No More Learning

In evening's limpid air,
What time the dew's soothings
Unto the earth downpour,
Invisibly and unheard—
For tender shoe-gear wear
The soothing dews, like all that's kind-
gentle—:
Bethinkst thou then, bethinkst thou, burning
heart,
How once thou thirstedest
For heaven's kindly teardrops and dew's down-
droppings,
All singed and weary thirstedest,
What time on yellow grass-pathways
Wicked, occidental sunny glances
Through sombre trees about thee sported,
Blindinglysunny glow-glances, gladly-hurting?


## p. 366 (#558) ############################################

366 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
"Of truth the wooer? Thou ? "—so taunted
they—
"Nay! Merely poet!
A brute insidious, plundering, grovelling,
That aye must lie,
That wittingly, wilfully, aye must lie:
For booty lusting,
Motley masked,
Self-hidden, shrouded,
Himself his booty—
He—of truth the wooer?
Nay! Mere fool! Mere poet!
Just motley speaking,
From mask of fool confusedly shouting,
Circumambling on fabricated word-bridges,
On motley rainbow-arches,
'Twixt the spurious heavenly
And spurious earthly,
Round us roving, round us soaring,—
Mere fool! Mere poet!
He—of truth the wooer?
Not still, stiff, smooth and cold,
Become an image,
A godlike statue,
Set up in front of temples,
As a God's own door-guard:
Nay! hostile to all such truthfulness-statues,
In every desert homelier than at temples,
With cattish wantonness,
Through every window leaping
Quickly into chances,
Every wild forest a-sniffing,
v


## p. 367 (#559) ############################################

LXXIV. —THE SONG OF MELANCHOLY. 367
Greedily-longingly, sniffing,
That thou, in wild forests,
'Mong the motley-speckled fierce creatures,
Shouldest rove, sinful-sound and fine-coloured,
With longing lips smacking,
Blessedly mocking, blessedly hellish, blessedly
bloodthirsty,
Robbing, skulking, lying-roving :-
Or unto eagles like which fixedly,
Long adown the precipice look,
Adown their precipice :--
Oh, how they whirl down now,
Thereunder, therein,
To ever deeper profoundness whirling !
Then,
Sudden,
With aim aright,
With quivering flight,
On lambkins pouncing,
Headlong down, sore-hungry,
For lambkins longing,
Fierce 'gainst all lamb-spirits,
Furious-fierce 'gainst all that look
Sheeplike, or lambeyed, or crisp-woolly,
-Grey, with lambsheep kindliness!
Even thus,
Eaglelike, pantherlike,
Are the poet's desires,
Are thine own desires 'neath a thousand guises,
Thou fool! Thou poet !


## p. 368 (#560) ############################################

368
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Thou who all mankind viewedst-
So God, as sheep-:
The God to rend within mankind,
As the sheep in mankind,
And in rending laughing-
That, that is thine own blessedness!
Of a panther and eagle-blessedness!
Of a poet and fool—the blessedness! ”--
In evening's limpid air,
What time the moon's sickle,
Green, 'twixt the purple-glowings,
And jealous, stealth forth :
-Of day the foe,
With every step in secret,
The rosy garland-hammocks
Downsickling, till they've sunken
Down nightwards, faded, downsunken :-
Thus had I sunken one day
From mine own truth-insanity,
From mine own fervid day-longings,
Of day aweary, sick of sunshine,
-Sunk downwards, evenwards, shadowwards :
By one sole trueness
All scorched and thirsty :
-Bethinkst thou still, bethinkst thou, burning
heart,
How then thou thirstedest ?
That I should banned be
From all the trueness !
Mere fool! Mere poet!


## p. 369 (#561) ############################################

LXXV. -SCIENCE.
369
LXXV. -SCIENCE.
Thus sang the magician; and all who were
present went like birds unawares into the net of his
artful and melancholy voluptuousness. Only the
spiritually conscientious one had not been caught :
he at once snatched the harp from the magician
and called out: “Air! Let in good air! Let in
Zarathustra! Thou makest this cave sultry and
poisonous, thou bad old magician!
Thou seducest, thou false one, thou subtle one,
to unknown desires and deserts. And alas, that
such as thou should talk and make ado about the
truth!
Alas, to all free spirits who are not on their
guard against such magicians! It is all over with
their freedom : thou teachest and temptest back
into prisons,-
-Thou old melancholy devil, out of thy lament
soundeth a lurement: thou resemblest those who
with their praise of chastity secretly invite to
voluptuousness ! ”
Thus spake the conscientious one; the old
magician, however, looked about him, enjoying his
triumph, and on that account put up with the
annoyance which the conscientious one caused him.
“Be still! ” said he with modest voice, “good songs
want to re-echo well; after good songs one should
be long silent.
Thus do all those present, the higher men.
Thou, however, hast perhaps understood but little
2 A


## p. 370 (#562) ############################################

370
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
of my song? In thee there is little of the magic
spirit. ”
“Thou praisest me,” replied the conscientious
one, “in that thou separatest me from thyself; very
well! But, ye others, what do I see? Ye still sit
there, all of you, with lusting eyes—;
Ye free spirits, whither hath your freedom gone!
Ye almost seem to me to resemble those who have
long looked at bad girls dancing naked : your souls
themselves dance!
In you, ye higher men, there must be more of
that which the magician calleth his evil spirit of
magic and deceit :-we must indeed be different.
And verily, we spake and thought long enough
together ere Zarathustra came home to his cave, for
me not to be unaware that we are different.
We seek different things even here aloft, ye and I.
For I seek more security; on that account have I
come to Zarathustra. For he is still the most
steadfast tower and will
-To-day, when everything tottereth, when all
the earth quaketh. Ye, however, when I see what
eyes ye make, it almost seemeth to me that ye seek
more insecurity,
-More horror, more danger, more earthquake.
Ye long (it almost seemeth so to me-forgive my
presumption, ye higher men)-
-Ye long for the worst and dangerousest life,
which frighteneth me most,-for the life of wild
beasts, for forests, caves, steep mountains and
labyrinthine gorges.
And it is not those who lead out of danger that
please you best, but those who lead you away from


## p. 371 (#563) ############################################

LXXV. -SCIENCE.
371
all paths, the misleaders. But if such longing in
you be actual, it seemeth to me nevertheless to be
impossible.
For fear—that is man's original and fundamental
feeling; through fear everything is explained,
original sin and original virtue. Through fear
there grew also my virtue, that is to say:
Science.
For fear of wild animals—that hath been longest
fostered in man, inclusive of the animal which he
concealeth and feareth in himself:-Zarathustra
calleth it the beast inside. '
Such prolonged ancient fear, at last become
subtle, spiritual and intellectual—at present, me-
thinketh, it is called Science. ”-
Thus spake the conscientious one ; but Zarathus-
tra, who had just come back into his cave and had
heard and divined the last discourse, threw a hand-
ful of roses to the conscientious one, and laughed
on account of his “truths. ” “Why! ” he exclaimed,
“what did I hear just now? Verily, it seemeth to
me, thou art a fool, or else I myself am one: and
quietly and quickly will I put thy 'truth' upside
down.
For fear—is an exception with us. Courage,
however, and adventure, and delight in the uncer-
tain, in the unattempted—courage seemeth to me
the entire primitive history of man.
The wildest and most courageous animals hath
he envied and robbed of all their virtues: thus
only did he become-man.
This courage, at last become subtle, spiritual and
intellectual, this human courage, with eagle's


## p. 372 (#564) ############################################

372
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
pinions and serpent's wisdom: this, it seemeth to
me, is called at present—".
“ Zarathustra ! ” cried all of them there as-
sembled, as if with one voice, and burst out at the
same time into a great laughter; there arose,
however, from them as it were a heavy cloud.
Even the magician laughed, and said wisely:
“Well! It is gone, mine evil spirit !
And did I not myself warn you against it when
I said that it was a deceiver, a lying and deceiving
spirit ?
Especially when it showeth itself naked. But
what can I do with regard to its tricks! Have I
created it and the world ?
Well! Let us be good again, and of good cheer!
And although Zarathustra looketh with evil eye-
just see him! he disliketh mem:
-Ere night cometh will he again learn to love
and laud me; he cannot live long without commit-
ting such follies.
He-loveth his enemies: this art knoweth he
better than any one I have seen. But he taketh
revenge for it-on his friends ! ”
Thus spake the old magician, and the higher men
applauded him ; so that Zarathustra went round,
and mischievously and lovingly shook hands with
his friends,-like one who hath to make amends
and apologise to every one for something. When
however he had thereby come to the door of his
cave, lo, then had he again a longing for the good
air outside, and for his animals,--and wished to
steal out.


## p. 373 (#565) ############################################

LXXVI. --DAUGHTERS OF THE DESERT. 373
LXXVI. -AMONG DAUGHTERS OF THE
DESERT.
“Go not away! ” said then the wanderer who
called himself Zarathustra's shadow, “abide with
us otherwise the old gloomy affliction might again
fall upon us.
Now hath that old magician given us of his
worst for our good, and lo! the good, pious pope
there hath tears in his eyes, and hath quite
embarked again upon the sea of melancholy.
Those kings may well put on a good air before
us still: for that have they learned best of us all at
present! Had they however no one to see them, I
wager that with them also the bad game would
again commence,
- The bad game of drifting clouds, of damp
melancholy, of curtained heavens, of stolen suns, of
howling autumn-winds,
-The bad game of our howling and crying for
help! Abide with us, O Zarathustra! Here there
is much concealed misery that wisheth to speak,
much evening, much cloud, much damp air !
Thou hast nourished us with strong food for men,
and powerful proverbs : do not let the weakly,
womanly spirits attack us anew at dessert!
Thou alone makest the air around thee strong
and clear! Did I ever find anywhere on earth such
good air as with thee in thy cave?
Many lands have I seen, my nose hath learned
to test and estimate many kinds of air : but with
thee do my nostrils taste their greatest delight!


## p. 374 (#566) ############################################

374
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Unless it be,-unless it be, do forgive an old
recollection! Forgive me an old after-dinner song,
which I once composed amongst daughters of the
desert :-
For with them was there equally good, clear,
Oriental air ; there was I furthest from cloudy,
damp, melancholy Old-Europe !
Then did I love such Oriental maidens and
other blue kingdoms of heaven, over which hang
no clouds and no thoughts.
Ye would not believe how charmingly they sat
there, when they did not dance, profound, but with-
out thoughts, like little secrets, like beribboned
riddles, like dessert-nuts-
Many-hued and foreign, forsooth! but without
clouds : riddles which can be guessed: to please
such maidens I then composed an after-dinner
psalm. "
Thus spake the wanderer who called himself
Zarathustra's shadow; and before any one answered
him, he had seized the harp of the old magician,
crossed his legs, and looked calmly and sagely
around him :-with his nostrils, however, he inhaled
the air slowly and questioningly, like one who in
new countries tasteth new foreign air. Afterward
he began to sing with a kind of roaring.
The deserts grow: woe him who doth them hide!
-Ha!
Solemnly!
In effect solemnly!
A worthy beginning !


## p. 375 (#567) ############################################

LXXVI. —DAUGHTERS OF THE DESERT. 375
Afric manner, solemnly!
Of a lion worthy,
Or perhaps of a virtuous howl-monkey—
—But it's naught to you,
Ye friendly damsels dearly loved,
At whose own feet to me,
The first occasion,
To a European under palm-trees,
A seat is now granted. Selah.
Wonderful, truly!
Here do I sit now,
The desert nigh, and yet I am
So far still from the desert,
Even in naught yet deserted:
That is, I'm swallowed down
By this the smallest oasis—:
—It opened up just yawning,
Its loveliest mouth agape,
Most sweet-odoured of all mouthlets:
Then fell I right in,
Right down, right through—in 'mong you,
Ye friendly damsels dearly loved! Selah.
Hail! hail! to that whale, fishlike,
If it thus for its guest's convenience
Made things nice ! —(ye well know,
Surely, my learned allusion ? )
Hail to its belly,
If it had e'er
A such loveliest oasis-belly
As this is: though however I doubt about it,
—With this come I out of Old-Europe,


## p. 375 (#568) ############################################

374 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Unless it be,—unless it be—, do forgive an old
recollection! Forgive me an old after-dinner song,
which I once composed amongst daughters of the
desert:—
For with them was there equally good, clear,
Oriental air; there was I furthest from cloudy,
damp, melancholy Old-Europe!
Then did I love such Oriental maidens and
other blue kingdoms of heaven, over which hang
no clouds and no thoughts.
Ye would not believe how charmingly they sat
there, when they did not dance, profound, but with-
out thoughts, like little secrets, like beribboned
riddles, like dessert-nuts—
Many-hued and foreign, forsooth! but without
clouds: riddles which can be guessed: to please
such maidens I then composed an after-dinner
psalm. "
Thus spake the wanderer who called himself
Zarathustra's shadow; and before any one answered
him, he had seized the harp of the old magician,
crossed his legs, and looked calmly and sagely
around him :—with his nostrils, however, he inhaled
the air slowly and questioningly, like one who in
new countries tasteth new foreign air. Afterward
he began to sing with a kind of roaring.
2.
The deserts grow: woe him who doth them hide!
—Ha!
Solemnly!
In effect solemnly!
A worthy beginning!


## p. 375 (#569) ############################################

LXXVI. —DAUGHTERS OF THE DESERT. 375
Afric manner, solemnly!
Of a lion worthy,
Or perhaps of a virtuous howl-monkey-
-But it's naught to you,
Ye friendly damsels dearly loved,
At whose own feet to me,
The first occasion,
To a European under palm-trees,
A seat is now granted. Selah.
Wonderful, truly!
Here do I sit now,
The desert nigh, and yet I am
So far still from the desert,
Even in naught yet deserted :
That is, I'm swallowed down
By this the smallest oasis — :
-It opened up just yawning,
Its loveliest mouth agape,
Most sweet-odoured of all mouthlets :
Then fell I right in,
Right down, right through-in 'mong you,
Ye friendly damsels dearly loved! Selah.
Hail ! hail ! to that whale, fishlike,
If it thus for its guest's convenience
Made things nice ! -(ye well know,
Surely, my learned allusion ? )
Hail to its belly,
If it had e'er
A such loveliest oasis-belly
As this is : though however I doubt about it,
-With this come I out of Old-Europe,


## p. 376 (#570) ############################################

376
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
That doubt'th more eagerly than doth any
Elderly married woman.
May the Lord improve it!
Amen!
Here do I sit now,
In this the smallest oasis,
Like a date indeed,
Brown, quite sweet, gold-suppurating,
For rounded mouth of maiden longing,
But yet still more for youthful, maidlike,
Ice-cold and snow-white and incisory
Front teeth : and for such assuredly,
Pine the hearts all of ardent date-fruits. Selah.
To the there-named south-fruits now,
Similar, all-too-similar,
Do I lie here; by little
Flying insects
Round-sniffled and round-played,
And also by yet littler,
Foolisher, and peccabler
Wishes and phantasies, -
Environed by you,
Ye silent, presentientest
Maiden-kittens,
Dudu and Suleika,
-Roundsphinxed, that into one word
I may crowd much feeling:
(Forgive me, O God,
All such speech-sinning! )
--Sit I here the best of air sniffling,
Paradisal air, truly,


## p. 377 (#571) ############################################

LXXVI. —DAUGHTERS OF THE DESERT. 377
Bright and buoyant air, golden-mottled,
As goodly air as ever
From lunar orb downfell-
Be it by hazard,
Or supervened it by arrogancy?
As the ancient poets relate it.
But doubter, I'm now calling it
In question : with this do I come indeed
Out of Europe,
That doubt'th more eagerly than doth any
Elderly married woman.
May the Lord improve it!
Amen.
This the finest air drinking,
With nostrils out-swelled like goblets,
Lacking future, lacking remembrances,
Thus do I sit here, ye
Friendly damsels dearly loved,
And look at the palm-tree there,
How it, to a dance-girl, like,
Doth bow and bend and on its hunches bob,
--One doth it too, when one view'th it long ! -
To a dance-girl like, who as it seem'th to me,
Too long, and dangerously persistent,
Always, always, just on single leg hath stood ?
-Then forgot she thereby, as it seem'th to me,
The other leg?
For vainly I, at least,
Did search for the amissing
Fellow-jewel
-Namely, the other leg-
In the sanctified precincts,


## p. 377 (#572) ############################################

376 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
That doubt'th more eagerly than doth any
Elderly married woman.
May the Lord improve it!
Amen!
Here do I sit now,
In this the smallest oasis,
Like a date indeed,
Brown, quite sweet, gold-suppurating,
For rounded mouth of maiden longing,
But yet still more for youthful, maidlike,
Ice-cold and snow-white and incisory
Front teeth: and for such assuredly,
Pine the hearts all of ardent date-fruits. Selah.
To the there-named south-fruits now,
Similar, all-too-similar,
Do I lie here; by little
Flying insects
Round-sniffled and round-played,
And also by yet littler,
Foolisher, and peccabler
Wishes and phantasies,—
Environed by you,
Ye silent, presentientest
Maiden-kittens,
Dudu and Suleika,
—Roundsphinxed, that into one word
I may crowd much feeling:
(Forgive me, O God,
All such speech-sinning! )
—Sit I here the best of air sniffling,
Paradisal air, truly,


## p. 377 (#573) ############################################

LXXVI— DAUGHTERS OF THE DESERT.
377
Bright and buoyant air, golden-mottled,
As goodly air as ever
From lunar orb downfell—
Be it by hazard,
Or supervened it by arrogancy?
As the ancient poets relate it.
But doubter, I'm now calling it
In question: with this do I come indeed
Out of Europe,
That doubt'th more eagerly than doth any
Elderly married woman.
May the Lord improve it!
Amen.
This the finest air drinking,
With nostrils out-swelled like goblets,
Lacking future, lacking remembrances,
Thus do I sit here, ye
Friendly damsels dearly loved,
And look at the palm-tree there,
How it, to a dance-girl, like,
Doth bow and bend and on its hunches bob,
—One doth it too, when one view'th it long! —
To a dance-girl like, who as it seem'th to me,
Too long, and dangerously persistent,
Always, always, just on single leg hath stood?
—Then forgot she thereby, as it seem'th to me,
The other leg?
For vainly I, at least,
Did search for the amissing
Fellow-jewel
—Namely, the other leg—
In the sanctified precincts,


## p. 377 (#574) ############################################

376 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
That doubt'th more eagerly than doth any
Elderly married woman.
May the Lord improve it!
Amen!
Here do I sit now,
In this the smallest oasis,
Like a date indeed,
Brown, quite sweet, gold-suppurating,
For rounded mouth of maiden longing,
But yet still more for youthful, maidlike,
Ice-cold and snow-white and incisory
Front teeth: and for such assuredly,
Pine the hearts all of ardent date-fruits. Selah.
To the there-named south-fruits now,
Similar, all-too-similar,
Do I lie here; by little
Flying insects
Round-sniffled and round-played,
And also by yet littler,
Foolisher, and peccabler
Wishes and phantasies,—
Environed by you,
Ye silent, presentientest
Maiden-kittens,
Dudu and Suleika,
—Roundsphinxed, that into one word
I may crowd much feeling:
(Forgive me, O God,
All such speech-sinning! )
—Sit I here the best of air sniffling,
Paradisal air, truly,


## p. 377 (#575) ############################################

LXXVI. —DAUGHTERS OF THE DESERT. 377
Bright and buoyant air, golden-mottled,
As goodly air as ever
From lunar orb downfell—
Be it by hazard,
Or supervened it by arrogancy?
As the ancient poets relate it.
But doubter, I'm now calling it
In question: with this do I come indeed
Out of Europe,
That doubt'th more eagerly than doth any
Elderly married woman.
May the Lord improve it!
Amen.
This the finest air drinking,
With nostrils out-swelled like goblets,
Lacking future, lacking remembrances,
Thus do I sit here, ye
Friendly damsels dearly loved,
And look at the palm-tree there,
How it, to a dance-girl, like,
Doth bow and bend and on its hunches bob,
—One doth it too, when one view'th it long ! —
To a dance-girl like, who as it seem'th to me,
Too long, and dangerously persistent,
Always, always, just on single leg hath stood?
—Then forgot she thereby, as it seem'th to me,
The other leg?
For vainly I, at least,
Did search for the amissing
Fellow-jewel
—Namely, the other leg—
In the sanctified precincts,


## p. 377 (#576) ############################################

376 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
That doubt'th more eagerly than doth any
Elderly married woman.
May the Lord improve it!
Amen!
Here do I sit now,
In this the smallest oasis,
Like a date indeed,
Brown, quite sweet, gold-suppurating,
For rounded mouth of maiden longing,
But yet still more for youthful, maidlike,
Ice-cold and snow-white and incisory
Front teeth: and for such assuredly,
Pine the hearts all of ardent date-fruits. Selah.
To the there-named south-fruits now,
Similar, all-too-similar,
Do I lie here; by little
Flying insects
Round-sniffled and round-played,
And also by yet littler,
Foolisher, and peccabler
Wishes and phantasies,—
Environed by you,
Ye silent, presentientest
Maiden-kittens,
Dudu and Suleika,
—Roundsphinxed, that into one word
I may crowd much feeling:
(Forgive me, O God,
All such speech-sinning! )
—Sit I here the best of air sniffling,
Paradisal air, truly,


## p. 377 (#577) ############################################

LXXVI. —DAUGHTERS OF THE DESERT. 377
Bright and buoyant air, golden-mottled,
As goodly air as ever
From lunar orb downfell—
Be it by hazard,
Or supervened it by arrogancy?
As the ancient poets relate it.
But doubter, I'm now calling it
In question: with this do I come indeed
Out of Europe,
That doubt'th more eagerly than doth any
Elderly married woman.
May the Lord improve it!
Amen.
This the finest air drinking,
With nostrils out-swelled like goblets,
Lacking future, lacking remembrances,
Thus do I sit here, ye
Friendly damsels dearly loved,
And look at the palm-tree there,
How it, to a dance-girl, like,
Doth bow and bend and on its hunches bob,
—One doth it too, when one view'th it long! —
To a dance-girl like, who as it seem'th to me,
Too long, and dangerously persistent,
Always, always, just on single leg hath stood?
—Then forgot she thereby, as it seem'th to me,
The other leg?
For vainly I, at least,
Did search for the amissing
Fellow-jewel
—Namely, the other leg—
In the sanctified precincts,


## p. 378 (#578) ############################################

378 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Nigh her very dearest, very tenderest,
Flapping and fluttering and flickering skirting.
Yea, if ye should, ye beauteous friendly ones,
Quite take my word:
She hath, alas! lost it!
Hu! Hu! Hu! Hu! Hu!
It is away!
For ever away!
The other leg!
Oh, pity for that loveliest other leg!
Where may it now tarry, all-forsaken weeping?
The lonesomest leg?
In fear perhaps before a
Furious, yellow, blond and curled
Leonine monster? Or perhaps even
Gnawed away, nibbled badly—
Most wretched, woeful! woeful! nibbled badly!
Selah.
Oh weep ye not,
Gentle spirits!
Weep ye not, ye
Date-fruit spirits! Milk-bosoms!
Ye sweetwood-heart
Purselets!
Weep ye no more,
Pallid Dudu!
Be a man, Suleika! Bold! Bold!
—Or else should there perhaps
Something strengthening, heart-strengthening,
Here most proper be?
Some inspiring text?
Some solemn exhortation? —


## p. 379 (#579) ############################################

LXXVI. —DAUGHTERS OF THE DESERT. 379
Ha! Up now! honour!
Moral honour! European honour!
Blow again, continue,
Bellows-box of virtue!
Ha!
Once more thy roaring,
Thy moral roaring!
As a virtuous lion
Nigh the daughters of deserts roaring!
—For virtue's out-howl,
Ye very dearest maidens,
Is more than every
European fervour, European hot-hunger!
And now do I stand here,
As European,
I can't be different, God's help to me!
Amen!
The deserts grow: woe him who doth them hide!
LXXVII. —THE AWAKENING.
1.
After the song of the wanderer and shadow,
the cave became all at once full of noise and
laughter: and since the assembled guests all spake
simultaneously, and even the ass, encouraged there-
by, no longer remained silent, a little aversion and
scorn for his visitors came over Zarathustra,
although he rejoiced at their gladness. For it
seemed to him a sign of convalescence. So he


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380 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
slipped out into the open air and spake to his
animals.
"Whither hath their distress now gone? " said
he, and already did he himself feel relieved of his
petty disgust—" with me, it seemeth that they have
unlearned their cries of distress!
—Though, alas! not yet their crying. " And
Zarathustra stopped his ears, for just then did the
Ye-a of the ass mix strangely with the noisy
jubilation of those higher men.
"They are merry," he began, again, "and who
knoweth? perhaps at their host's expense; and if
they have learned of me to laugh, still it is not my
laughter they have learned.
But what matter about that! They are old
people: they recover in their own way, they laugh
in their own way; mine ears have already endured
worse and have not become peevish.
This day is a victory: he already yieldeth, he
fleeth the spirit of gravity, mine old arch-enemy!
How well this day is about to end, which began so
badly and gloomily!
And it is about to end. Already cometh the
evening: over the sea rideth it hither, the good
rider! How it bobbeth, the blessed one, the home-
returning one, in its purple saddles!
The sky gazeth brightly thereon, the world lieth
deep. Oh, all ye strange ones who have come to
me, it is already worth while to have lived with me! "
Thus spake Zarathustra. And again came the
cries and laughter of the higher men out of the
cave: then began he anew:


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LXXVII. —THE AWAKENING. 381
"They bite at it, my bait taketh, there departeth
also from them their enemy, the spirit of gravity.
Now do they learn to laugh at themselves: do I
hear rightly?
My virile food taketh effect, my strong and
savoury sayings: and verily, I did not nourish them
with flatulent vegetables! But with warrior-food,
with conqueror-food: new desires did I awaken.
New hopes are in their arms and legs, their
hearts expand. They find new words, soon will
their spirits breathe wantonness.
Such food may sure enough not be proper for
children, nor even for longing girls old and young.
One persuadeth their bowels otherwise; I am not
their physician and teacher.
The disgust departeth from these higher men:
well! that is my victory. In my domain they
become assured; all stupid shame fleeth away;
they empty themselves.
They empty their hearts, good times return unto
them, they keep holiday and ruminate,—they
become thankful.
That do I take as the best sign: they become
thankful. Not long will it be ere they devise
festivals, and put up memorials to their old joys.
They are convalescents! " Thus spake Zarathus-
tra joyfully to his heart and gazed outward; his
animals, however, pressed up to him, and honoured
his happiness and his silence.
2.
All on a sudden however, Zarathustra's ear was
frightened: for the cave which had hitherto been


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382 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
full of noise and laughter, became all at once still
as death ;—his nose however smelt a sweet-scented
vapour and incense-odour, as if from burning pine-
cones.
"What happeneth? What are they about? " he
asked himself, and stole up to the entrance, that he
might be able unobserved to see his guests. But
wonder upon wonder! what was he then obliged
to behold with his own eyes!
"They have all of them become pious again, they
pray, they are mad ! "—said he, and was astonished
beyond measure. And forsooth! all these higher
men, the two kings, the pope out of service, the
evil magician, the voluntary beggar, the wanderer
and shadow, the old soothsayer, the spiritually
conscientious one, and the ugliest man—they all
lay on their knees like children and credulous old
women, and worshipped the ass. And just then
began the ugliest man to gurgle and snort as if
something unutterable in him tried to find expres-
sion; when, however, he had actually found words,
behold! it was a pious, strange litany in praise of
the adored and censed ass. And the litany sounded
thus:
Amen! And glory and honour and wisdom and
thanks and praise and strength be to our God, from
everlasting to everlasting!
—The ass, however, here brayed Ye-a.
He carrieth our burdens, he hath taken upon him
the form of a servant, he is patient of heart and
never saith Nay; and he who loveth his God
chastiseth him.


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LXXVII. —THE AWAKENING. 383
—The ass, however, here brayed Ye-a.
Re speaketh not: except that he ever saith Yea
to che world which he created: thus doth he extol
his world. It is his artfulness that speaketh not:
thus is he rarely found wrong.
—The ass, however, here brayed Ye-A.
Uncomely goeth he through the world. Grey is
the favourite colour in which he wrappeth his virtue.
Hath he spirit, then doth he conceal it; every one,
however, believeth in his long ears.
—The ass, however, here brayed Ye-A.
What hidden wisdom it is to wear long ears, and
only to say Yea and never Nay! Hath he not
created the world in his own image, namely, as
stupid as possible?
—The ass, however, here brayed Ye-a.
Thou goest straight and crooked ways; it
concerneth thee little what seemeth straight or
crooked unto us men. Beyond good and evil is
thy domain. It is thine innocence not to know
what innocence is.
—The ass, however, here brayed Ye-A.
Lo! how thou spurnest none from thee, neither
beggars nor kings. Thou sufferest little children
to come unto thee, and when the bad boys decoy
thee, then sayest thou simply, Ye-A.
—The ass, however, here brayed Ye-A.
Thou lovest she-asses and fresh figs, thou art no
food-despiser. A thistle tickleth thy heart when
thou chancest to be hungry. There is the wisdom
of a God therein.
—The ass, however, here brayed Ye-a.


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384 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
I
LXXVIII. —THE ASS-FESTIVAL. A
At this place in the litany, however, Zarathustra
could no longer control himself; he himself cried
out Ye-a, louder even than the ass, and sprang into
the midst of his maddened guests. "Whatever are
you about, ye grown-up children? " he exclaimed,
pulling up the praying ones from the ground.
"Alas, if any one else, except Zarathustra, had
seen you:
Every one would think you the worst blas-
phemers, or the very foolishest old women, with
your new belief!
And thou thyself, thou old pope, how is it in
accordance with thee, to adore an ass in such a
manner as God ? "—
"O Zarathustra," answered the pope, "forgive
me, but in divine matters I am more enlightened
even than thou. And it is right that it should
be so.
Better to adore God so, in this form, than in no
form at all! Think over this saying, mine exalted
friend: thou wilt readily divine that in such a
saying there is wisdom.
He who said ' God is a Spirit'—made the greatest
stride and slide hitherto made on earth towards
unbelief: such a dictum is not easily amended again
on earth!
Mine old heart leapeth and boundeth because
there is still something to adore on earth. Forgive
it, O Zarathustra, to an old, pious pontiff-heart 1—"


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LXXVIII. —THE ASS-FESTIVAL.