Too long have we
acknowledged
them to be
right, those petty people : so we have at last given
them power as well ;—and now do they teach that
'good is only what petty people call good.
right, those petty people : so we have at last given
them power as well ;—and now do they teach that
'good is only what petty people call good.
Nietzsche - v11 - Thus Spake Zarathustra
thou venerable one," said he then, “what
a fine and long hand! That is the hand of one
who hath ever dispensed blessings. Now, how-
ever, doth it hold fast him whom thou seekest, me,
Zarathustra.
It is I, the ungodly Zarathustra, who saith :
'Who is ungodlier than I, that I may enjoy his
teaching ? '"-
Thus spake Zarathustra, and penetrated with his
glances the thoughts and arrear-thoughts of the
old pope. At last the latter began :
"He who most loved and possessed him hath now
also lost him most-
## p. 317 (#469) ############################################
LXVI. -OUT OF SERVICE.
317
-Lo, I myself am surely the most godless of us
at present? But who could rejoice at that! ”
—“Thou servedst him to the last? " asked Zara-
thustra thoughtfully, after a deep silence, “thou
knowest how he died? Is it true what they say,
that sympathy choked him;
- That he saw how man hung on the cross, and
could not endure it ;-that his love to man became
his hell, and at last his death? "- -
The old pope however did not answer, but looked
aside timidly, with a painful and gloomy expression.
"Let him go,” said Zarathustra, after prolonged
meditation, still looking the old man straight in
the eye.
“Let him go, he is gone. And though it
honoureth thee that thou speakest only in praise
of this dead one, yet thou knowest as well as I who
he was, and that he went curious ways. ”
"To speak before three eyes," said the old pope
cheerfully (he was blind of one eye), “in divine
matters I am more enlightened than Zarathustra
himself—and may well be so.
My love served him long years, my will followed
all his will. A good servant, however, knoweth
everything, and many a thing even which a master
hideth from himself.
He was a hidden God, full of secrecy. Verily,
he did not come by his son otherwise than by secret
ways. At the door of his faith standeth adultery.
Whoever extolleth him as a God of love, doth
not think highly enough of love itself. Did not
that God want also to be judge? But the loving
one loveth irrespective of reward and requital.
## p. 318 (#470) ############################################
318 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
When he was young, that God out of the Orient,
then was he harsh and revengeful, and built himself
a hell for the delight of his favourites.
At last, however, he became old and soft and
mellow and pitiful, more like a grandfather than a
father, but most like a tottering old grandmother.
There did he sit shrivelled in his chimney-corner,
fretting on account of his weak legs, world-weary,
will-weary, and one day he suffocated of his all-too-
great pity. "
"Thou old pope," said here Zarathustra inter-
posing, " hast thou seen that with thine eyes? It
could well have happened in that way: in that
way, and also otherwise. When Gods die they
always die many kinds of death.
Well! At all events, one way or other—he is
gone! He was counter to the taste of mine ears
and eyes; worse than that I should not like to say
against him.
I love everything that looketh bright and speaketh
honestly. But he—thou knowest it, forsooth, thou
old priest, there was something of thy type in him,
the priest-type—he was equivocal.
He was also indistinct. How he raged at us,
this wrath-snorter, because we understood him
badly! But why did he not speak more clearly?
And if the fault lay in our ears, why did he give
us ears that heard him badly? If there was dirt
in our ears, well! who put it in them?
Too much miscarried with him, this potter who
had not learned thoroughly! That he took revenge
on his pots and creations, however, because they
turned out badly—that was a sin against good taste.
## p. 319 (#471) ############################################
LXVI. -OUT OF SERVICE.
319
There is also good taste in piety: this at last
said : ‘Away with such a God! Better to have no
God, better to set up destiny on one's own account,
better to be a fool, better to be God oneself! '”
-"What do I hear! ” said then the old pope,
with intent ears; “O Zarathustra, thou art more
pious than thou believest, with such an unbelief!
Some God in thee hath converted thee to thine
ungodliness.
Is it not thy piety itself which no longer letteth
thee believe in a God? And thine over-great
honesty will yet lead thee even beyond good and
evil!
Behold, what hath been reserved for thee? Thou
hast eyes and hands and mouth, which have been
predestined for blessing from eternity. One doth
not bless with the hand alone.
Nigh unto thee, though thou professest to be the
ungodliest one, I feel a hale and holy odour of long
benedictions : I feel glad and grieved thereby.
Let me be thy guest, O Zarathustra, for a single
night! Nowhere on earth shall I now feel better
than with thee! ”-
“ Amen! So shall it be! ” said Zarathustra with
great astonishment; "up thither leadeth the way,
there lieth the cave of Zarathustra.
Gladly, forsooth, would I conduct thee thither
myself, thou venerable one; for I love all pious
men. But now a cry of distress calleth me hastily
away from thee.
In my domain shall no one come to grief; my
cave is a good haven. And best of all would I like
## p. 319 (#472) ############################################
318 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
When he was young, that God out of the Orient,
then was he harsh and revengeful, and built himself
a hell for the delight of his favourites.
At last, however, he became old and soft and
mellow and pitiful, more like a grandfather than a
father, but most like a tottering old grandmother.
There did he sit shrivelled in his chimney-corner,
fretting on account of his weak legs, world-weary,
will-weary, and one day he suffocated of his all-too-
great pity. "
"Thou old pope," said here Zarathustra inter-
posing, " hast thou seen that with thine eyes? It
could well have happened in that way: in that
way, and also otherwise. When Gods die they
always die many kinds of death.
Well! At all events, one way or other—he is
gone! He was counter to the taste of mine ears
and eyes; worse than that I should not like to say
against him.
I love everything that looketh bright and speaketh
honestly. But he—thou knowest it, forsooth, thou
old priest, there was something of thy type in him,
the priest-type—he was equivocal.
He was also indistinct. How he raged at us,
this wrath-snorter, because we understood him
badly! But why did he not speak more clearly?
And if the fault lay in our ears, why did he give
us ears that heard him badly? If there was dirt
in our ears, well! who put it in them?
Too much miscarried with him, this potter who
had not learned thoroughly! That he took revenge
on his pots and creations, however, because they
turned out badly—that was a sin against good taste.
## p. 319 (#473) ############################################
LXVI. —OUT OF SERVICE. 319
There is also good taste in piety: this at last
said: 'Away with such a God! Better to have no
God, better to set up destiny on one's own account,
better to be a fool, better to be God oneself! '"
—"What do I hear! " said then the old pope,
with intent ears; "O Zarathustra, thou art more
pious than thou believest, with such an unbelief!
Some God in thee hath converted thee to thine
ungodliness.
Is it not thy piety itself which no longer letteth
thee believe in a God? And thine over-great
honesty will yet lead thee even beyond good and
evil!
Behold, what hath been reserved for thee? Thou
hast eyes and hands and mouth, which have been
predestined for blessing from eternity. One doth
not bless with the hand alone.
Nigh unto thee, though thou professest to be the
ungodliest one, I feel a hale and holy odour of long
benedictions: I feel glad and grieved thereby.
Let me be thy guest, O Zarathustra, for a single
night! Nowhere on earth shall I now feel better
than with thee! "—
"Amen! So shall it be! " said Zarathustra with
great astonishment; "up thither leadeth the way,
there lieth the cave of Zarathustra.
Gladly, forsooth, would I conduct thee thither
myself, thou venerable one; for I love all pious
men. But now a cry of distress calleth me hastily
away from thee.
In my domain shall no one come to grief; my
cave is a good haven. And best of all would I like
## p. 320 (#474) ############################################
320 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
to put every sorrowful one again on firm land and
firm legs.
Who, however, could take thy melancholy off thy
shoulders? For that I am too weak. Long, verily,
should we have to wait until some one re-awoke thy
God for thee.
For that old God liveth no more: he is
indeed dead. "—
Thus spake Zarathustra.
LXVII. —THE UGLIEST MAN.
—And again did Zarathustra's feet run through
mountains and forests, and his eyes sought and
sought, but nowhere was he to be seen whom they
wanted to see—the sorely distressed sufferer and
crier. On the whole way, however, he rejoiced in
his heart and was full of gratitude. "What good
things," said he, " hath this day given me, as amends
for its bad beginning! What strange interlocutors
have I found!
At their words will I now chew a long while as
at good corn; small shall my teeth grind and crush
them, until they flow like milk into my soul! "—
When, however, the path again curved round
a rock, all at once the landscape changed, and
Zarathustra entered into a realm of death. Here
bristled aloft black and red cliffs, without any grass,
tree, or bird's voice. For it was a valley which all
animals avoided, even the beasts of prey, except
that a species of ugly, thick, green serpent came
## p. 321 (#475) ############################################
LXVII. —THE UGLIEST MAN.
321
here to die when they became old. Therefore the
shepherds called this valley: “Serpent-death. "
Zarathustra, however, became absorbed in dark
recollections, for it seemed to him as if he had once
before stood in this valley. And much heaviness
settled on his mind, so that he walked slowly and
always more slowly, and at last stood still. Then,
however, when he opened his eyes, he saw some-
thing sitting by the wayside shaped like a man, and
hardly like a man, something nondescript. And
all at once there came over Zarathustra a great
shame, because he had gazed on such a thing.
Blushing up to the very roots of his white hair, he
turned aside his glance, and raised his foot that he
might leave this ill-starred place. Then, however,
became the dead wilderness vocal: for from the
ground a noise welled up, gurgling and rattling, as
water gurgleth and rattleth at night through
stopped-up water-pipes; and at last it turned into
human voice and human speech :-it sounded thụs :
"Zarathustra! Zarathustra! Read my riddle !
Say, say! What is the revenge on the witness ?
I entice thee back; here is smooth ice! See to
it, see to it, that thy pride do not here break its
legs !
Thou thinkest thyself wise, thou proud Zara-
thustra! Read then the riddle, thou hard nut-
cracker,—the riddle that I am! Say then : who
am I! "
-When however Zarathustra had heard these
words,—what think ye then took place in his soul ?
Pity overcame him; and he sank down all at once,
like an oak that hath long withstood many tree-
## p. 322 (#476) ############################################
322
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
fellers,—heavily, suddenly, to the terror even of
those who meant to fell it. But immediately he
got up again from the ground, and his countenance
became stern.
"I know thee well,” said he, with a brazen voice,
" thou art the murderer of God! Let me go.
Thou couldst not endure him who beheld thee,
-who ever beheld thee through and through, thou
ugliest man. Thou tookest revenge on this
witness ! ”
Thus spake Zarathustra and was about to go;
but the nondescript grasped at a corner of his
garment and began anew to gurgle and seek for
words. “Stay,” said he at last-
_"Stay! Do not pass by! I have divined what
axe it was that struck thee to the ground: hail to
thee, O Zarathustra, that thou art again upon
thy feet !
Thou hast divined, I know it well, how the man
feeleth who killed him,—the murderer of God.
Stay! Sit down here beside me; it is not to no
purpose.
To whom would I go but unto thee? Stay, sit
down! Do not however look at me! Honour thus
-mine ugliness!
They persecute me: now art thou my last refuge.
Not with their hatred, not with their bailiffs ;-Oh,
such persecution would I mock at, and be proud
and cheerful !
Hath not all success hitherto been with the well-
persecuted ones? And he who persecuteth well
learneth readily to be obsequent-when once he is,
put behind! But it is their pity-
## p. 323 (#477) ############################################
LXVII. —THE UGLIEST MAN.
323
-Their pity is it from which I flee away and flee
to thee. O Zarathustra, protect me, thou, my last
refuge, thou sole one who divinedst me:
- Thou hast divined how the man feeleth who
killed him. Stay! And if thou wilt go, thou im-
patient one, go not the way that I came. That
way is bad.
Art thou angry with me because I have already
racked language too long? Because I have already
counselled thee? But know that it is I, the ugliest
man,
-Who have also the largest, heaviest feet.
Where I have gone, the way is bad. I tread all
paths to death and destruction.
But that thou passedst me by in silence, that thou
blushedst— I saw it well : thereby did I know thee
as Zarathustra.
Every one else would have thrown to me his alms,
his pity, in look and speech. But for that, I am
not beggar enough: that didst thou divine.
For that I am too rich, rich in what is great,
frightful, ugliest, most unutterable! Thy shame, O
Zarathustra, honoured me!
With difficulty did I get out of the crowd of the
pitiful,—that I might find the only one who at
present teacheth that 'pity is obtrusive'-thyself,
O Zarathustra !
-Whether it be the pity of a God, or whether it
be human pity, it is offensive to modesty. And
unwillingness to help may be nobler than the virtue
that rusheth to do so.
That however-namely, pity-is called virtue
itself at present by all petty people :they have
## p. 324 (#478) ############################################
324
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
no reverence for great misfortune, great ugliness,
great failure.
Beyond all these do I look, as a dog looketh over
the backs of thronging flocks of sheep. They are
petty, good-wooled, good-willed, grey people.
As the heron looketh contemptuously at shallow
pools, with backward-bent head, so do I look at the
throng of grey little waves and wills and souls.
Too long have we acknowledged them to be
right, those petty people : so we have at last given
them power as well ;—and now do they teach that
'good is only what petty people call good. '
And truth' is at present what the preacher spake
who himself sprang from them, that singular saint
and advocate of the petty people, who testified of
himself: ‘I-am the truth. '
That immodest one hath long made the petty
people greatly puffed up, he who taught no small
error when he taught: 'I-am the truth. '
Hath an immodest one ever been answered
more courteously ? —Thou, however, O Zarathustra,
passedst him by, and saidst : ‘Nay! Nay! Three
times Nay! ”.
Thou warnedst against his error; thou warnedst
-the first to do so—against pity :—not every one,
not none, but thyself and thy type.
Thou art ashamed of the shame of the great
sufferer ; and verily when thou sayest: ‘From pity
there cometh a heavy cloud; take heed ye men! '
-When thou teachest : ‘All creators are hard,
all great love is beyond their pity:' O Zarathustra,
how well versed dost thou seem to me in weather-
signs !
## p. 325 (#479) ############################################
LXVII. —THE UGLIEST MAN. 325
Thou thyself, however,—warn thyself also against
thy pity! For many are on their way to thee,
many suffering, doubting, despairing, drowning,
freezing ones—
I warn thee also against myself. Thou hast read
my best, my worst riddle, myself, and what I have
done. I know the axe that felleth thee.
But he—had to die: he looked with eyes which
beheld everything,—he beheld men's depths and
dregs, all his hidden ignominy and ugliness.
His pity knew no modesty: he crept into my
dirtiest corners. This most prying, over-intrusive,
over-pitiful one had to die.
He ever beheld me: on such a witness I would
have revenge—or not live myself.
The God who beheld everything, and also man:
that God had to die! Man cannot endure it that
such a witness should live. "
Thus spake the ugliest man. Zarathustra how-
ever got up, and prepared to go on: for he felt
frozen to the very bowels.
"Thou nondescript," said he, " thou warnedst me
against thy path. As thanks for it I praise mine
to thee. Behold, up thither is the cave of
Zarathustra.
My cave is large and deep and hath many
corners; there findeth he that is most hidden his
hiding-place. And close beside it, there are a
hundred lurking-places and by-places for creeping,
fluttering, and hopping creatures.
Thou outcast, who hast cast thyself out, thou
wilt not live amongst men and men's pity? Well
## p. 326 (#480) ############################################
324
THUS SPAK KE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Tius wilt thou learn also froi
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foremost to mine animals!
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## p. 327 (#481) ############################################
VOLUNTARY BEGGAR.
327
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lows, though also sometimes
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led unto me? " he asked
irm and living quickeneth
iighbourhood.
alone; unconscious com-
e around me; their warm
ed about and sought for
esomeness, behold, there
ogether on an eminence,
ll had warmed his heart.
i to listen eagerly to a
of him who approached.
a was quite nigh unto
nly that a human voice
ne; and apparently all
ds towards the speaker.
speedily and drove the
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j. But in this he was
a man on the ground
he animals to have no
ind Preacher-on-the-
Iness itself preached.
"called out Zara-
nswered he: "the
:hief-maker! that is
/
## p. 327 (#482) ############################################
326
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
then, do like me! Thus wilt thou learn also from
me; only the doer learneth.
And talk first and foremost to mine animals!
The proudest animal and the wisest animal-
they might well be the right counsellors for us
both ! "--
Thus spake Zarathustra and went his way, more
thoughtfully and slowly even than before: for he
asked himself many things, and hardly knew what
to answer.
“How poor indeed is man,” thought he in his
heart, “how ugly, how wheezy, how full of hidden
shame!
They tell me that man loveth himself. Ah, how
great must that self-love be! How much contempt
is opposed to it!
Even this man hath loved himself, as he hath
despised himself,—a great lover methinketh he is,
and a great despiser.
No one have I yet found who more thoroughly
despised himself: even that is elevation. Alas,
was this perhaps the higher man whose cry. I
heard ?
I love the great despisers. Man is something
that hath to be surpassed. "--
LXVIII. —THE VOLUNTARY BEGGAR.
When Zarathustra had left the ugliest man, he
was chilled and felt lonesome: for much coldness
and lonesomeness came over his spirit, so that even
his limbs became colder thereby. When, how-
ever, he wandered on and on, uphill and down, at
## p. 327 (#483) ############################################
LXVIII. —THE VOLUNTARY BEGGAR. 327
times past green meadows, though also sometimes
over wild stony couches where formerly perhaps
an impatient brook had made its bed, then he
turned all at once warmer and heartier again.
"What hath happened unto me? " he asked
himself, "something warm and living quickeneth
me; it must be in the neighbourhood.
Already am I less alone; unconscious com-
panions and brethren rove around me; their warm
breath toucheth my soul. "
When, however, he spied about and sought for
the comforters of his lonesomeness, behold, there
were kine there standing together on an eminence,
whose proximity and smell had warmed his heart.
The kine, however, seemed to listen eagerly to a
speaker, and took no heed of him who approached.
When, however, Zarathustra was quite nigh unto
them, then did he hear plainly that a human voice
spake in the midst of the kine; and apparently all
of them had turned their heads towards the speaker.
Then ran Zarathustra up speedily and drove the
animals aside; for he feared that some one had
here met with harm, which the pity of the kine
would hardly be able to relieve. But in this he was
deceived; for behold, there sat a man on the ground
who seemed to be persuading the animals to have no
fear of him, a peaceable man and Preacher-on-the-
Mount, out of whose eyes kindness itself preached.
"What dost thou seek here? " called out Zara-
thustra in astonishment.
"What do I here seek? " answered he: "the
same that thou seekest, thou mischief-maker! that is
to say, happiness upon earth.
## p. 327 (#484) ############################################
326 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
then, do like me! Thus wilt thou learn also from
me; only the doer learneth.
And talk first and foremost to mine animals!
The proudest animal and the wisest animal—
they might well be the right counsellors for us
both! "
Thus spake Zarathustra and went his way, more
thoughtfully and slowly even than before: for he
asked himself many things, and hardly knew what
to answer.
"How poor indeed is man," thought he in his
heart, "how ugly, how wheezy, how full of hidden
shame!
They tell me that man loveth himself. Ah, how
great must that self-love be! How much contempt
is opposed to it!
Even this man hath loved himself, as he hath
despised himself,—a great lover methinketh he is,
and a great despiser.
No one have I yet found who more thoroughly
despised himself: even that is elevation. Alas,
was this perhaps the higher man whose cry I
heard?
I love the great despisers. Man is something
that hath to be surpassed. "
LXVIII. —THE VOLUNTARY BEGGAR.
When Zarathustra had left the ugliest man, he
was chilled and felt lonesome: for much coldness
and lonesomeness came over his spirit, so that even
his limbs became colder thereby. When, how-
ever, he wandered on and on, uphill and down, at
1
## p. 327 (#485) ############################################
LXVIII. —THE VOLUNTARY BEGGAR. 327
times past green meadows, though also sometimes
over wild stony couches where formerly perhaps
an impatient brook had made its bed, then he
turned all at once warmer and heartier again.
"What hath happened unto me? " he asked
himself, "something warm and living quickeneth
me; it must be in the neighbourhood.
Already am I less alone; unconscious com-
panions and brethren rove around me; their warm
breath toucheth my soul. "
When, however, he spied about and sought for
the comforters of his lonesomeness, behold, there
were kine there standing together on an eminence,
whose proximity and smell had warmed his heart.
The kine, however, seemed to listen eagerly to a
speaker, and took no heed of him who approached.
When, however, Zarathustra was quite nigh unto
them, then did he hear plainly that a human voice
spake in the midst of the kine; and apparently all
of them had turned their heads towards the speaker.
Then ran Zarathustra up speedily and drove the
animals aside; for he feared that some one had
here met with harm, which the pity of the kine
would hardly be able to relieve. But in this he was
deceived; for behold, there sat a man on the ground
who seemed to be persuading the animals to have no
fear of him, a peaceable man and Preacher-on-the-
Mount, out of whose eyes kindness itself preached.
"What dost thou seek here? " called out Zara-
thustra in astonishment.
"What do I here seek? " answered he: "the
same that thou seekest, thou mischief-maker! that is
to say, happiness upon earth.
## p. 327 (#486) ############################################
326 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
then, do like me! Thus wilt thou learn also from
me; only the doer learneth.
And talk first and foremost to mine animals!
The proudest animal and the wisest animal—
they might well be the right counsellors for us
both! "
Thus spake Zarathustra and went his way, more
thoughtfully and slowly even than before: for he
asked himself many things, and hardly knew what
to answer.
"How poor indeed is man," thought he in his
heart, "how ugly, how wheezy, how full of hidden
shame!
They tell me that man loveth himself. Ah, how
great must that self-love be! How much contempt
is opposed to it!
Even this man hath loved himself, as he hath
despised himself,—a great lover methinketh he is,
and a great despiser.
No one have I yet found who more thoroughly
despised himself: even that is elevation. Alas,
was this perhaps the higher man whose cry I
heard?
I love the great despisers. Man is something
that hath to be surpassed. "
LXVIII. —THE VOLUNTARY BEGGAR.
When Zarathustra had left the ugliest man, he
was chilled and felt lonesome: for much coldness
and lonesomeness came over his spirit, so that even
his limbs became colder thereby. When, how-
ever, he wandered on and on, uphill and down, at
r
1
## p. 327 (#487) ############################################
LXVIII. —THE VOLUNTARY BEGGAR. 327
times past green meadows, though also sometimes
over wild stony couches where formerly perhaps
an impatient brook had made its bed, then he
turned all at once warmer and heartier again.
"What hath happened unto me? " he asked
himself, "something warm and living quickeneth
me; it must be in the neighbourhood.
Already am I less alone; unconscious com-
panions and brethren rove around me; their warm
breath toucheth my soul. "
When, however, he spied about and sought for
the comforters of his lonesomeness, behold, there
were kine there standing together on an eminence,
whose proximity and smell had warmed his heart.
The kine, however, seemed to listen eagerly to a
speaker, and took no heed of him who approached.
When, however, Zarathustra was quite nigh unto
them, then did he hear plainly that a human voice
spake in the midst of the kine; and apparently all
of them had turned their heads towards the speaker.
Then ran Zarathustra up speedily and drove the
animals aside; for he feared that some one had
here met with harm, which the pity of the kine
would hardly be able to relieve. But in this he was
deceived; for behold, there sat a man on the ground
who seemed to be persuading the animals to have no
fear of him, a peaceable man and Preacher-on-the-
Mount, out of whose eyes kindness itself preached.
"What dost thou seek here? " called out Zara-
thustra in astonishment.
"What do I here seek? " answered he: "the
same that thou seekest, thou mischief-maker! that is
to say, happiness upon earth.
## p. 327 (#488) ############################################
326 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
then, do like me! Thus wilt thou learn also from
me; only the doer learneth.
And talk first and foremost to mine animals!
The proudest animal and the wisest animal—
they might well be the right counsellors for us
both! "
Thus spake Zarathustra and went his way, more
thoughtfully and slowly even than before: for he
asked himself many things, and hardly knew what
to answer.
"How poor indeed is man," thought he in his
heart, "how ugly, how wheezy, how full of hidden
shame!
They tell me that man loveth himself. Ah, how
great must that self-love be! How much contempt
is opposed to it!
Even this man hath loved himself, as he hath
despised himself,—a great lover methinketh he is,
and a great despiser.
No one have I yet found who more thoroughly
despised himself: even that is elevation. Alas,
was this perhaps the higher man whose cry I
heard?
I love the great despisers. Man is something
that hath to be surpassed. "
LXVIII. —THE VOLUNTARY BEGGAR.
When Zarathustra had left the ugliest man, he
was chilled and felt lonesome: for much coldness
and lonesomeness came over his spirit, so that even
his limbs became colder thereby. When, how-
ever, he wandered on and on, uphill and down, at
1
## p. 327 (#489) ############################################
LXVIII. —THE VOLUNTARY BEGGAR. 327
times past green meadows, though also sometimes
over wild stony couches where formerly perhaps
an impatient brook had made its bed, then he
turned all at once warmer and heartier again.
"What hath happened unto me? " he asked
himself, "something warm and living quickeneth
me; it must be in the neighbourhood.
Already am I less alone; unconscious com-
panions and brethren rove around me; their warm
breath toucheth my soul. "
When, however, he spied about and sought for
the comforters of his lonesomeness, behold, there
were kine there standing together on an eminence,
whose proximity and smell had warmed his heart.
The kine, however, seemed to listen eagerly to a
speaker, and took no heed of him who approached.
When, however, Zarathustra was quite nigh unto
them, then did he hear plainly that a human voice
spake in the midst of the kine; and apparently all
of them had turned their heads towards the speaker.
Then ran Zarathustra up speedily and drove the
animals aside; for he feared that some one had
here met with harm, which the pity of the kine
would hardly be able to relieve. But in this he was
deceived; for behold, there sat a man on the ground
who seemed to be persuading the animals to have no
fear of him, a peaceable man and Preacher-on-the-
Mount, out of whose eyes kindness itself preached.
"What dost thou seek here?
a fine and long hand! That is the hand of one
who hath ever dispensed blessings. Now, how-
ever, doth it hold fast him whom thou seekest, me,
Zarathustra.
It is I, the ungodly Zarathustra, who saith :
'Who is ungodlier than I, that I may enjoy his
teaching ? '"-
Thus spake Zarathustra, and penetrated with his
glances the thoughts and arrear-thoughts of the
old pope. At last the latter began :
"He who most loved and possessed him hath now
also lost him most-
## p. 317 (#469) ############################################
LXVI. -OUT OF SERVICE.
317
-Lo, I myself am surely the most godless of us
at present? But who could rejoice at that! ”
—“Thou servedst him to the last? " asked Zara-
thustra thoughtfully, after a deep silence, “thou
knowest how he died? Is it true what they say,
that sympathy choked him;
- That he saw how man hung on the cross, and
could not endure it ;-that his love to man became
his hell, and at last his death? "- -
The old pope however did not answer, but looked
aside timidly, with a painful and gloomy expression.
"Let him go,” said Zarathustra, after prolonged
meditation, still looking the old man straight in
the eye.
“Let him go, he is gone. And though it
honoureth thee that thou speakest only in praise
of this dead one, yet thou knowest as well as I who
he was, and that he went curious ways. ”
"To speak before three eyes," said the old pope
cheerfully (he was blind of one eye), “in divine
matters I am more enlightened than Zarathustra
himself—and may well be so.
My love served him long years, my will followed
all his will. A good servant, however, knoweth
everything, and many a thing even which a master
hideth from himself.
He was a hidden God, full of secrecy. Verily,
he did not come by his son otherwise than by secret
ways. At the door of his faith standeth adultery.
Whoever extolleth him as a God of love, doth
not think highly enough of love itself. Did not
that God want also to be judge? But the loving
one loveth irrespective of reward and requital.
## p. 318 (#470) ############################################
318 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
When he was young, that God out of the Orient,
then was he harsh and revengeful, and built himself
a hell for the delight of his favourites.
At last, however, he became old and soft and
mellow and pitiful, more like a grandfather than a
father, but most like a tottering old grandmother.
There did he sit shrivelled in his chimney-corner,
fretting on account of his weak legs, world-weary,
will-weary, and one day he suffocated of his all-too-
great pity. "
"Thou old pope," said here Zarathustra inter-
posing, " hast thou seen that with thine eyes? It
could well have happened in that way: in that
way, and also otherwise. When Gods die they
always die many kinds of death.
Well! At all events, one way or other—he is
gone! He was counter to the taste of mine ears
and eyes; worse than that I should not like to say
against him.
I love everything that looketh bright and speaketh
honestly. But he—thou knowest it, forsooth, thou
old priest, there was something of thy type in him,
the priest-type—he was equivocal.
He was also indistinct. How he raged at us,
this wrath-snorter, because we understood him
badly! But why did he not speak more clearly?
And if the fault lay in our ears, why did he give
us ears that heard him badly? If there was dirt
in our ears, well! who put it in them?
Too much miscarried with him, this potter who
had not learned thoroughly! That he took revenge
on his pots and creations, however, because they
turned out badly—that was a sin against good taste.
## p. 319 (#471) ############################################
LXVI. -OUT OF SERVICE.
319
There is also good taste in piety: this at last
said : ‘Away with such a God! Better to have no
God, better to set up destiny on one's own account,
better to be a fool, better to be God oneself! '”
-"What do I hear! ” said then the old pope,
with intent ears; “O Zarathustra, thou art more
pious than thou believest, with such an unbelief!
Some God in thee hath converted thee to thine
ungodliness.
Is it not thy piety itself which no longer letteth
thee believe in a God? And thine over-great
honesty will yet lead thee even beyond good and
evil!
Behold, what hath been reserved for thee? Thou
hast eyes and hands and mouth, which have been
predestined for blessing from eternity. One doth
not bless with the hand alone.
Nigh unto thee, though thou professest to be the
ungodliest one, I feel a hale and holy odour of long
benedictions : I feel glad and grieved thereby.
Let me be thy guest, O Zarathustra, for a single
night! Nowhere on earth shall I now feel better
than with thee! ”-
“ Amen! So shall it be! ” said Zarathustra with
great astonishment; "up thither leadeth the way,
there lieth the cave of Zarathustra.
Gladly, forsooth, would I conduct thee thither
myself, thou venerable one; for I love all pious
men. But now a cry of distress calleth me hastily
away from thee.
In my domain shall no one come to grief; my
cave is a good haven. And best of all would I like
## p. 319 (#472) ############################################
318 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
When he was young, that God out of the Orient,
then was he harsh and revengeful, and built himself
a hell for the delight of his favourites.
At last, however, he became old and soft and
mellow and pitiful, more like a grandfather than a
father, but most like a tottering old grandmother.
There did he sit shrivelled in his chimney-corner,
fretting on account of his weak legs, world-weary,
will-weary, and one day he suffocated of his all-too-
great pity. "
"Thou old pope," said here Zarathustra inter-
posing, " hast thou seen that with thine eyes? It
could well have happened in that way: in that
way, and also otherwise. When Gods die they
always die many kinds of death.
Well! At all events, one way or other—he is
gone! He was counter to the taste of mine ears
and eyes; worse than that I should not like to say
against him.
I love everything that looketh bright and speaketh
honestly. But he—thou knowest it, forsooth, thou
old priest, there was something of thy type in him,
the priest-type—he was equivocal.
He was also indistinct. How he raged at us,
this wrath-snorter, because we understood him
badly! But why did he not speak more clearly?
And if the fault lay in our ears, why did he give
us ears that heard him badly? If there was dirt
in our ears, well! who put it in them?
Too much miscarried with him, this potter who
had not learned thoroughly! That he took revenge
on his pots and creations, however, because they
turned out badly—that was a sin against good taste.
## p. 319 (#473) ############################################
LXVI. —OUT OF SERVICE. 319
There is also good taste in piety: this at last
said: 'Away with such a God! Better to have no
God, better to set up destiny on one's own account,
better to be a fool, better to be God oneself! '"
—"What do I hear! " said then the old pope,
with intent ears; "O Zarathustra, thou art more
pious than thou believest, with such an unbelief!
Some God in thee hath converted thee to thine
ungodliness.
Is it not thy piety itself which no longer letteth
thee believe in a God? And thine over-great
honesty will yet lead thee even beyond good and
evil!
Behold, what hath been reserved for thee? Thou
hast eyes and hands and mouth, which have been
predestined for blessing from eternity. One doth
not bless with the hand alone.
Nigh unto thee, though thou professest to be the
ungodliest one, I feel a hale and holy odour of long
benedictions: I feel glad and grieved thereby.
Let me be thy guest, O Zarathustra, for a single
night! Nowhere on earth shall I now feel better
than with thee! "—
"Amen! So shall it be! " said Zarathustra with
great astonishment; "up thither leadeth the way,
there lieth the cave of Zarathustra.
Gladly, forsooth, would I conduct thee thither
myself, thou venerable one; for I love all pious
men. But now a cry of distress calleth me hastily
away from thee.
In my domain shall no one come to grief; my
cave is a good haven. And best of all would I like
## p. 320 (#474) ############################################
320 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
to put every sorrowful one again on firm land and
firm legs.
Who, however, could take thy melancholy off thy
shoulders? For that I am too weak. Long, verily,
should we have to wait until some one re-awoke thy
God for thee.
For that old God liveth no more: he is
indeed dead. "—
Thus spake Zarathustra.
LXVII. —THE UGLIEST MAN.
—And again did Zarathustra's feet run through
mountains and forests, and his eyes sought and
sought, but nowhere was he to be seen whom they
wanted to see—the sorely distressed sufferer and
crier. On the whole way, however, he rejoiced in
his heart and was full of gratitude. "What good
things," said he, " hath this day given me, as amends
for its bad beginning! What strange interlocutors
have I found!
At their words will I now chew a long while as
at good corn; small shall my teeth grind and crush
them, until they flow like milk into my soul! "—
When, however, the path again curved round
a rock, all at once the landscape changed, and
Zarathustra entered into a realm of death. Here
bristled aloft black and red cliffs, without any grass,
tree, or bird's voice. For it was a valley which all
animals avoided, even the beasts of prey, except
that a species of ugly, thick, green serpent came
## p. 321 (#475) ############################################
LXVII. —THE UGLIEST MAN.
321
here to die when they became old. Therefore the
shepherds called this valley: “Serpent-death. "
Zarathustra, however, became absorbed in dark
recollections, for it seemed to him as if he had once
before stood in this valley. And much heaviness
settled on his mind, so that he walked slowly and
always more slowly, and at last stood still. Then,
however, when he opened his eyes, he saw some-
thing sitting by the wayside shaped like a man, and
hardly like a man, something nondescript. And
all at once there came over Zarathustra a great
shame, because he had gazed on such a thing.
Blushing up to the very roots of his white hair, he
turned aside his glance, and raised his foot that he
might leave this ill-starred place. Then, however,
became the dead wilderness vocal: for from the
ground a noise welled up, gurgling and rattling, as
water gurgleth and rattleth at night through
stopped-up water-pipes; and at last it turned into
human voice and human speech :-it sounded thụs :
"Zarathustra! Zarathustra! Read my riddle !
Say, say! What is the revenge on the witness ?
I entice thee back; here is smooth ice! See to
it, see to it, that thy pride do not here break its
legs !
Thou thinkest thyself wise, thou proud Zara-
thustra! Read then the riddle, thou hard nut-
cracker,—the riddle that I am! Say then : who
am I! "
-When however Zarathustra had heard these
words,—what think ye then took place in his soul ?
Pity overcame him; and he sank down all at once,
like an oak that hath long withstood many tree-
## p. 322 (#476) ############################################
322
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
fellers,—heavily, suddenly, to the terror even of
those who meant to fell it. But immediately he
got up again from the ground, and his countenance
became stern.
"I know thee well,” said he, with a brazen voice,
" thou art the murderer of God! Let me go.
Thou couldst not endure him who beheld thee,
-who ever beheld thee through and through, thou
ugliest man. Thou tookest revenge on this
witness ! ”
Thus spake Zarathustra and was about to go;
but the nondescript grasped at a corner of his
garment and began anew to gurgle and seek for
words. “Stay,” said he at last-
_"Stay! Do not pass by! I have divined what
axe it was that struck thee to the ground: hail to
thee, O Zarathustra, that thou art again upon
thy feet !
Thou hast divined, I know it well, how the man
feeleth who killed him,—the murderer of God.
Stay! Sit down here beside me; it is not to no
purpose.
To whom would I go but unto thee? Stay, sit
down! Do not however look at me! Honour thus
-mine ugliness!
They persecute me: now art thou my last refuge.
Not with their hatred, not with their bailiffs ;-Oh,
such persecution would I mock at, and be proud
and cheerful !
Hath not all success hitherto been with the well-
persecuted ones? And he who persecuteth well
learneth readily to be obsequent-when once he is,
put behind! But it is their pity-
## p. 323 (#477) ############################################
LXVII. —THE UGLIEST MAN.
323
-Their pity is it from which I flee away and flee
to thee. O Zarathustra, protect me, thou, my last
refuge, thou sole one who divinedst me:
- Thou hast divined how the man feeleth who
killed him. Stay! And if thou wilt go, thou im-
patient one, go not the way that I came. That
way is bad.
Art thou angry with me because I have already
racked language too long? Because I have already
counselled thee? But know that it is I, the ugliest
man,
-Who have also the largest, heaviest feet.
Where I have gone, the way is bad. I tread all
paths to death and destruction.
But that thou passedst me by in silence, that thou
blushedst— I saw it well : thereby did I know thee
as Zarathustra.
Every one else would have thrown to me his alms,
his pity, in look and speech. But for that, I am
not beggar enough: that didst thou divine.
For that I am too rich, rich in what is great,
frightful, ugliest, most unutterable! Thy shame, O
Zarathustra, honoured me!
With difficulty did I get out of the crowd of the
pitiful,—that I might find the only one who at
present teacheth that 'pity is obtrusive'-thyself,
O Zarathustra !
-Whether it be the pity of a God, or whether it
be human pity, it is offensive to modesty. And
unwillingness to help may be nobler than the virtue
that rusheth to do so.
That however-namely, pity-is called virtue
itself at present by all petty people :they have
## p. 324 (#478) ############################################
324
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
no reverence for great misfortune, great ugliness,
great failure.
Beyond all these do I look, as a dog looketh over
the backs of thronging flocks of sheep. They are
petty, good-wooled, good-willed, grey people.
As the heron looketh contemptuously at shallow
pools, with backward-bent head, so do I look at the
throng of grey little waves and wills and souls.
Too long have we acknowledged them to be
right, those petty people : so we have at last given
them power as well ;—and now do they teach that
'good is only what petty people call good. '
And truth' is at present what the preacher spake
who himself sprang from them, that singular saint
and advocate of the petty people, who testified of
himself: ‘I-am the truth. '
That immodest one hath long made the petty
people greatly puffed up, he who taught no small
error when he taught: 'I-am the truth. '
Hath an immodest one ever been answered
more courteously ? —Thou, however, O Zarathustra,
passedst him by, and saidst : ‘Nay! Nay! Three
times Nay! ”.
Thou warnedst against his error; thou warnedst
-the first to do so—against pity :—not every one,
not none, but thyself and thy type.
Thou art ashamed of the shame of the great
sufferer ; and verily when thou sayest: ‘From pity
there cometh a heavy cloud; take heed ye men! '
-When thou teachest : ‘All creators are hard,
all great love is beyond their pity:' O Zarathustra,
how well versed dost thou seem to me in weather-
signs !
## p. 325 (#479) ############################################
LXVII. —THE UGLIEST MAN. 325
Thou thyself, however,—warn thyself also against
thy pity! For many are on their way to thee,
many suffering, doubting, despairing, drowning,
freezing ones—
I warn thee also against myself. Thou hast read
my best, my worst riddle, myself, and what I have
done. I know the axe that felleth thee.
But he—had to die: he looked with eyes which
beheld everything,—he beheld men's depths and
dregs, all his hidden ignominy and ugliness.
His pity knew no modesty: he crept into my
dirtiest corners. This most prying, over-intrusive,
over-pitiful one had to die.
He ever beheld me: on such a witness I would
have revenge—or not live myself.
The God who beheld everything, and also man:
that God had to die! Man cannot endure it that
such a witness should live. "
Thus spake the ugliest man. Zarathustra how-
ever got up, and prepared to go on: for he felt
frozen to the very bowels.
"Thou nondescript," said he, " thou warnedst me
against thy path. As thanks for it I praise mine
to thee. Behold, up thither is the cave of
Zarathustra.
My cave is large and deep and hath many
corners; there findeth he that is most hidden his
hiding-place. And close beside it, there are a
hundred lurking-places and by-places for creeping,
fluttering, and hopping creatures.
Thou outcast, who hast cast thyself out, thou
wilt not live amongst men and men's pity? Well
## p. 326 (#480) ############################################
324
THUS SPAK KE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Tius wilt thou learn also froi
meth.
foremost to mine animals!
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## p. 327 (#481) ############################################
VOLUNTARY BEGGAR.
327
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led unto me? " he asked
irm and living quickeneth
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alone; unconscious com-
e around me; their warm
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esomeness, behold, there
ogether on an eminence,
ll had warmed his heart.
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/
## p. 327 (#482) ############################################
326
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
then, do like me! Thus wilt thou learn also from
me; only the doer learneth.
And talk first and foremost to mine animals!
The proudest animal and the wisest animal-
they might well be the right counsellors for us
both ! "--
Thus spake Zarathustra and went his way, more
thoughtfully and slowly even than before: for he
asked himself many things, and hardly knew what
to answer.
“How poor indeed is man,” thought he in his
heart, “how ugly, how wheezy, how full of hidden
shame!
They tell me that man loveth himself. Ah, how
great must that self-love be! How much contempt
is opposed to it!
Even this man hath loved himself, as he hath
despised himself,—a great lover methinketh he is,
and a great despiser.
No one have I yet found who more thoroughly
despised himself: even that is elevation. Alas,
was this perhaps the higher man whose cry. I
heard ?
I love the great despisers. Man is something
that hath to be surpassed. "--
LXVIII. —THE VOLUNTARY BEGGAR.
When Zarathustra had left the ugliest man, he
was chilled and felt lonesome: for much coldness
and lonesomeness came over his spirit, so that even
his limbs became colder thereby. When, how-
ever, he wandered on and on, uphill and down, at
## p. 327 (#483) ############################################
LXVIII. —THE VOLUNTARY BEGGAR. 327
times past green meadows, though also sometimes
over wild stony couches where formerly perhaps
an impatient brook had made its bed, then he
turned all at once warmer and heartier again.
"What hath happened unto me? " he asked
himself, "something warm and living quickeneth
me; it must be in the neighbourhood.
Already am I less alone; unconscious com-
panions and brethren rove around me; their warm
breath toucheth my soul. "
When, however, he spied about and sought for
the comforters of his lonesomeness, behold, there
were kine there standing together on an eminence,
whose proximity and smell had warmed his heart.
The kine, however, seemed to listen eagerly to a
speaker, and took no heed of him who approached.
When, however, Zarathustra was quite nigh unto
them, then did he hear plainly that a human voice
spake in the midst of the kine; and apparently all
of them had turned their heads towards the speaker.
Then ran Zarathustra up speedily and drove the
animals aside; for he feared that some one had
here met with harm, which the pity of the kine
would hardly be able to relieve. But in this he was
deceived; for behold, there sat a man on the ground
who seemed to be persuading the animals to have no
fear of him, a peaceable man and Preacher-on-the-
Mount, out of whose eyes kindness itself preached.
"What dost thou seek here? " called out Zara-
thustra in astonishment.
"What do I here seek? " answered he: "the
same that thou seekest, thou mischief-maker! that is
to say, happiness upon earth.
## p. 327 (#484) ############################################
326 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
then, do like me! Thus wilt thou learn also from
me; only the doer learneth.
And talk first and foremost to mine animals!
The proudest animal and the wisest animal—
they might well be the right counsellors for us
both! "
Thus spake Zarathustra and went his way, more
thoughtfully and slowly even than before: for he
asked himself many things, and hardly knew what
to answer.
"How poor indeed is man," thought he in his
heart, "how ugly, how wheezy, how full of hidden
shame!
They tell me that man loveth himself. Ah, how
great must that self-love be! How much contempt
is opposed to it!
Even this man hath loved himself, as he hath
despised himself,—a great lover methinketh he is,
and a great despiser.
No one have I yet found who more thoroughly
despised himself: even that is elevation. Alas,
was this perhaps the higher man whose cry I
heard?
I love the great despisers. Man is something
that hath to be surpassed. "
LXVIII. —THE VOLUNTARY BEGGAR.
When Zarathustra had left the ugliest man, he
was chilled and felt lonesome: for much coldness
and lonesomeness came over his spirit, so that even
his limbs became colder thereby. When, how-
ever, he wandered on and on, uphill and down, at
1
## p. 327 (#485) ############################################
LXVIII. —THE VOLUNTARY BEGGAR. 327
times past green meadows, though also sometimes
over wild stony couches where formerly perhaps
an impatient brook had made its bed, then he
turned all at once warmer and heartier again.
"What hath happened unto me? " he asked
himself, "something warm and living quickeneth
me; it must be in the neighbourhood.
Already am I less alone; unconscious com-
panions and brethren rove around me; their warm
breath toucheth my soul. "
When, however, he spied about and sought for
the comforters of his lonesomeness, behold, there
were kine there standing together on an eminence,
whose proximity and smell had warmed his heart.
The kine, however, seemed to listen eagerly to a
speaker, and took no heed of him who approached.
When, however, Zarathustra was quite nigh unto
them, then did he hear plainly that a human voice
spake in the midst of the kine; and apparently all
of them had turned their heads towards the speaker.
Then ran Zarathustra up speedily and drove the
animals aside; for he feared that some one had
here met with harm, which the pity of the kine
would hardly be able to relieve. But in this he was
deceived; for behold, there sat a man on the ground
who seemed to be persuading the animals to have no
fear of him, a peaceable man and Preacher-on-the-
Mount, out of whose eyes kindness itself preached.
"What dost thou seek here? " called out Zara-
thustra in astonishment.
"What do I here seek? " answered he: "the
same that thou seekest, thou mischief-maker! that is
to say, happiness upon earth.
## p. 327 (#486) ############################################
326 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
then, do like me! Thus wilt thou learn also from
me; only the doer learneth.
And talk first and foremost to mine animals!
The proudest animal and the wisest animal—
they might well be the right counsellors for us
both! "
Thus spake Zarathustra and went his way, more
thoughtfully and slowly even than before: for he
asked himself many things, and hardly knew what
to answer.
"How poor indeed is man," thought he in his
heart, "how ugly, how wheezy, how full of hidden
shame!
They tell me that man loveth himself. Ah, how
great must that self-love be! How much contempt
is opposed to it!
Even this man hath loved himself, as he hath
despised himself,—a great lover methinketh he is,
and a great despiser.
No one have I yet found who more thoroughly
despised himself: even that is elevation. Alas,
was this perhaps the higher man whose cry I
heard?
I love the great despisers. Man is something
that hath to be surpassed. "
LXVIII. —THE VOLUNTARY BEGGAR.
When Zarathustra had left the ugliest man, he
was chilled and felt lonesome: for much coldness
and lonesomeness came over his spirit, so that even
his limbs became colder thereby. When, how-
ever, he wandered on and on, uphill and down, at
r
1
## p. 327 (#487) ############################################
LXVIII. —THE VOLUNTARY BEGGAR. 327
times past green meadows, though also sometimes
over wild stony couches where formerly perhaps
an impatient brook had made its bed, then he
turned all at once warmer and heartier again.
"What hath happened unto me? " he asked
himself, "something warm and living quickeneth
me; it must be in the neighbourhood.
Already am I less alone; unconscious com-
panions and brethren rove around me; their warm
breath toucheth my soul. "
When, however, he spied about and sought for
the comforters of his lonesomeness, behold, there
were kine there standing together on an eminence,
whose proximity and smell had warmed his heart.
The kine, however, seemed to listen eagerly to a
speaker, and took no heed of him who approached.
When, however, Zarathustra was quite nigh unto
them, then did he hear plainly that a human voice
spake in the midst of the kine; and apparently all
of them had turned their heads towards the speaker.
Then ran Zarathustra up speedily and drove the
animals aside; for he feared that some one had
here met with harm, which the pity of the kine
would hardly be able to relieve. But in this he was
deceived; for behold, there sat a man on the ground
who seemed to be persuading the animals to have no
fear of him, a peaceable man and Preacher-on-the-
Mount, out of whose eyes kindness itself preached.
"What dost thou seek here? " called out Zara-
thustra in astonishment.
"What do I here seek? " answered he: "the
same that thou seekest, thou mischief-maker! that is
to say, happiness upon earth.
## p. 327 (#488) ############################################
326 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
then, do like me! Thus wilt thou learn also from
me; only the doer learneth.
And talk first and foremost to mine animals!
The proudest animal and the wisest animal—
they might well be the right counsellors for us
both! "
Thus spake Zarathustra and went his way, more
thoughtfully and slowly even than before: for he
asked himself many things, and hardly knew what
to answer.
"How poor indeed is man," thought he in his
heart, "how ugly, how wheezy, how full of hidden
shame!
They tell me that man loveth himself. Ah, how
great must that self-love be! How much contempt
is opposed to it!
Even this man hath loved himself, as he hath
despised himself,—a great lover methinketh he is,
and a great despiser.
No one have I yet found who more thoroughly
despised himself: even that is elevation. Alas,
was this perhaps the higher man whose cry I
heard?
I love the great despisers. Man is something
that hath to be surpassed. "
LXVIII. —THE VOLUNTARY BEGGAR.
When Zarathustra had left the ugliest man, he
was chilled and felt lonesome: for much coldness
and lonesomeness came over his spirit, so that even
his limbs became colder thereby. When, how-
ever, he wandered on and on, uphill and down, at
1
## p. 327 (#489) ############################################
LXVIII. —THE VOLUNTARY BEGGAR. 327
times past green meadows, though also sometimes
over wild stony couches where formerly perhaps
an impatient brook had made its bed, then he
turned all at once warmer and heartier again.
"What hath happened unto me? " he asked
himself, "something warm and living quickeneth
me; it must be in the neighbourhood.
Already am I less alone; unconscious com-
panions and brethren rove around me; their warm
breath toucheth my soul. "
When, however, he spied about and sought for
the comforters of his lonesomeness, behold, there
were kine there standing together on an eminence,
whose proximity and smell had warmed his heart.
The kine, however, seemed to listen eagerly to a
speaker, and took no heed of him who approached.
When, however, Zarathustra was quite nigh unto
them, then did he hear plainly that a human voice
spake in the midst of the kine; and apparently all
of them had turned their heads towards the speaker.
Then ran Zarathustra up speedily and drove the
animals aside; for he feared that some one had
here met with harm, which the pity of the kine
would hardly be able to relieve. But in this he was
deceived; for behold, there sat a man on the ground
who seemed to be persuading the animals to have no
fear of him, a peaceable man and Preacher-on-the-
Mount, out of whose eyes kindness itself preached.
"What dost thou seek here?
