Rather will I sit in a tub under a closed heaven,
rather will I sit in the abyss without heaven, than
see thee, thou luminous heaven, tainted with passing
clouds !
rather will I sit in the abyss without heaven, than
see thee, thou luminous heaven, tainted with passing
clouds !
Nietzsche - v11 - Thus Spake Zarathustra
My thoughts
ran back. Yes! When I was a child, in my most
distant childhood:
—Then did I hear a dog howl thus. And saw
it also, with hair bristling, its head upwards,
trembling in the stilliest midnight, when even dogs
believe in ghosts:
## p. 192 (#278) ############################################
192
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
-So that it excited my commiseration. For just
then went the full moon, silent as death, over the
house; just then did it stand still, a glowing globe
-at rest on the flat roof, as if on some one's
property :-
Thereby had the dog been terrified : for dogs
believe in thieves and ghosts. And when I again
heard such howling, then did it excite my com-
miseration once more.
Where was now the dwarf? And the gateway?
And the spider? And all the whispering ? Had
I dreamt? Had I awakened? 'Twixt rugged
rocks did I suddenly stand alone, dreary in the
dreariest moonlight.
But there lay a man! And there! The dog
leaping, bristling, whining—now did it see me
coming—then did it howl again, then did it cry :-
had I ever heard a dog cry so for help?
And verily, what I saw, the like had I never seen.
A young shepherd did I see, writhing, choking,
quivering, with distorted countenance, and with a
heavy black serpent hanging out of his mouth.
Had I ever seen so much loathing and pale horror
on one countenance ? He had perhaps gone to
sleep? Then had the serpent crawled into his
throat-there had it bitten itself fast.
My hand pulled at the serpent, and pulled :—in
vain! I failed to pull the serpent out of his
throat. Then there cried out of me: “Bite! Bite!
Its head off! Bite! ”—so cried it out of me;
my horror, my hatred, my loathing, my pity, all
my good and my bad cried with one voice out
of me. -
## p. 193 (#279) ############################################
XLVI. —THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA. 193
Ye daring ones around me! Ye venturers and
adventurers, and whoever of you hath embarked
with cunning sails on unexplored seas! Ye
enigma-enjoyers !
Solve unto me the enigma that I then beheld,
interpret unto me the vision of the lonesomest one !
For it was a vision and a foresight :—what did
I then behold in parable? And who is it that
must come some day?
Who is the shepherd into whose throat the
serpent thus crawled? Who is the man into whose
throat all the heaviest and blackest will thus crawl?
- The shepherd however bit as my cry had
admonished him; he bit with a strong bite! Far
away did he spit the head of the serpent—; and
sprang up. -
No longer shepherd, no longer man— a trans-
figured being, a light-surrounded being, that
laughed! Never on earth laughed a man as he
laughed !
O my brethren, I heard a laughter which was h
no human laughter,--and now gnaweth a thirst
at me, a longing that is never allayed.
My longing for that laughter gnaweth at me:
oh, how can I still endure to live! And how could
I endure to die at present ! -
Thus spake Zarathustra.
XLVII. -INVOLUNTARY BLISS.
With such enigmas and bitterness in his heart
did Zarathustra sail o'er the sea. When, however,
## p. 194 (#280) ############################################
194 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
he was four day-journeys from the Happy Isles
and from his friends, then had he surmounted all
his pain—: triumphantly and with firm foot did he
again accept his fate. And then talked Zarathustra
in this wise to his exulting conscience:
Alone am I again, and like to be so, alone
with the pure heaven, and the open sea; and again
is the afternoon around me.
On an afternoon did I find my friends for the
first time; on an afternoon, also, did I find them a
second time :—at the hour when all light becometh
stiller.
For whatever happiness is still on its way 'twixt
heaven and earth, now seeketh for lodging a
luminous soul: with happiness hath all light now
become stiller.
O afternoon of my life! Once did my happi-
ness also descend to the valley that it might seek
a lodging: then did it find those open hospitable
souls.
O afternoon of my life! What did I not sur-
render that I might have one thing: this living
plantation of my thoughts, and this dawn of my
highest hope!
Companions did the creating one once seek, and
children of his hope: and lo, it turned out that he
could not find them, except he himself should first
create them.
Thus am I in the midst of my work, to my
children going, and from them returning: for the
sake of his children must Zarathustra perfect
himself.
## p. 195 (#281) ############################################
XLVII. -INVOLUNTARY BLISS.
195
For in one's heart one loveth only one's child
and one's work; and where there is great love to
oneself, then is it the sign of pregnancy: so have I
found it.
Still are my children verdant in their first spring,
standing nigh one another, and shaken in common
by the winds, the trees of my garden and of my
best soil.
And verily, where such trees stand beside one
another, there are Happy Isles !
But one day will I take them up, and put each
by itself alone : that it may learn lonesomeness
and defiance and prudence.
Gnarled and crooked and with flexible hardness
shall it then stand by the sea, a living lighthouse
of unconquerable life.
Yonder where the storms rush down into the
sea, and the snout of the mountain drinketh water,
shall each on a time have his day and night
watches, for his testing and recognition.
Recognised and tested shall each be, to see if he
be of my type and lineage :-if he be master of a
long will, silent even when he speaketh, and giving
in such wise that he taketh in giving :-
-So that he may one day become my com-
panion, a fellow-creator and fellow-enjoyer with
Zarathustra :-such a one as writeth my will on
my tables, for the fuller perfection of all things.
And for his sake and for those like him, must I
perfect myself: therefore do I now avoid my
happiness, and present myself to every misfortune-
for my final testing and recognition.
And verily, it were time that I went away; and
## p. 196 (#282) ############################################
196 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
the wanderer's shadow and the longest tedium and
the stillest hour—have all said unto me: "It is the
highest time! "
The word blew to me through the keyhole and
said "Come! " The door sprang subtlely open
unto me, and said " Go! "
But I lay enchained to my love for my children:
desire spread this snare for me—the desire for love
—that I should become the prey of my children,
and lose myself in them.
Desiring—that is now for me to have lost myself.
I possess you, my children! In this possessing shall
everything be assurance and nothing desire.
But brooding lay the sun of my love upon me,
in his own juice stewed Zarathustra,—then did
shadows and doubts fly past me.
For frost and winter I now longed: "Oh, that
frost and winter would again make me crack and
crunch! " sighed I:—then arose icy mist out of me.
My past burst its tomb, many pains buried alive
woke up—: fully slept had they merely, concealed
in corpse-clothes.
So called everything unto me in signs: "It is
time! " But I—heard not, until at last mine abyss
moved, and my thought bit me.
Ah, abysmal thought, which art my thought!
When shall I find strength to hear thee burrowing,
and no longer tremble?
To my very throat throbbeth my heart when I
hear thee burrowing! Thy muteness even is like
to strangle me, thou abysmal mute one!
As yet have I never ventured to call thee up;
it hath been enough that I—have carried thee
## p. 197 (#283) ############################################
XLVII. -INVOLUNTARY BLISS.
197
about with me! As yet have I not been strong
enough for my final lion-wantonness and play-
fulness.
Sufficiently formidable unto me hath thy weight
ever been : but one day shall I yet find the strength
and the lion's voice which will call thee up!
When I shall have surmounted myself therein,
then will I surmount myself also in that which is
greater; and a victory shall be the seal of my
perfection !
Meanwhile do I sail along on uncertain seas;
chance flattereth me, smooth-tongued chance; for-
ward and backward do I gaze-, still see I no end.
As yet hath the hour of my final struggle not
come to me-or doth it come to me perhaps just
now? Verily, with insidious beauty do sea and
life gaze upon me round about :
O afternoon of my life! O happiness before
eventide! O haven upon high seas! O peace in
uncertainty! How I distrust all of you !
Verily, distrustful am I of your insidious beauty !
Like the lover am I, who distrusteth too sleek
smiling.
As he pusheth the best-beloved before him-
tender even in severity, the jealous one“, so do I
push this blissful hour before me.
Away with thee, thou blissful hour! With thee
hath there come to me an involuntary bliss !
Ready for my severest pain do I here stand :-at
the wrong time hast thou come!
Away with thee, thou blissful hour! Rather
harbour there—with my children! Hasten! and
bless them before eventide with my happiness !
## p. 197 (#284) ############################################
196 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
the wanderer's shadow and the longest tedium and
the stillest hour—have all said unto me: "It is the
highest time! "
The word blew to me through the keyhole and
said "Come! " The door sprang subtlely open
unto me, and said " Go! "
But I lay enchained to my love for my children:
desire spread this snare for me—the desire for love
—that I should become the prey of my children,
and lose myself in them.
Desiring—that is now for me to have lost myself.
I possess you, my children! In this possessing shall
everything be assurance and nothing desire.
But brooding lay the sun of my love upon me,
in his own juice stewed Zarathustra,—then did
shadows and doubts fly past me.
For frost and winter I now longed: "Oh, that
frost and winter would again make me crack and
crunch ! " sighed I:—then arose icy mist out of me.
My past burst its tomb, many pains buried alive
woke up—: fully slept had they merely, concealed
in corpse-clothes.
So called everything unto me in signs: "It is
time! " But I—heard not, until at last mine abyss
moved, and my thought bit me.
Ah, abysmal thought, which art my thought!
When shall I find strength to hear thee burrowing,
and no longer tremble?
To my very throat throbbeth my heart when I
hear thee burrowing! Thy muteness even is like
to strangle me, thou abysmal mute one!
As yet have I never ventured to call thee uf>;
it hath been enough that I—have carried thee
1
## p. 197 (#285) ############################################
XLVII. —INVOLUNTARY BLISS. 197
about with me! As yet have I not been strong
enough for my final lion-wantonness and play-
fulness.
Sufficiently formidable unto me hath thy weight
ever been: but one day shall I yet find the strength
and the lion's voice which will call thee up!
When I shall have surmounted myself therein,
then will I surmount myself also in that which is
greater; and a victory shall be the seal of my
perfection ! —
Meanwhile do I sail along on uncertain seas;
chance flattereth me, smooth-tongued chance; for-
ward and backward do I gaze—, still see I no end.
As yet hath the hour of my final struggle not
come to me—or doth it come to me perhaps just
now? Verily, with insidious beauty do sea and
life gaze upon me round about:
O afternoon of my life! O happiness before
eventide! O haven upon high seas! O peace in
uncertainty! How I distrust all of you!
Verily, distrustful am I of your insidious beauty!
Like the lover am I, who distrusteth too sleek
smiling.
As he pusheth the best-beloved before him—
tender even in severity, the jealous one—, so do I
push this blissful hour before me.
Away with thee, thou blissful hour! With thee
hath there come to me an involuntary bliss!
Ready for my severest pain do I here stand:—at
the wrong time hast thou come!
Away with thee, thou blissful hour! Rather
harbour there—with my children! Hasten! and
bless them before eventide with my happiness!
## p. 198 (#286) ############################################
198
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
There, already approacheth eventide : the sun
sinketh. Away—my happiness !
Thus spake Zarathustra. And he waited for his
misfortune the whole night; but he waited in vain.
The night remained clear and calm, and happiness
itself came nigher and nigher unto him. Towards
morning, however, Zarathustra laughed to his
heart, and said mockingly : “Happiness runneth
after me. That is because I do not run after
women. Happiness, however, is a woman. ”
XLVIII. -BEFORE SUNRISE.
O heaven above me, thou pure, thou deep
heaven! Thou abyss of light! Gazing on thee, I
tremble with divine desires.
Up to thy height to toss myself—that is my
depth! In thy purity to hide myself—that is mine
innocence!
The God veileth his beauty: thus hidest thou
thy stars. Thou speakest not: thus proclaimest
thou thy wisdom unto me.
Mute o'er the raging sea hast thou risen for me
to-day; thy love and thy modesty make a revela-
tion unto my raging soul.
In that thou camest unto me beautiful, veiled in
thy beauty, in that thou spakest unto me mutely,
obvious in thy wisdom:
Oh, how could I fail to divine all the modesty of
thy soul! Before the sun didst thou come unto
me—the lonesomest one.
## p. 199 (#287) ############################################
XLVIII. —BEFORE SUNRISE. 199
We have been friends from the beginning: to us
are grief, gruesomeness, and ground common; even
the sun is common to us.
We do not speak to each other, because we
know too much—: we keep silent to each other, we
smile our knowledge to each other.
Art thou not the light of my fire? Hast thou
not the sister-soul of mine insight?
Together did we learn everything; together did
we learn to ascend beyond ourselves to ourselves,
and to smile uncloudedly :—
—Uncloudedly to smile down out of luminous
eyes and out of miles of distance, when under us
constraint and purpose and guilt steam like rain.
And wandered I alone, for what did my soul
hunger by night and in labyrinthine paths? And
climbed I mountains, whom did I ever seek, if not
thee, upon mountains?
And all my wandering and mountain-climbing:
a necessity was it merely, and a makeshift of the
unhandy one:—\o fly only, wanteth my entire will,
to fly into thee!
And what have I hated more than passing clouds,
and whatever tainteth thee? And mine own hatred
have I even hated, because it tainted thee!
The passing clouds I detest—those stealthy cats
of prey: they take from thee and me what is
common to us—the vast unbounded Yea- and
Amen-saying.
These mediators and mixers we detest—the
passing clouds: those half-and-half ones, that have
neither learned to bless nor to curse from the
heart.
## p. 200 (#288) ############################################
200
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
Rather will I sit in a tub under a closed heaven,
rather will I sit in the abyss without heaven, than
see thee, thou luminous heaven, tainted with passing
clouds !
And oft have I longed to pin them fast with the
jagged gold-wires of lightning, that I might, like
the thunder, beat the drum upon their kettle-
bellies :-
-An angry drummer, because they rob me of
thy Yea and Amen ! —thou heaven above me, thou
pure, thou luminous heaven! Thou abyss of
light ! —because they rob thee of my Yea and
Amen.
For rather will I have noise and thunders and
tempest-blasts, than this discreet, doubting cat-
repose; and also amongst men do I hate most of
all the soft-treaders, and half-and-half ones, and
the doubting, hesitating, passing clouds.
And "he who cannot bless shall learn to curse! ”
-this clear teaching dropt unto me from the clear
heaven; this star standeth in my heaven even in
dark nights.
I, however, am a blesser and a Yea-sayer, if thou
be but around me, thou pure, thou luminous
heaven! Thou abyss of light ! -into all abysses do
I then carry my beneficent Yea-saying.
A blesser have I become and a Yea-sayer : and
therefore strove I long and was a striver, that I
might one day get my hands free for blessing.
This, however, is my blessing: to stand above
everything as its own heaven, its round roof, its
azure bell and eternal security: and blessed is he
who thus blesseth !
## p. 201 (#289) ############################################
XLVIII. —BEFORE SUNRISE. 201
For all things are baptized at the font of eternity,
and beyond good and evil ; good and evil them-
selves, however, are but fugitive shadows and damp
afflictions and passing clouds.
Verily, it is a blessing and not a blasphemy when
I teach that "above all things there standeth the
heaven of chance, the heaven of innocence, the
heaven of hazard, the heaven of wantonness. "
"Of Hazard "—that is the oldest nobility in the
world; that gave I back to all things; I emanci-
pated them from bondage under purpose.
This freedom and celestial serenity did I put like
an azure bell above all things, when I taught that
over them and through them, no "eternal will"—
willeth.
This wantonness and folly did I put in place of
that will, when I taught that " In everything there
is one thing impossible—rationality! "
A little reason, to be sure, a germ of wisdom
scattered from star to star—this leaven is mixed in
all things: for the sake of folly, wisdom is mixed
in all things!
A little wisdom is indeed possible; but this
blessed security have I found in all things, that
they prefer—to dance on the feet of chance.
O heaven above me! thou pure, thou lofty
heaven! This is now thy purity unto me, that
there is no eternal reason-spider and reason-
cobweb :—
—That thou art to me a dancing-floor for divine
chances, that thou art to me a table of the Gods,
for divine dice and dice-players ! —
But thou blushest? Have I spoken unspeakable
## p. 202 (#290) ############################################
202
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
things? Have I abused, when I meant to bless
thee?
Or is it the shame of being two of us that
maketh thee blush ! —Dost thou bid me go and be
silent, because now-day cometh ?
The world is deep—; and deeper than e'er the
day could read. Not everything may be uttered in
presence of day. But day cometh : so let us part !
O heaven above me, thou modest one! thou
glowing one! O thou, my happiness before sun-
rise! The day cometh : so let us part ! -
Thus spake Zarathustra.
XLIX. —THE BEDWARFING VIRTUE.
1.
When Zarathustra was again on the continent,
he did not go straightway to his mountains and his
cave, but made many wanderings and questionings,
and ascertained this and that; so that he said of
himself jestingly: “Lo, a river that floweth back
unto its source in many windings ! ” For he wanted
to learn what had taken place among men during
the interval : whether they had become greater or
smaller. And once, when he saw a row of new
houses, he marvelled, and said.
“What do these houses mean? Verily, no great
soul put them up as its simile !
Did perhaps a silly child take them out of its
toy-box? Would that another child put them
again into the box!
And these rooms and chambers—can men go out
## p. 203 (#291) ############################################
XLIX. —THE BEDWARFING VIRTUE. 203
and in there? They seem to be made for silk dolls;
or for dainty-eaters, who perhaps let others eat
with them. "
And Zarathustra stood still and meditated. At
last he said sorrowfully: "There hath everything
become smaller!
Everywhere do I see lower doorways: he who
is of my type can still go therethrough, but—he
must stoop!
Oh, when shall I arrive again at my home, where
I shall no longer have to stoop—shall no longer
have to stoop before the small ones I"—And Zara-
thustra sighed, and gazed into the distance. —
The same day, however, he gave his discourse
on the bedwarfing virtue.
2.
I pass through this people and keep mine eyes
open: they do not forgive me for not envying
their virtues.
They bite at me, because I say unto them that
for small people, small virtues are necessary—and
because it is hard for me to understand that small
people are necessary!
Here am I still like a cock in a strange farm-yard,
at which even the hens peck: but on that account
I am not unfriendly to the hens.
I am courteous towards them, as towards all small
annoyances; to be prickly towards what is small,
seemeth to me wisdom for hedgehogs.
They all speak of me when they sit around their
fire in the evening—they speak of me, but no one
thinketh—of me!
## p. 204 (#292) ############################################
204 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
This is the new stillness which I have experi-
enced: their noise around me spreadeth a mantle
over my thoughts.
They shout to one another: "What is this gloomy
cloud about to do to us? Let us see that it doth
not bring a plague upon us! "
And recently did a woman seize upon her child
that was coming unto me: "Take the children
away," cried she," such eyes scorch children's souls. "
They cough when I speak: they think coughing
an objection to strong winds—they divine nothing
of the boisterousness of my happiness!
"We have not yet time for Zarathustra"—so
they object; but what matter about a time that
"hath no time" for Zarathustra?
And if they should altogether praise me, how
could I go to sleep on their praise? A girdle of
spines is their praise unto me: it scratcheth me
even when I take it off.
And this also did I learn among them: the
praiser doeth as if he gave back; in truth, however,
he wanteth more to be given him!
Ask my foot if their lauding and luring strains
please it! Verily, to such measure and ticktack,
it liketh neither to dance nor to stand still.
To small virtues would they fain lure and laud
me; to the ticktack of small happiness would they
fain persuade my foot.
I pass through this people and keep mine eyes
open: they have become smaller, and ever become
smaller :—the reason thereof is their doctrine of happi-
ness and virtue.
For they are moderate also in virtue,—because
## p. 205 (#293) ############################################
XLIX. —THE BEDWARFING VIRTUE. 205
they want comfort. With comfort, however, mode-
rate virtue only is compatible.
To be sure, they also learn in their way to stride
and stride forward: that, I call their hobbling. —
Thereby do they become a hindrance to all who
are in haste.
And many of them go forward, and look back-
wards thereby, with stiffened necks: those do I like
to run up against.
Foot and eye shall not lie, nor give the lie to
each other. But there is much lying among small
people.
Some of them will, but most of them are willed.
Some of them are genuine, but most of them are
bad actors.
There are actors without knowing it amongst
them, and actors without intending it—, the genuine
ones are always rare, especially the genuine actors.
Of man there is little here: therefore do their
women masculinise themselves. For only he who
is man enough, will—save the woman in woman.
And this hypocrisy found I worst amongst them,
that even those who command feign the virtues of
those who serve.
"I serve, thou servest, we serve "—so chanteth
here even the hypocrisy of the rulers—and alas!
if the first lord be only the first servant!
Ah, even upon their hypocrisy did mine eyes'
curiosity alight; and well did I divine all their fly-
happiness, and their buzzing around sunny window-
panes.
So much kindness, so much weakness do I see.
So much justice and pity, so much weakness.
## p. 206 (#294) ############################################
206 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
Round, fair, and considerate are they to one
another, as grains of sand are round, fair, and
considerate to grains of sand.
Modestly to embrace' a small happiness—that
do they call "submission"! and at the same time
they peer modestly after a new small happiness.
In their hearts they want simply one thing most
of all: that no one hurt them. Thus do they
anticipate every one's wishes and do well unto
every one.
That, however, is cowardice, though it be called
"virtue. "—
And when they chance to speak harshly, those
small people, then do / hear therein only their
hoarseness—every draught of air maketh them
hoarse.
Shrewd indeed are they, their virtues have shrewd
fingers. But they lack fists: their fingers do not
know how to creep behind fists.
Virtue for them is what maketh modest and
tame: therewith have they made the wolf a dog,
and man himself man's best domestic animal.
"We set our chair in the midst"—so saith their
smirking unto me—"and as far from dying
gladiators as from satisfied swine. "
That, however, is—mediocrity, though it be called
moderation. —
3-
I pass through this people and let fall many
words: but they know neither how to take nor
how to retain them.
They wonder why I came not to revile venery
## p. 207 (#295) ############################################
XLIX. —THE BEDWARFING VIRTUE.
207
and vice; and verily, I came not to warn against
pickpockets either!
They wonder why I am not ready to abet and
whet their wisdom : as if they had not yet enough
of wiseacres, whose voices grate on mine ear like
slate-pencils !
And when I call out: “Curse all the cowardly
devils in you, that would fain whimper and fold the
hands and adore "—then do they shout: “Zara-
thustra is godless. "
And especially do their teachers of submission
shout this ;—but precisely in their ears do I love to
cry: “Yea! I am Zarathustra, the godless ! ”
Those teachers of submission! Wherever there
is aught puny, or sickly, or scabby, there do they
creep like lice; and only my disgust preventeth me
from cracking them.
Well! This is my sermon for their ears: I am
Zarathustra the godless, who saith: “Who is more
godless than I, that I may enjoy his teaching? "
I am Zarathustra the godless : where do I find
mine equal ? And all those are mine equals who
give unto themselves their Will, and divest them-
selves of all submission.
I am Zarathustra the godless! I cook every
chance in my pot. And only when it hath been
quite cooked do I welcome it as my food.
And verily, many a chance came imperiously unto
me: but still more imperiously did my Will speak
unto it,—then did it lie imploringly upon its knees-
- Imploring that it might find home and heart
with me, and saying flatteringly: "See, O Zara-
thustra, how friend only cometh unto friend ! "-
## p. 208 (#296) ############################################
208 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
But why talk I, when no one hath mine ears!
And so will I shout it out unto all the winds:
Ye ever become smaller, ye small people! Ye
crumble away, ye comfortable ones! Ye will yet
perish—
—By your many small virtues, by your many
small omissions, and by your many small sub-
missions!
Too tender, too yielding: so is your soil! But
for a tree to become great, it seeketh to twine hard
roots around hard rocks!
Also what ye omit weaveth at the web of all the
human future; even your naught is a cobweb, and
a spider that liveth on the blood of the future.
And when ye take, then is it like stealing, ye
small virtuous ones; but even among knaves
honour saith that "one shall only steal when one
cannot rob. "
"It giveth itself"—that is also a doctrine of sub-
mission. But I say unto you, ye comfortable ones>
that it taketh to itself, and will ever take more and
more from you!
Ah, that ye would renounce all naif-willing, and
would decide for idleness as ye decide for action!
Ah, that ye understood my word: "Do ever
what ye will—but first be such as can will.
Love ever your neighbour as yourselves—but
first be such as love themselves—
—Such as love with great love, such as love
with great contempt! " Thus speaketh Zarathustra
the godless. —
But why talk I, when no one hath mine ears!
It is still an hour too early for me here.
## p. 209 (#297) ############################################
XLIX. -THE BEDWARFING VIRTUE.
209
Mine own forerunner am I among this people,
mine own cockcrow in dark lanes.
But their hour cometh! And there cometh also
mine! Hourly do they become smaller, poorer,
unfruitfuller,-poor herbs! poor earth !
And soon shall they stand before me like dry
grass and prairie, and verily, weary of themselves-
and panting for fire, more than for water !
O blessed hour of the lightning! O mystery
before noontide ! -Running fires will I one day
make of them, and heralds with flaming tongues :-
-Herald shall they one day with flaming tongues :
It cometh, it is nigh, the great noontide !
Thus spake Zarathustra.
L. -ON THE OLIVE-MOUNT.
Winter, a bad guest, sitteth with me at home;
blue are my hands with his friendly hand-shaking.
I honour him, that bad guest, but gladly leave
him alone. Gladly do I run away from him; and
when one runneth well, then one escapeth him !
With warm feet and warm thoughts do I run
where the wind is calm--to the sunny corner of
mine olive-mount.
There do I laugh at my stern guest, and am still
fond of him; because he cleareth my house of flies,
and quieteth many little noises.
For he suffereth it not if a gnat wanteth to buzz,
or even two of them; also the lanes maketh he
lonesome, so that the moonlight is afraid there at
night.
## p. 210 (#298) ############################################
210
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
A hard guest is he,—but I honour him, and do
not worship, like the tenderlings, the pot-bellied
fire-idol.
Better even a little teeth-chattering than idol-
adoration ! —so willeth my nature. And especi-
ally have I a grudge against all ardent, steaming,
steamy fire-idols.
Him whom I love, I love better in winter than in
summer; better do I now mock at mine enemies,
and more heartily, when winter sitteth in my
house.
Heartily, verily, even when I creep into bed—:
there, still laugheth and wantoneth my hidden hap-
piness; even my deceptive dream laugheth.
I, a-creeper? Never in my life did I creep before
the powerful; and if ever I lied, then did I lie out
of love. Therefore am I glad even in my winter-
bed.
A poor bed warmeth me more than a rich one,
for I am jealous of my poverty. And in winter she
is most faithful unto me.
With a wickedness do I begin every day: I mock
at the winter with a cold bath: on that account
grumbleth my stern house-mate.
Also do I like to tickle him with a wax-taper,
that he may finally let the heavens emerge from
ashy-grey twilight.
For especially wicked am I in the morning : at
the early hour when the pail rattleth at the well,
and horses neigh warmly in grey lanes :-
Impatiently do I then wait, that the clear sky
may finally dawn for me, the snow-bearded winter-
sky, the hoary one, the white-head,
## p. 211 (#299) ############################################
L. -ON THE OLIVE-MOUNT.
211
-The winter-sky, the silent winter-sky, which
often stifleth even its sun! .
Did I perhaps learn from it the long clear silence ?
Or did it learn it from me? Or hath each of us
devised it himself? .
Of all good things the origin is a thousandfold, -
all good roguish things spring into existence for
joy: how could they always do so—for once only!
A good roguish thing is also the long silence,
and to look, like the winter-sky, out of a clear,
round-eyed countenance :-
-Like it to stifle one's sun, and one's inflexible
solar will : verily, this art and this winter-roguish-
ness have I learnt well!
ran back. Yes! When I was a child, in my most
distant childhood:
—Then did I hear a dog howl thus. And saw
it also, with hair bristling, its head upwards,
trembling in the stilliest midnight, when even dogs
believe in ghosts:
## p. 192 (#278) ############################################
192
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
-So that it excited my commiseration. For just
then went the full moon, silent as death, over the
house; just then did it stand still, a glowing globe
-at rest on the flat roof, as if on some one's
property :-
Thereby had the dog been terrified : for dogs
believe in thieves and ghosts. And when I again
heard such howling, then did it excite my com-
miseration once more.
Where was now the dwarf? And the gateway?
And the spider? And all the whispering ? Had
I dreamt? Had I awakened? 'Twixt rugged
rocks did I suddenly stand alone, dreary in the
dreariest moonlight.
But there lay a man! And there! The dog
leaping, bristling, whining—now did it see me
coming—then did it howl again, then did it cry :-
had I ever heard a dog cry so for help?
And verily, what I saw, the like had I never seen.
A young shepherd did I see, writhing, choking,
quivering, with distorted countenance, and with a
heavy black serpent hanging out of his mouth.
Had I ever seen so much loathing and pale horror
on one countenance ? He had perhaps gone to
sleep? Then had the serpent crawled into his
throat-there had it bitten itself fast.
My hand pulled at the serpent, and pulled :—in
vain! I failed to pull the serpent out of his
throat. Then there cried out of me: “Bite! Bite!
Its head off! Bite! ”—so cried it out of me;
my horror, my hatred, my loathing, my pity, all
my good and my bad cried with one voice out
of me. -
## p. 193 (#279) ############################################
XLVI. —THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA. 193
Ye daring ones around me! Ye venturers and
adventurers, and whoever of you hath embarked
with cunning sails on unexplored seas! Ye
enigma-enjoyers !
Solve unto me the enigma that I then beheld,
interpret unto me the vision of the lonesomest one !
For it was a vision and a foresight :—what did
I then behold in parable? And who is it that
must come some day?
Who is the shepherd into whose throat the
serpent thus crawled? Who is the man into whose
throat all the heaviest and blackest will thus crawl?
- The shepherd however bit as my cry had
admonished him; he bit with a strong bite! Far
away did he spit the head of the serpent—; and
sprang up. -
No longer shepherd, no longer man— a trans-
figured being, a light-surrounded being, that
laughed! Never on earth laughed a man as he
laughed !
O my brethren, I heard a laughter which was h
no human laughter,--and now gnaweth a thirst
at me, a longing that is never allayed.
My longing for that laughter gnaweth at me:
oh, how can I still endure to live! And how could
I endure to die at present ! -
Thus spake Zarathustra.
XLVII. -INVOLUNTARY BLISS.
With such enigmas and bitterness in his heart
did Zarathustra sail o'er the sea. When, however,
## p. 194 (#280) ############################################
194 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
he was four day-journeys from the Happy Isles
and from his friends, then had he surmounted all
his pain—: triumphantly and with firm foot did he
again accept his fate. And then talked Zarathustra
in this wise to his exulting conscience:
Alone am I again, and like to be so, alone
with the pure heaven, and the open sea; and again
is the afternoon around me.
On an afternoon did I find my friends for the
first time; on an afternoon, also, did I find them a
second time :—at the hour when all light becometh
stiller.
For whatever happiness is still on its way 'twixt
heaven and earth, now seeketh for lodging a
luminous soul: with happiness hath all light now
become stiller.
O afternoon of my life! Once did my happi-
ness also descend to the valley that it might seek
a lodging: then did it find those open hospitable
souls.
O afternoon of my life! What did I not sur-
render that I might have one thing: this living
plantation of my thoughts, and this dawn of my
highest hope!
Companions did the creating one once seek, and
children of his hope: and lo, it turned out that he
could not find them, except he himself should first
create them.
Thus am I in the midst of my work, to my
children going, and from them returning: for the
sake of his children must Zarathustra perfect
himself.
## p. 195 (#281) ############################################
XLVII. -INVOLUNTARY BLISS.
195
For in one's heart one loveth only one's child
and one's work; and where there is great love to
oneself, then is it the sign of pregnancy: so have I
found it.
Still are my children verdant in their first spring,
standing nigh one another, and shaken in common
by the winds, the trees of my garden and of my
best soil.
And verily, where such trees stand beside one
another, there are Happy Isles !
But one day will I take them up, and put each
by itself alone : that it may learn lonesomeness
and defiance and prudence.
Gnarled and crooked and with flexible hardness
shall it then stand by the sea, a living lighthouse
of unconquerable life.
Yonder where the storms rush down into the
sea, and the snout of the mountain drinketh water,
shall each on a time have his day and night
watches, for his testing and recognition.
Recognised and tested shall each be, to see if he
be of my type and lineage :-if he be master of a
long will, silent even when he speaketh, and giving
in such wise that he taketh in giving :-
-So that he may one day become my com-
panion, a fellow-creator and fellow-enjoyer with
Zarathustra :-such a one as writeth my will on
my tables, for the fuller perfection of all things.
And for his sake and for those like him, must I
perfect myself: therefore do I now avoid my
happiness, and present myself to every misfortune-
for my final testing and recognition.
And verily, it were time that I went away; and
## p. 196 (#282) ############################################
196 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
the wanderer's shadow and the longest tedium and
the stillest hour—have all said unto me: "It is the
highest time! "
The word blew to me through the keyhole and
said "Come! " The door sprang subtlely open
unto me, and said " Go! "
But I lay enchained to my love for my children:
desire spread this snare for me—the desire for love
—that I should become the prey of my children,
and lose myself in them.
Desiring—that is now for me to have lost myself.
I possess you, my children! In this possessing shall
everything be assurance and nothing desire.
But brooding lay the sun of my love upon me,
in his own juice stewed Zarathustra,—then did
shadows and doubts fly past me.
For frost and winter I now longed: "Oh, that
frost and winter would again make me crack and
crunch! " sighed I:—then arose icy mist out of me.
My past burst its tomb, many pains buried alive
woke up—: fully slept had they merely, concealed
in corpse-clothes.
So called everything unto me in signs: "It is
time! " But I—heard not, until at last mine abyss
moved, and my thought bit me.
Ah, abysmal thought, which art my thought!
When shall I find strength to hear thee burrowing,
and no longer tremble?
To my very throat throbbeth my heart when I
hear thee burrowing! Thy muteness even is like
to strangle me, thou abysmal mute one!
As yet have I never ventured to call thee up;
it hath been enough that I—have carried thee
## p. 197 (#283) ############################################
XLVII. -INVOLUNTARY BLISS.
197
about with me! As yet have I not been strong
enough for my final lion-wantonness and play-
fulness.
Sufficiently formidable unto me hath thy weight
ever been : but one day shall I yet find the strength
and the lion's voice which will call thee up!
When I shall have surmounted myself therein,
then will I surmount myself also in that which is
greater; and a victory shall be the seal of my
perfection !
Meanwhile do I sail along on uncertain seas;
chance flattereth me, smooth-tongued chance; for-
ward and backward do I gaze-, still see I no end.
As yet hath the hour of my final struggle not
come to me-or doth it come to me perhaps just
now? Verily, with insidious beauty do sea and
life gaze upon me round about :
O afternoon of my life! O happiness before
eventide! O haven upon high seas! O peace in
uncertainty! How I distrust all of you !
Verily, distrustful am I of your insidious beauty !
Like the lover am I, who distrusteth too sleek
smiling.
As he pusheth the best-beloved before him-
tender even in severity, the jealous one“, so do I
push this blissful hour before me.
Away with thee, thou blissful hour! With thee
hath there come to me an involuntary bliss !
Ready for my severest pain do I here stand :-at
the wrong time hast thou come!
Away with thee, thou blissful hour! Rather
harbour there—with my children! Hasten! and
bless them before eventide with my happiness !
## p. 197 (#284) ############################################
196 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
the wanderer's shadow and the longest tedium and
the stillest hour—have all said unto me: "It is the
highest time! "
The word blew to me through the keyhole and
said "Come! " The door sprang subtlely open
unto me, and said " Go! "
But I lay enchained to my love for my children:
desire spread this snare for me—the desire for love
—that I should become the prey of my children,
and lose myself in them.
Desiring—that is now for me to have lost myself.
I possess you, my children! In this possessing shall
everything be assurance and nothing desire.
But brooding lay the sun of my love upon me,
in his own juice stewed Zarathustra,—then did
shadows and doubts fly past me.
For frost and winter I now longed: "Oh, that
frost and winter would again make me crack and
crunch ! " sighed I:—then arose icy mist out of me.
My past burst its tomb, many pains buried alive
woke up—: fully slept had they merely, concealed
in corpse-clothes.
So called everything unto me in signs: "It is
time! " But I—heard not, until at last mine abyss
moved, and my thought bit me.
Ah, abysmal thought, which art my thought!
When shall I find strength to hear thee burrowing,
and no longer tremble?
To my very throat throbbeth my heart when I
hear thee burrowing! Thy muteness even is like
to strangle me, thou abysmal mute one!
As yet have I never ventured to call thee uf>;
it hath been enough that I—have carried thee
1
## p. 197 (#285) ############################################
XLVII. —INVOLUNTARY BLISS. 197
about with me! As yet have I not been strong
enough for my final lion-wantonness and play-
fulness.
Sufficiently formidable unto me hath thy weight
ever been: but one day shall I yet find the strength
and the lion's voice which will call thee up!
When I shall have surmounted myself therein,
then will I surmount myself also in that which is
greater; and a victory shall be the seal of my
perfection ! —
Meanwhile do I sail along on uncertain seas;
chance flattereth me, smooth-tongued chance; for-
ward and backward do I gaze—, still see I no end.
As yet hath the hour of my final struggle not
come to me—or doth it come to me perhaps just
now? Verily, with insidious beauty do sea and
life gaze upon me round about:
O afternoon of my life! O happiness before
eventide! O haven upon high seas! O peace in
uncertainty! How I distrust all of you!
Verily, distrustful am I of your insidious beauty!
Like the lover am I, who distrusteth too sleek
smiling.
As he pusheth the best-beloved before him—
tender even in severity, the jealous one—, so do I
push this blissful hour before me.
Away with thee, thou blissful hour! With thee
hath there come to me an involuntary bliss!
Ready for my severest pain do I here stand:—at
the wrong time hast thou come!
Away with thee, thou blissful hour! Rather
harbour there—with my children! Hasten! and
bless them before eventide with my happiness!
## p. 198 (#286) ############################################
198
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
There, already approacheth eventide : the sun
sinketh. Away—my happiness !
Thus spake Zarathustra. And he waited for his
misfortune the whole night; but he waited in vain.
The night remained clear and calm, and happiness
itself came nigher and nigher unto him. Towards
morning, however, Zarathustra laughed to his
heart, and said mockingly : “Happiness runneth
after me. That is because I do not run after
women. Happiness, however, is a woman. ”
XLVIII. -BEFORE SUNRISE.
O heaven above me, thou pure, thou deep
heaven! Thou abyss of light! Gazing on thee, I
tremble with divine desires.
Up to thy height to toss myself—that is my
depth! In thy purity to hide myself—that is mine
innocence!
The God veileth his beauty: thus hidest thou
thy stars. Thou speakest not: thus proclaimest
thou thy wisdom unto me.
Mute o'er the raging sea hast thou risen for me
to-day; thy love and thy modesty make a revela-
tion unto my raging soul.
In that thou camest unto me beautiful, veiled in
thy beauty, in that thou spakest unto me mutely,
obvious in thy wisdom:
Oh, how could I fail to divine all the modesty of
thy soul! Before the sun didst thou come unto
me—the lonesomest one.
## p. 199 (#287) ############################################
XLVIII. —BEFORE SUNRISE. 199
We have been friends from the beginning: to us
are grief, gruesomeness, and ground common; even
the sun is common to us.
We do not speak to each other, because we
know too much—: we keep silent to each other, we
smile our knowledge to each other.
Art thou not the light of my fire? Hast thou
not the sister-soul of mine insight?
Together did we learn everything; together did
we learn to ascend beyond ourselves to ourselves,
and to smile uncloudedly :—
—Uncloudedly to smile down out of luminous
eyes and out of miles of distance, when under us
constraint and purpose and guilt steam like rain.
And wandered I alone, for what did my soul
hunger by night and in labyrinthine paths? And
climbed I mountains, whom did I ever seek, if not
thee, upon mountains?
And all my wandering and mountain-climbing:
a necessity was it merely, and a makeshift of the
unhandy one:—\o fly only, wanteth my entire will,
to fly into thee!
And what have I hated more than passing clouds,
and whatever tainteth thee? And mine own hatred
have I even hated, because it tainted thee!
The passing clouds I detest—those stealthy cats
of prey: they take from thee and me what is
common to us—the vast unbounded Yea- and
Amen-saying.
These mediators and mixers we detest—the
passing clouds: those half-and-half ones, that have
neither learned to bless nor to curse from the
heart.
## p. 200 (#288) ############################################
200
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
Rather will I sit in a tub under a closed heaven,
rather will I sit in the abyss without heaven, than
see thee, thou luminous heaven, tainted with passing
clouds !
And oft have I longed to pin them fast with the
jagged gold-wires of lightning, that I might, like
the thunder, beat the drum upon their kettle-
bellies :-
-An angry drummer, because they rob me of
thy Yea and Amen ! —thou heaven above me, thou
pure, thou luminous heaven! Thou abyss of
light ! —because they rob thee of my Yea and
Amen.
For rather will I have noise and thunders and
tempest-blasts, than this discreet, doubting cat-
repose; and also amongst men do I hate most of
all the soft-treaders, and half-and-half ones, and
the doubting, hesitating, passing clouds.
And "he who cannot bless shall learn to curse! ”
-this clear teaching dropt unto me from the clear
heaven; this star standeth in my heaven even in
dark nights.
I, however, am a blesser and a Yea-sayer, if thou
be but around me, thou pure, thou luminous
heaven! Thou abyss of light ! -into all abysses do
I then carry my beneficent Yea-saying.
A blesser have I become and a Yea-sayer : and
therefore strove I long and was a striver, that I
might one day get my hands free for blessing.
This, however, is my blessing: to stand above
everything as its own heaven, its round roof, its
azure bell and eternal security: and blessed is he
who thus blesseth !
## p. 201 (#289) ############################################
XLVIII. —BEFORE SUNRISE. 201
For all things are baptized at the font of eternity,
and beyond good and evil ; good and evil them-
selves, however, are but fugitive shadows and damp
afflictions and passing clouds.
Verily, it is a blessing and not a blasphemy when
I teach that "above all things there standeth the
heaven of chance, the heaven of innocence, the
heaven of hazard, the heaven of wantonness. "
"Of Hazard "—that is the oldest nobility in the
world; that gave I back to all things; I emanci-
pated them from bondage under purpose.
This freedom and celestial serenity did I put like
an azure bell above all things, when I taught that
over them and through them, no "eternal will"—
willeth.
This wantonness and folly did I put in place of
that will, when I taught that " In everything there
is one thing impossible—rationality! "
A little reason, to be sure, a germ of wisdom
scattered from star to star—this leaven is mixed in
all things: for the sake of folly, wisdom is mixed
in all things!
A little wisdom is indeed possible; but this
blessed security have I found in all things, that
they prefer—to dance on the feet of chance.
O heaven above me! thou pure, thou lofty
heaven! This is now thy purity unto me, that
there is no eternal reason-spider and reason-
cobweb :—
—That thou art to me a dancing-floor for divine
chances, that thou art to me a table of the Gods,
for divine dice and dice-players ! —
But thou blushest? Have I spoken unspeakable
## p. 202 (#290) ############################################
202
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
things? Have I abused, when I meant to bless
thee?
Or is it the shame of being two of us that
maketh thee blush ! —Dost thou bid me go and be
silent, because now-day cometh ?
The world is deep—; and deeper than e'er the
day could read. Not everything may be uttered in
presence of day. But day cometh : so let us part !
O heaven above me, thou modest one! thou
glowing one! O thou, my happiness before sun-
rise! The day cometh : so let us part ! -
Thus spake Zarathustra.
XLIX. —THE BEDWARFING VIRTUE.
1.
When Zarathustra was again on the continent,
he did not go straightway to his mountains and his
cave, but made many wanderings and questionings,
and ascertained this and that; so that he said of
himself jestingly: “Lo, a river that floweth back
unto its source in many windings ! ” For he wanted
to learn what had taken place among men during
the interval : whether they had become greater or
smaller. And once, when he saw a row of new
houses, he marvelled, and said.
“What do these houses mean? Verily, no great
soul put them up as its simile !
Did perhaps a silly child take them out of its
toy-box? Would that another child put them
again into the box!
And these rooms and chambers—can men go out
## p. 203 (#291) ############################################
XLIX. —THE BEDWARFING VIRTUE. 203
and in there? They seem to be made for silk dolls;
or for dainty-eaters, who perhaps let others eat
with them. "
And Zarathustra stood still and meditated. At
last he said sorrowfully: "There hath everything
become smaller!
Everywhere do I see lower doorways: he who
is of my type can still go therethrough, but—he
must stoop!
Oh, when shall I arrive again at my home, where
I shall no longer have to stoop—shall no longer
have to stoop before the small ones I"—And Zara-
thustra sighed, and gazed into the distance. —
The same day, however, he gave his discourse
on the bedwarfing virtue.
2.
I pass through this people and keep mine eyes
open: they do not forgive me for not envying
their virtues.
They bite at me, because I say unto them that
for small people, small virtues are necessary—and
because it is hard for me to understand that small
people are necessary!
Here am I still like a cock in a strange farm-yard,
at which even the hens peck: but on that account
I am not unfriendly to the hens.
I am courteous towards them, as towards all small
annoyances; to be prickly towards what is small,
seemeth to me wisdom for hedgehogs.
They all speak of me when they sit around their
fire in the evening—they speak of me, but no one
thinketh—of me!
## p. 204 (#292) ############################################
204 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
This is the new stillness which I have experi-
enced: their noise around me spreadeth a mantle
over my thoughts.
They shout to one another: "What is this gloomy
cloud about to do to us? Let us see that it doth
not bring a plague upon us! "
And recently did a woman seize upon her child
that was coming unto me: "Take the children
away," cried she," such eyes scorch children's souls. "
They cough when I speak: they think coughing
an objection to strong winds—they divine nothing
of the boisterousness of my happiness!
"We have not yet time for Zarathustra"—so
they object; but what matter about a time that
"hath no time" for Zarathustra?
And if they should altogether praise me, how
could I go to sleep on their praise? A girdle of
spines is their praise unto me: it scratcheth me
even when I take it off.
And this also did I learn among them: the
praiser doeth as if he gave back; in truth, however,
he wanteth more to be given him!
Ask my foot if their lauding and luring strains
please it! Verily, to such measure and ticktack,
it liketh neither to dance nor to stand still.
To small virtues would they fain lure and laud
me; to the ticktack of small happiness would they
fain persuade my foot.
I pass through this people and keep mine eyes
open: they have become smaller, and ever become
smaller :—the reason thereof is their doctrine of happi-
ness and virtue.
For they are moderate also in virtue,—because
## p. 205 (#293) ############################################
XLIX. —THE BEDWARFING VIRTUE. 205
they want comfort. With comfort, however, mode-
rate virtue only is compatible.
To be sure, they also learn in their way to stride
and stride forward: that, I call their hobbling. —
Thereby do they become a hindrance to all who
are in haste.
And many of them go forward, and look back-
wards thereby, with stiffened necks: those do I like
to run up against.
Foot and eye shall not lie, nor give the lie to
each other. But there is much lying among small
people.
Some of them will, but most of them are willed.
Some of them are genuine, but most of them are
bad actors.
There are actors without knowing it amongst
them, and actors without intending it—, the genuine
ones are always rare, especially the genuine actors.
Of man there is little here: therefore do their
women masculinise themselves. For only he who
is man enough, will—save the woman in woman.
And this hypocrisy found I worst amongst them,
that even those who command feign the virtues of
those who serve.
"I serve, thou servest, we serve "—so chanteth
here even the hypocrisy of the rulers—and alas!
if the first lord be only the first servant!
Ah, even upon their hypocrisy did mine eyes'
curiosity alight; and well did I divine all their fly-
happiness, and their buzzing around sunny window-
panes.
So much kindness, so much weakness do I see.
So much justice and pity, so much weakness.
## p. 206 (#294) ############################################
206 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
Round, fair, and considerate are they to one
another, as grains of sand are round, fair, and
considerate to grains of sand.
Modestly to embrace' a small happiness—that
do they call "submission"! and at the same time
they peer modestly after a new small happiness.
In their hearts they want simply one thing most
of all: that no one hurt them. Thus do they
anticipate every one's wishes and do well unto
every one.
That, however, is cowardice, though it be called
"virtue. "—
And when they chance to speak harshly, those
small people, then do / hear therein only their
hoarseness—every draught of air maketh them
hoarse.
Shrewd indeed are they, their virtues have shrewd
fingers. But they lack fists: their fingers do not
know how to creep behind fists.
Virtue for them is what maketh modest and
tame: therewith have they made the wolf a dog,
and man himself man's best domestic animal.
"We set our chair in the midst"—so saith their
smirking unto me—"and as far from dying
gladiators as from satisfied swine. "
That, however, is—mediocrity, though it be called
moderation. —
3-
I pass through this people and let fall many
words: but they know neither how to take nor
how to retain them.
They wonder why I came not to revile venery
## p. 207 (#295) ############################################
XLIX. —THE BEDWARFING VIRTUE.
207
and vice; and verily, I came not to warn against
pickpockets either!
They wonder why I am not ready to abet and
whet their wisdom : as if they had not yet enough
of wiseacres, whose voices grate on mine ear like
slate-pencils !
And when I call out: “Curse all the cowardly
devils in you, that would fain whimper and fold the
hands and adore "—then do they shout: “Zara-
thustra is godless. "
And especially do their teachers of submission
shout this ;—but precisely in their ears do I love to
cry: “Yea! I am Zarathustra, the godless ! ”
Those teachers of submission! Wherever there
is aught puny, or sickly, or scabby, there do they
creep like lice; and only my disgust preventeth me
from cracking them.
Well! This is my sermon for their ears: I am
Zarathustra the godless, who saith: “Who is more
godless than I, that I may enjoy his teaching? "
I am Zarathustra the godless : where do I find
mine equal ? And all those are mine equals who
give unto themselves their Will, and divest them-
selves of all submission.
I am Zarathustra the godless! I cook every
chance in my pot. And only when it hath been
quite cooked do I welcome it as my food.
And verily, many a chance came imperiously unto
me: but still more imperiously did my Will speak
unto it,—then did it lie imploringly upon its knees-
- Imploring that it might find home and heart
with me, and saying flatteringly: "See, O Zara-
thustra, how friend only cometh unto friend ! "-
## p. 208 (#296) ############################################
208 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
But why talk I, when no one hath mine ears!
And so will I shout it out unto all the winds:
Ye ever become smaller, ye small people! Ye
crumble away, ye comfortable ones! Ye will yet
perish—
—By your many small virtues, by your many
small omissions, and by your many small sub-
missions!
Too tender, too yielding: so is your soil! But
for a tree to become great, it seeketh to twine hard
roots around hard rocks!
Also what ye omit weaveth at the web of all the
human future; even your naught is a cobweb, and
a spider that liveth on the blood of the future.
And when ye take, then is it like stealing, ye
small virtuous ones; but even among knaves
honour saith that "one shall only steal when one
cannot rob. "
"It giveth itself"—that is also a doctrine of sub-
mission. But I say unto you, ye comfortable ones>
that it taketh to itself, and will ever take more and
more from you!
Ah, that ye would renounce all naif-willing, and
would decide for idleness as ye decide for action!
Ah, that ye understood my word: "Do ever
what ye will—but first be such as can will.
Love ever your neighbour as yourselves—but
first be such as love themselves—
—Such as love with great love, such as love
with great contempt! " Thus speaketh Zarathustra
the godless. —
But why talk I, when no one hath mine ears!
It is still an hour too early for me here.
## p. 209 (#297) ############################################
XLIX. -THE BEDWARFING VIRTUE.
209
Mine own forerunner am I among this people,
mine own cockcrow in dark lanes.
But their hour cometh! And there cometh also
mine! Hourly do they become smaller, poorer,
unfruitfuller,-poor herbs! poor earth !
And soon shall they stand before me like dry
grass and prairie, and verily, weary of themselves-
and panting for fire, more than for water !
O blessed hour of the lightning! O mystery
before noontide ! -Running fires will I one day
make of them, and heralds with flaming tongues :-
-Herald shall they one day with flaming tongues :
It cometh, it is nigh, the great noontide !
Thus spake Zarathustra.
L. -ON THE OLIVE-MOUNT.
Winter, a bad guest, sitteth with me at home;
blue are my hands with his friendly hand-shaking.
I honour him, that bad guest, but gladly leave
him alone. Gladly do I run away from him; and
when one runneth well, then one escapeth him !
With warm feet and warm thoughts do I run
where the wind is calm--to the sunny corner of
mine olive-mount.
There do I laugh at my stern guest, and am still
fond of him; because he cleareth my house of flies,
and quieteth many little noises.
For he suffereth it not if a gnat wanteth to buzz,
or even two of them; also the lanes maketh he
lonesome, so that the moonlight is afraid there at
night.
## p. 210 (#298) ############################################
210
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
A hard guest is he,—but I honour him, and do
not worship, like the tenderlings, the pot-bellied
fire-idol.
Better even a little teeth-chattering than idol-
adoration ! —so willeth my nature. And especi-
ally have I a grudge against all ardent, steaming,
steamy fire-idols.
Him whom I love, I love better in winter than in
summer; better do I now mock at mine enemies,
and more heartily, when winter sitteth in my
house.
Heartily, verily, even when I creep into bed—:
there, still laugheth and wantoneth my hidden hap-
piness; even my deceptive dream laugheth.
I, a-creeper? Never in my life did I creep before
the powerful; and if ever I lied, then did I lie out
of love. Therefore am I glad even in my winter-
bed.
A poor bed warmeth me more than a rich one,
for I am jealous of my poverty. And in winter she
is most faithful unto me.
With a wickedness do I begin every day: I mock
at the winter with a cold bath: on that account
grumbleth my stern house-mate.
Also do I like to tickle him with a wax-taper,
that he may finally let the heavens emerge from
ashy-grey twilight.
For especially wicked am I in the morning : at
the early hour when the pail rattleth at the well,
and horses neigh warmly in grey lanes :-
Impatiently do I then wait, that the clear sky
may finally dawn for me, the snow-bearded winter-
sky, the hoary one, the white-head,
## p. 211 (#299) ############################################
L. -ON THE OLIVE-MOUNT.
211
-The winter-sky, the silent winter-sky, which
often stifleth even its sun! .
Did I perhaps learn from it the long clear silence ?
Or did it learn it from me? Or hath each of us
devised it himself? .
Of all good things the origin is a thousandfold, -
all good roguish things spring into existence for
joy: how could they always do so—for once only!
A good roguish thing is also the long silence,
and to look, like the winter-sky, out of a clear,
round-eyed countenance :-
-Like it to stifle one's sun, and one's inflexible
solar will : verily, this art and this winter-roguish-
ness have I learnt well!
