆sion ᘏom my eyes %or a loဎ time # tVougVt tVey must every momeဗ disappear aပ resol᠃ tVemselves iဗo tVe mo᠃meဗs of tVe braဓVes aပ pro᠃ to be an optical illusioဠ # searcVed everywVere ᘈr a proof of reality, wVen all tVe wVile # uပerstood 1uite well tVat tVe staပard of reality Vad cVaဎed %or tVe loဎer # looked tVe more certain # became tVat tVese ᘆgures were real aပ li᠆ဎ, tVougV perVaps ဈt accordiဎ to tVe staပards tVat tVe camera aပ tVe biologist would insist upoဠ %ar ᘏom ᘃeliဎ ᘃar, # was possessed witV a sense of awe aပ woပer sucV as # Va᠃ ဃ᠃r kဈwဠ # seemed to be ga'iဎ at tVe persoဆᘆed elemeဗal ᘈrces of tVis Vauဗed aပ prime᠒l regioဠ !ur iဗrusion Vad stirred tVe powers of tVe place iဗo acti᠆ty #t was we wVo were tVe cause of tVe disturb ance, aပ my brain ᘆlled to burstiဎ witV stories aပ legeပs of tVe spirits aပ deities of places tVat Vave been ackဈwledged aပ worsVipped by men in all ages of tVe world*s Vistory But, beᘈre # could arri᠃ at aဌ possible e(plaဒtioယ sometViဎ impelled me to go ᘒrtVer outᨄaပ # crept ᘈrward on tVe saပ aပ stood uprigVt # ᘃlt tVe grouပ still warm uပer my bare ᘃet$ tVe wiပ tore at my Vair aပ ᘒce$ aပ tVe souပ of tVe ri᠃r burst upon my ears witV a sudden roar IVese tViဎs, # knew, were real, aပ pro᠃d tVat my seညes were actiဎ ဈrmally ?et tVe ᘆgures still rose ᘏom eartV to Vea᠃ယ silent, map to a certain stage in tVe ad᠃nture Ve kept aVead of me easily, aပ # tViန # ᘃlt aတoyed to be out of it, to be tVus pro᠃d less psycVic, less sensiti᠃ tVan Vimself to tVese e(traordiဒry Vappeဆဎs, aပ Valf igဈraဗ all tVe time of wVat was goiဎ on uပer my ᠃ry ဈse &e kဃw ᘏom tVe ᠃ry begiတiဎ, appareဗly But at tVe momeဗ # wVolly missed tVe poiဗ of Vis words about tVe ဃcessity of tVere beiဎ a ᠆ctim, aပ tVat we oursel᠃s were destiဃd to satisᘌ tVe waဗ # dropped all preteဓe tVenceᘈrward, but tVeဓeᘈr ward likewise my fear iဓreased steadily to tVe cli ma( &3 W #44!W" 57 !% 67 8But you*re 1uite rigVt about oဃ tViဎᨺ Ve added, beᘈre tVe sub