Now must the
gentlest
in thee become
the hardest.
the hardest.
Nietzsche - v11 - Thus Spake Zarathustra
And when doth
this take place? Hath the Will been unharnessed
from its own folly?
Hath the Will become its own deliverer and joy-
bringer? Hath it unlearned the spirit of revenge
and all teeth-gnashing?
And who hath taught it reconciliation with time,
and something higher than all reconciliation?
Something higher than all reconciliation must the
Will will which is the Will to Power—: but how
doth that take place? Who hath taught it also
to will backwards?
## p. 171 (#257) ############################################
XLII. —REDEMPTION. 171
—But at this point in his discourse it chanced
that Zarathustra suddenly paused, and looked like
a person in the greatest alarm. With terror in his
eyes did he gaze on his disciples; his glances
pierced as with arrows their thoughts and arrear-
thoughts. But after a brief space he again laughed,
and said soothedly:
"It is difficult to live amongst men, because
silence is so difficult—especially for a babbler. "—
Thus spake Zarathustra. The hunchback, how-
ever, had listened to the conversation and had
covered his face during the time; but when he
heard Zarathustra laugh, he looked up with
curiosity, and said slowly:
"But why doth Zarathustra speak otherwise unto
us than unto his disciples? "
Zarathustra answered: "What is there to be
wondered at! With hunchbacks one may well
speak in a hunchbacked way! "
"Very good," said the hunchback; "and with
pupils one may well tell tales out of school.
But why doth Zarathustra speak otherwise unto
his pupils—than unto himself? "—
XLIII. —MANLY PRUDENCE.
Not the height, it is the declivity that is terrible!
The declivity, where the gaze shooteth down-
wards, and the hand graspeth upwards. There
doth the heart become giddy through its double
will.
Ah, friends, do ye divine also my heart's double
will?
## p. 172 (#258) ############################################
172 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, II.
This, this is my declivity and my danger, that my
gaze shooteth towards the summit, and my hand
would fain clutch and lean—on the depth!
To man clingeth my will; with chains do I bind
myself to man, because I am pulled upwards to
the Superman: for thither doth mine other will
tend.
And therefore do I live blindly among men, as
if I knew them not: that my hand may not entirely
lose belief in firmness.
I know not you men: this gloom and consolation
is often spread around me.
I sit at the gateway for every rogue, and ask:
Who wisheth to deceive me?
This is my first manly prudence, that I allow
myself to be deceived, so as not to be on my guard
against deceivers.
Ah, if I were on my guard against man, how
could man be an anchor to my ball! Too easily
would I be pulled upwards and away!
This providence is over my fate, that I have to
be without foresight.
And he who would not languish amongst men,
must learn to drink out of all glasses; and he who
would keep clean amongst men, must know how to
wash himself even with dirty water.
And thus spake I often to myself for consolation:
"Courage! Cheer up! old heart! An unhappi-
ness hath failed to befall thee: enjoy that as thy—
happiness! "
This, however, is mine other manly prudence: I
am more forbearing to the vain than to the proud.
Is not wounded vanity the mother of all
## p. 173 (#259) ############################################
XLIII. —MANLY PRUDENCE. 173
tragedies? Where, however, pride is wounded,
there there groweth up something better than
pride.
That life may be fair to behold, its game must
be well played: for that purpose, however, it
needeth good actors.
Good actors have I found all the vain ones: they
play, and wish people to be fond of beholding
them—all their spirit is in this wish.
They represent themselves, they invent them-
selves; in their neighbourhood I like to look upon
life—it cureth of melancholy.
Therefore am I forbearing to the vain, because
they are the physicians of my melancholy, and
keep me attached to man as to a drama.
And further, who conceiveth the full depth of
the modesty of the vain man! I am favourable to
him, and sympathetic on account of his modesty.
From you would he learn his belief in himself;
he feedeth upon your glances, he eateth praise out
of your hands.
Your lies doth he even believe when you lie
favourably about him: for in its depths sigheth
his heart: "What am I? "
And if that be the true virtue which is uncon-
scious of itself—well, the vain man is unconscious
of his modesty ! —
This is, however, my third manly prudence: I
am not put out of conceit with the wicked by your
timorousness.
I am happy to see the marvels the warm sun
hatcheth: tigers and palms and rattle-snakes.
Also amongst men there is a beautiful brood
## p. 174 (#260) ############################################
174 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, II.
of the warm sun, and much that is marvellous in
the wicked.
In truth, as your wisest did not seem to me so
very wise, so found I also human wickedness below
the fame of it.
And oft did I ask with a shake of the head:
Why still rattle, ye rattle-snakes?
Verily, there is still a future even for evil! And
the warmest south is still undiscovered by man.
How many things are now called the worst
wickedness, which are only twelve feet broad and
three months long! Some day, however, will
greater dragons come into the world.
For that the Superman may not lack his dragon,
the superdragon that is worthy of him, there
must still much warm sun glow on moist virgin
forests!
Out of your wild cats must tigers have evolved,
and out of your poison-toads, crocodiles: for the
good hunter shall have a good hunt!
And verily, ye good and just! In you there is
much to be laughed at, and especially your fear of
what hath hitherto been called "the devil! "
So alien are ye in your souls to what is great,
that to you the Superman would be frightful in his
goodness!
And ye wise and knowing ones, ye would flee
from the solar-glow of the wisdom in which the
Superman joyfully batheth his nakedness!
Ye highest men who have come within my ken!
this is my doubt of you, and my secret laughter:
I suspect ye would call my Superman—a devil!
Ah, I became tired of those highest and best
## p. 175 (#261) ############################################
XLIII. —MANLY PRUDENCE.
175
ones : from their "height" did I long to be up,
out, and away to the Superman !
A horror came over me when I saw those best ones
naked : then there grew for me the pinions to
soar away into distant futures.
Into more distant futures, into more southern
souths than ever artist dreamed of: thither, where
Gods are ashamed of all clothes !
But disguised do I want to see you, ye neighbours
and fellowmen, and well-attired and vain and
estimable, as “the good and just;”—
And disguised will I myself sit amongst you-
that I may mistake you and myself: for that is
my last manly prudence. -
Thus spake Zarathustra.
XLIV. -THE STILLEST HOUR.
What hath happened unto me, my friends? Ye
see me troubled, driven forth, unwillingly obedient,
ready to go—alas, to go away from you !
Yea, once more must Zarathustra retire to his
solitude: but unjoyously this time doth the bear
go back to his cave !
What hath happened unto me? Who ordereth
this ? —Ah, mine angry mistress wisheth it so; she
spake unto me. Have I ever named her name to
you ?
Yesterday towards evening there spake unto me
my stillest hour: that is the name of my terrible
mistress.
And thus did it happen-for everything must I
## p. 176 (#262) ############################################
176 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, II.
tell you, that your heart may not harden against
the suddenly departing one!
Do ye know the terror of him who falleth
asleep ? —
To the very toes he is terrified, because the
ground giveth way under him, and the dream
beginneth.
This do I speak unto you in parable. Yesterday
at the stillest hour did the ground give way under
me: the dream began.
The hour-hand moved on, the timepiece of my
life drew breath—never did I hear such stillness
around me, so that my heart was terrified.
Then was there spoken unto me without voice:
"Thou knowest it, Zarathustra ? "—
And I cried in terror at this whispering, and the
blood left my face: but I was silent.
Then was there once more spoken unto me with-
out voice: "Thou knowest it, Zarathustra, but
thou dost not speak it! "—
And at last I answered, like one defiant: "Yea,
I know it, but I will not speak it! "
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: "Thou wilt not, Zarathustra? Is this true?
Conceal thyself not behind thy defiance! "—
And I wept and trembled like a child, and said:
"Ah, I would indeed, but how can I do it!
Exempt me only from this! It is beyond my
power! "
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: "What matter about thyself, Zarathustra!
Speak thy word, and succumb! "
And I answered: "Ah, is it my word? Who
## p. 177 (#263) ############################################
XLIV. —THE STILLEST HOUR.
177
am I? I await the worthier one ; I am not worthy
even to succumb by it. ”
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: “What matter about thyself? Thou art not
yet humble enough for me. Humility hath the
hardest skin. ”—
And I answered: “What hath not the skin of
my humility endured! At the foot of my height
do I dwell : how high are my summits, no one hath
yet told me. But well do I know my valleys. ”
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: “O Zarathustra, he who hath to remove
mountains removeth also valleys and plains. ”—
And I answered : “As yet hath my word not
removed mountains, and what I have spoken hath
not reached man. I went, indeed, unto men, but
not yet have I attained unto them. ”
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: “What knowest thou thereof! The dew
falleth on the grass when the night is most
silent. ”-
And I answered : “ They mocked me when I
found and walked in mine own path; and certainly
did my feet then tremble.
And thus did they speak unto me: Thou for-
gottest the path before, now dost thou also forget
how to walk ! ”
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: “What matter about their mockery! Thou
art one who hast unlearned to obey: now shalt
thou command !
Knowest thou not who is most needed by all ?
He who commandeth great things.
## p. 178 (#264) ############################################
178 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, II.
To execute great things is difficult: but the
more difficult task is to command great things.
This is thy most unpardonable obstinacy: thou
hast the power, and thou wilt not rule. "—
And I answered: "I lack the lion's voice for
all commanding. "
Then was there again spoken unto me as a
whispering: "It is the stillest words which bring
the storm. Thoughts that come with doves' foot-
steps guide the world.
O Zarathustra, thou shalt go as a shadow of that
which is to come: thus wilt thou command, and
in commanding go foremost. "—
And I answered: "I am ashamed. "
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: "Thou must yet become a child, and be
without shame.
The pride of youth is still upon thee; late hast
thou become young: but he who would become a
child must surmount even his youth. "—
And I considered a long while, and trembled.
At last, however, did I say what I had said at first:
"I will not. "
Then did a laughing take place all around me.
Alas, how that laughing lacerated my bowels and
cut into my heart!
And there was spoken unto me for the last time:
"O Zarathustra, thy fruits are ripe, but thou art not
ripe for thy fruits!
So must thou go again into solitude: for thou
shalt yet become mellow. "—
And again was there a laughing, and it fled:
then did it become still around me, as with a
## p. 179 (#265) ############################################
XLIV. —THE STILLEST HOUR. 179
double stillness. I lay, however, on the ground,
and the sweat flowed from my limbs.
—Now have ye heard all, and why I have to
return into my solitude. Nothing have I kept
hidden from you, my friends.
But even this have ye heard from me, who is
still the most reserved of men—and will be so!
Ah, my friends! I should have something more
to say unto you! I should have something more
to give unto you! Why do I not give it? Am I
then a niggard ? —
When, however, Zarathustra had spoken these
words, the violence of his pain, and a sense of the
nearness of his departure from his friends came
over him, so that he wept aloud; and no one knew
how to console him. In the night, however, he
went away alone, and left his friends.
## p. 180 (#266) ############################################
## p. 181 (#267) ############################################
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA
THIRD PART
"Ye look aloft when ye long
for exaltation, and I look down-
ward because I am exalted.
"Who among you can at the
same time laugh and be exalted?
"He who climbeth on the
highest mountains, laugheth at
all tragic plays ana tragic
realities. " — Zarathustra, I. ,
"Reading and Writing" (p. 44).
## p. 182 (#268) ############################################
]
## p. 183 (#269) ############################################
XLV. —THE WANDERER.
THEN, when it was about midnight, Zarathustra
went his way over the ridge of the isle, that he
might arrive early in the morning at the other
coast; because there he meant to embark. For
there was a good roadstead there, in which foreign
ships also liked to anchor: those ships took many
people with them, who wished to cross over from
the Happy Isles. So when Zarathustra thus as-
cended the mountain, he thought on the way of
his many solitary wanderings from youth onwards,
and how many mountains and ridges and summits
he had already climbed.
I am a wanderer and mountain-climber, said he
to his heart, I love not the plains, and it seemeth
I cannot long sit still.
And whatever may still overtake me as fate
and experience—a wandering will be therein, and
a mountain-climbing: in the end one experienceth
only oneself.
The time is now past when accidents could
befall me; and what could now fall to my lot which
would not already be mine own!
It returneth only, it cometh home to me at last
—mine own Self, and such of it as hath been long
abroad, and scattered among things and accidents.
And one thing more do I know: I stand now
## p. 184 (#270) ############################################
184
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
before my last summit, and before that which hath
been longest reserved for me. Ah, my hardest
path must I ascend! Ah, I have begun my lone-
somest wandering!
He, however, who is of my nature doth not avoid
such an hour: the hour that saith unto him: Now
only dost thou go the way to thy greatness !
Summit and abyss — these are now comprised
together!
Thou goest the way to thy greatness : now hath
it become thy last refuge, what was hitherto thy
last danger!
Thou goest the way to thy greatness : it must
now be thy best courage that there is no longer
any path behind thee!
Thou goest the way to thy greatness : here shall
no one steal after thee! Thy foot itself hath effaced
the path behind thee, and over it standeth written :
Impossibility.
And if all ladders henceforth fail thee, then must
thou learn to mount upon thine own head : how
couldst thou mount upward otherwise ?
Upon thine own head, and beyond thine own
heart!
Now must the gentlest in thee become
the hardest.
He who hath always much-indulged himself,
sickeneth at last by his much-indulgence. Praises
on what maketh hardy! I do not praise the land
where butter and honey-flow !
To learn to look away from oneself, is necessary
in order to see many things :—this hardiness is
needed by every mountain-climber.
He, however, who is obtrusive with his eyes as a
## p. 185 (#271) ############################################
XLV. —THE WANDERER. 185
discerner, how can he ever see more of anything
than its foreground!
But thou, O Zarathustra, wouldst view the ground
of everything, and its background: thus must thou
mount even above thyself—up, upwards, until thou
hast even thy stars under thee!
Yea! To look down upon myself, and even upon
my stars: that only would I call my summit, that
hath remained for me as my last summit! —
Thus spake Zarathustra to himself while ascend-
ing, comforting his heart with harsh maxims: for
he was sore at heart as he had never been before.
And when he had reached the top of the mountain-
ridge, behold, there lay the other sea spread out
before him: and he stood still and was long silent.
The night, however, was cold at this height, and
clear and starry.
I recognise my destiny, said he at last, sadly.
Well! I am ready. Now hath my last lonesome-
ness begun.
Ah, this sombre, sad sea, below me! Ah, this
sombre nocturnal vexation! Ah, fate and sea!
To you must I now go down!
Before my highest mountain do I stand, and
before my longest wandering: therefore must I
first go deeper down than I ever ascended:
—Deeper down into pain than I ever ascended,
even into its darkest flood! So willeth my fate.
Well! I am ready.
Whence come the highest mountains? so did I
once ask. Then did I learn that they come out
of the sea.
## p. 186 (#272) ############################################
186
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
That testimony is inscribed on their stones, and
on the walls of their summits. Out of the deepest
must the highest come to its height. -
Thus spake Zarathustra on the ridge of the
mountain where it was cold: when, however, he
came into the vicinity of the sea, and at last stood
alone amongst the cliffs, then had he become weary
on his way, and eagerer than ever before.
Everything as yet sleepeth, said he; even the
sea sleepeth. Drowsily and strangely doth its eye
gaze upon me.
But it breatheth warmly-I feel it. And I feel
also that it dreameth. It tosseth about dreamily
on hard pillows.
Hark! Hark! How it groaneth with evil
recollections ! Or evil expectations ?
Ah, I am sad along with thee, thou dusky
monster, and angry with myself even for thy sake.
Ah, that my hand hath not strength enough!
Gladly, indeed, would I free thee from evil
dreams! -
And while Zarathustra thus spake, he laughed
at himself with melancholy and bitterness. What!
Zarathustra, said he, wilt thou even sing consolation
to the sea ?
Ah, thou amiable fool, Zarathustra, thou too-
blindly confiding one! But thus hast thou ever
been: ever hast thou approached confidently all
that is terrible.
Every monster wouldst thou caress. A whiff of
warm breath, a little soft tuft on its paw—; and
immediately wert thou ready to love and lure it.
## p. 187 (#273) ############################################
XLV. —THE WANDERER. 187
Love is the danger of the lonesomest one, love to
anything, if it only live! Laughable, verily, is my
folly and my modesty in love! —
Thus spake Zarathustra, and laughed thereby a
second time. Then, however, he thought of his
abandoned friends—and as if he had done them a
wrong with his thoughts, he upbraided himself
because of his thoughts. And forthwith it came
to pass that the laugher wept—with anger and
longing wept Zarathustra bitterly.
XLVI. —THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA.
1.
When it got abroad among the sailors that
Zarathustra was on board the ship—for a man who
came from the Happy Isles had gone on board
along with him,—there was great curiosity and
expectation. But Zarathustra kept silent for two
days, and was cold and deaf with sadness; so that
he neither answered looks nor questions. On the
evening of the second day, however, he again
opened his ears, though he still kept silent: for
there were many curious and dangerous things
to be heard on board the ship, which came from
afar, and was to go still further. Zarathustra, how-
ever, was fond of all those who make distant
voyages, and dislike to live without danger. And
behold! when listening, his own tongue was at last
loosened, and the ice of his heart broke. Then
did he begin to speak thus:
To you, the daring venturers and adventurers,
## p. 188 (#274) ############################################
188
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
enjoy nerous gulljike to
and whoever hath embarked with cunning sails
upon frightful seas,-
To you the enigma-intoxicated, the twilight-
enjoyers, whose souls are allured by flutes to every
treacherous gulf :
-For ye dislike to grope at a thread with
cowardly hand; and where ye can divine, there do
ye hate to calculate-
To you only do I tell the enigma that I saw-
the vision of the lonesomest one. —
Gloomily walked I lately in corpse-coloured twi-
light-gloomily and sternly, with compressed lips.
Not only one sun had set for me.
A path which ascended daringly among boulders,
an evil, lonesome path, which neither herb nor shrub
any longer cheered, a mountain-path, crunched
under the daring of my foot.
Mutely marching over the scornful clinking of
pebbles, trampling the stone that let it slip: thus
did my foot force its way upwards.
Upwards :-in spite of the spirit that drew it
downwards, towards the abyss, the spirit of gravity,
my devil and arch-enemy.
Upwards :-although it sat upon me, half-dwarf,
half-mole; paralysed, paralysing ; dripping lead in
mine ear, and thoughts like drops of lead into my
brain.
"O Zarathustra,” it whispered scornfully, syllable
by syllable, “thou stone of wisdom! Thou threwest
thyself high, but every thrown stone must-fall!
O Zarathustra, thou stone of wisdom, thou sling-
stone, thou star-destroyer! Thyself threwest thou
so high,but every thrown stone-must fall!
## p. 189 (#275) ############################################
XLVI. —THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA. 189
Condemned of thyself, and to thine own stoning :
O Zarathustra, far indeed threwest thou thy stone-
but upon thyself will it recoil ! ”
Then was the dwarf silent; and it lasted long.
The silence, however, oppressed me; and to be thus
in pairs, one is verily lonesomer than when alone!
I ascended, I ascended, I dreamt, I thought,—but
everything oppressed me. A sick one did I re-
semble, whom bad torture wearieth, and a worse
dream reawakeneth out of his first sleep. -
But there is something in me which I call
courage: it hath hitherto slain for me every dejec-
tion. This courage at last bade me stand still and
say: "Dwarf! Thou! Or I! ”-
For courage is the best slayer,—courage which
attacketh : for in every attack there is sound of
triumph.
Man, however, is the most courageous animal :
thereby hath he overcome every animal. With
sound of triumph hath he overcome every pain ;
human pain, however, is the sorest pain.
Courage slayeth also giddiness at abysses: and
where doth man not stand at abysses! Is not
seeing itself-seeing abysses ?
Courage is the best slayer : courage slayeth also
fellow-suffering. Fellow-suffering, however, is the
deepest abyss : as deeply as man looketh into life,
so deeply also doth he look into suffering.
Courage, however, is the best slayer, courage
which attacketh: it slayeth even death itself; for
it saith : “ Was that life? Well! Once more ! ”
In such speech, however, there is much sound of
triumph. He who hath ears to hear, let him hear. -
## p. 190 (#276) ############################################
190 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III
2.
"Halt, dwarf! " said I. "Either I—or thou! I,
however, am the stronger of the two—: thou
knowest not mine abysmal thought! It—couldst
thou not endure! "
Then happened that which made me lighter: for
the dwarf sprang from my shoulder, the prying
sprite! And it squatted on a stone in front of
me. There was however a gateway just where we
halted.
"Look at this gateway! Dwarf! " I continued,
"it hath two faces. Two roads come together
here: these hath no one yet gone to the end of.
This long lane backwards: it continueth for an
eternity. And that long lane forward—that is
another eternity.
They are antithetical to one another, these roads;
they directly abut on one another:—and it is here,
at this gateway, that they come together. The
name of the gateway is inscribed above: 'This
Moment. '
But should one follow them further—and ever
further and further on, thinkest thou, dwarf, that
these roads would be eternally antithetical ? "—
"Everything straight lieth," murmured the dwarf,
contemptuously. "All truth is crooked ; time itself
is a circle. "
"Thou spirit of gravity! " said I wrathfully, " do
not take it too lightly! Or I shall let thee squat
where thou squattest, Haltfoot,—and I carried thee
high! "
"Observe," continued I, "This Moment! From
## p. 191 (#277) ############################################
XLVI. —THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA. 191
the gateway, This Moment, there runneth a long
eternal lane backwards: behind us lieth an eternity.
Must not whatever can run its course of all
things, have already run along that lane? Must
not whatever can happen of all things have already
happened, resulted, and gone by?
And if everything have already existed, what
thinkest thou, dwarf, of This Moment? Must not
this gateway also—have already existed?
And are not all things closely bound together in
such wise that This Moment draweth all coming
things after it? Consequently itself also?
For whatever can run its course of all things, also
in this long lane outward—must it once more run ! —
And this slow spider which creepeth in the
moonlight, and this moonlight itself, and thou and
I in this gateway whispering together, whispering
of eternal things—must we not all have already
existed?
—And must we not return and run in that
other lane out before us, that long weird lane—
must we not eternally return ? "—
Thus did I speak, and always more softly: for I
was afraid of mine own thoughts, and arrear-
thoughts. Then, suddenly did I hear a dog howl
near me.
Had I ever heard a dog howl thus? 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.
this take place? Hath the Will been unharnessed
from its own folly?
Hath the Will become its own deliverer and joy-
bringer? Hath it unlearned the spirit of revenge
and all teeth-gnashing?
And who hath taught it reconciliation with time,
and something higher than all reconciliation?
Something higher than all reconciliation must the
Will will which is the Will to Power—: but how
doth that take place? Who hath taught it also
to will backwards?
## p. 171 (#257) ############################################
XLII. —REDEMPTION. 171
—But at this point in his discourse it chanced
that Zarathustra suddenly paused, and looked like
a person in the greatest alarm. With terror in his
eyes did he gaze on his disciples; his glances
pierced as with arrows their thoughts and arrear-
thoughts. But after a brief space he again laughed,
and said soothedly:
"It is difficult to live amongst men, because
silence is so difficult—especially for a babbler. "—
Thus spake Zarathustra. The hunchback, how-
ever, had listened to the conversation and had
covered his face during the time; but when he
heard Zarathustra laugh, he looked up with
curiosity, and said slowly:
"But why doth Zarathustra speak otherwise unto
us than unto his disciples? "
Zarathustra answered: "What is there to be
wondered at! With hunchbacks one may well
speak in a hunchbacked way! "
"Very good," said the hunchback; "and with
pupils one may well tell tales out of school.
But why doth Zarathustra speak otherwise unto
his pupils—than unto himself? "—
XLIII. —MANLY PRUDENCE.
Not the height, it is the declivity that is terrible!
The declivity, where the gaze shooteth down-
wards, and the hand graspeth upwards. There
doth the heart become giddy through its double
will.
Ah, friends, do ye divine also my heart's double
will?
## p. 172 (#258) ############################################
172 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, II.
This, this is my declivity and my danger, that my
gaze shooteth towards the summit, and my hand
would fain clutch and lean—on the depth!
To man clingeth my will; with chains do I bind
myself to man, because I am pulled upwards to
the Superman: for thither doth mine other will
tend.
And therefore do I live blindly among men, as
if I knew them not: that my hand may not entirely
lose belief in firmness.
I know not you men: this gloom and consolation
is often spread around me.
I sit at the gateway for every rogue, and ask:
Who wisheth to deceive me?
This is my first manly prudence, that I allow
myself to be deceived, so as not to be on my guard
against deceivers.
Ah, if I were on my guard against man, how
could man be an anchor to my ball! Too easily
would I be pulled upwards and away!
This providence is over my fate, that I have to
be without foresight.
And he who would not languish amongst men,
must learn to drink out of all glasses; and he who
would keep clean amongst men, must know how to
wash himself even with dirty water.
And thus spake I often to myself for consolation:
"Courage! Cheer up! old heart! An unhappi-
ness hath failed to befall thee: enjoy that as thy—
happiness! "
This, however, is mine other manly prudence: I
am more forbearing to the vain than to the proud.
Is not wounded vanity the mother of all
## p. 173 (#259) ############################################
XLIII. —MANLY PRUDENCE. 173
tragedies? Where, however, pride is wounded,
there there groweth up something better than
pride.
That life may be fair to behold, its game must
be well played: for that purpose, however, it
needeth good actors.
Good actors have I found all the vain ones: they
play, and wish people to be fond of beholding
them—all their spirit is in this wish.
They represent themselves, they invent them-
selves; in their neighbourhood I like to look upon
life—it cureth of melancholy.
Therefore am I forbearing to the vain, because
they are the physicians of my melancholy, and
keep me attached to man as to a drama.
And further, who conceiveth the full depth of
the modesty of the vain man! I am favourable to
him, and sympathetic on account of his modesty.
From you would he learn his belief in himself;
he feedeth upon your glances, he eateth praise out
of your hands.
Your lies doth he even believe when you lie
favourably about him: for in its depths sigheth
his heart: "What am I? "
And if that be the true virtue which is uncon-
scious of itself—well, the vain man is unconscious
of his modesty ! —
This is, however, my third manly prudence: I
am not put out of conceit with the wicked by your
timorousness.
I am happy to see the marvels the warm sun
hatcheth: tigers and palms and rattle-snakes.
Also amongst men there is a beautiful brood
## p. 174 (#260) ############################################
174 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, II.
of the warm sun, and much that is marvellous in
the wicked.
In truth, as your wisest did not seem to me so
very wise, so found I also human wickedness below
the fame of it.
And oft did I ask with a shake of the head:
Why still rattle, ye rattle-snakes?
Verily, there is still a future even for evil! And
the warmest south is still undiscovered by man.
How many things are now called the worst
wickedness, which are only twelve feet broad and
three months long! Some day, however, will
greater dragons come into the world.
For that the Superman may not lack his dragon,
the superdragon that is worthy of him, there
must still much warm sun glow on moist virgin
forests!
Out of your wild cats must tigers have evolved,
and out of your poison-toads, crocodiles: for the
good hunter shall have a good hunt!
And verily, ye good and just! In you there is
much to be laughed at, and especially your fear of
what hath hitherto been called "the devil! "
So alien are ye in your souls to what is great,
that to you the Superman would be frightful in his
goodness!
And ye wise and knowing ones, ye would flee
from the solar-glow of the wisdom in which the
Superman joyfully batheth his nakedness!
Ye highest men who have come within my ken!
this is my doubt of you, and my secret laughter:
I suspect ye would call my Superman—a devil!
Ah, I became tired of those highest and best
## p. 175 (#261) ############################################
XLIII. —MANLY PRUDENCE.
175
ones : from their "height" did I long to be up,
out, and away to the Superman !
A horror came over me when I saw those best ones
naked : then there grew for me the pinions to
soar away into distant futures.
Into more distant futures, into more southern
souths than ever artist dreamed of: thither, where
Gods are ashamed of all clothes !
But disguised do I want to see you, ye neighbours
and fellowmen, and well-attired and vain and
estimable, as “the good and just;”—
And disguised will I myself sit amongst you-
that I may mistake you and myself: for that is
my last manly prudence. -
Thus spake Zarathustra.
XLIV. -THE STILLEST HOUR.
What hath happened unto me, my friends? Ye
see me troubled, driven forth, unwillingly obedient,
ready to go—alas, to go away from you !
Yea, once more must Zarathustra retire to his
solitude: but unjoyously this time doth the bear
go back to his cave !
What hath happened unto me? Who ordereth
this ? —Ah, mine angry mistress wisheth it so; she
spake unto me. Have I ever named her name to
you ?
Yesterday towards evening there spake unto me
my stillest hour: that is the name of my terrible
mistress.
And thus did it happen-for everything must I
## p. 176 (#262) ############################################
176 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, II.
tell you, that your heart may not harden against
the suddenly departing one!
Do ye know the terror of him who falleth
asleep ? —
To the very toes he is terrified, because the
ground giveth way under him, and the dream
beginneth.
This do I speak unto you in parable. Yesterday
at the stillest hour did the ground give way under
me: the dream began.
The hour-hand moved on, the timepiece of my
life drew breath—never did I hear such stillness
around me, so that my heart was terrified.
Then was there spoken unto me without voice:
"Thou knowest it, Zarathustra ? "—
And I cried in terror at this whispering, and the
blood left my face: but I was silent.
Then was there once more spoken unto me with-
out voice: "Thou knowest it, Zarathustra, but
thou dost not speak it! "—
And at last I answered, like one defiant: "Yea,
I know it, but I will not speak it! "
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: "Thou wilt not, Zarathustra? Is this true?
Conceal thyself not behind thy defiance! "—
And I wept and trembled like a child, and said:
"Ah, I would indeed, but how can I do it!
Exempt me only from this! It is beyond my
power! "
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: "What matter about thyself, Zarathustra!
Speak thy word, and succumb! "
And I answered: "Ah, is it my word? Who
## p. 177 (#263) ############################################
XLIV. —THE STILLEST HOUR.
177
am I? I await the worthier one ; I am not worthy
even to succumb by it. ”
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: “What matter about thyself? Thou art not
yet humble enough for me. Humility hath the
hardest skin. ”—
And I answered: “What hath not the skin of
my humility endured! At the foot of my height
do I dwell : how high are my summits, no one hath
yet told me. But well do I know my valleys. ”
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: “O Zarathustra, he who hath to remove
mountains removeth also valleys and plains. ”—
And I answered : “As yet hath my word not
removed mountains, and what I have spoken hath
not reached man. I went, indeed, unto men, but
not yet have I attained unto them. ”
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: “What knowest thou thereof! The dew
falleth on the grass when the night is most
silent. ”-
And I answered : “ They mocked me when I
found and walked in mine own path; and certainly
did my feet then tremble.
And thus did they speak unto me: Thou for-
gottest the path before, now dost thou also forget
how to walk ! ”
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: “What matter about their mockery! Thou
art one who hast unlearned to obey: now shalt
thou command !
Knowest thou not who is most needed by all ?
He who commandeth great things.
## p. 178 (#264) ############################################
178 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, II.
To execute great things is difficult: but the
more difficult task is to command great things.
This is thy most unpardonable obstinacy: thou
hast the power, and thou wilt not rule. "—
And I answered: "I lack the lion's voice for
all commanding. "
Then was there again spoken unto me as a
whispering: "It is the stillest words which bring
the storm. Thoughts that come with doves' foot-
steps guide the world.
O Zarathustra, thou shalt go as a shadow of that
which is to come: thus wilt thou command, and
in commanding go foremost. "—
And I answered: "I am ashamed. "
Then was there again spoken unto me without
voice: "Thou must yet become a child, and be
without shame.
The pride of youth is still upon thee; late hast
thou become young: but he who would become a
child must surmount even his youth. "—
And I considered a long while, and trembled.
At last, however, did I say what I had said at first:
"I will not. "
Then did a laughing take place all around me.
Alas, how that laughing lacerated my bowels and
cut into my heart!
And there was spoken unto me for the last time:
"O Zarathustra, thy fruits are ripe, but thou art not
ripe for thy fruits!
So must thou go again into solitude: for thou
shalt yet become mellow. "—
And again was there a laughing, and it fled:
then did it become still around me, as with a
## p. 179 (#265) ############################################
XLIV. —THE STILLEST HOUR. 179
double stillness. I lay, however, on the ground,
and the sweat flowed from my limbs.
—Now have ye heard all, and why I have to
return into my solitude. Nothing have I kept
hidden from you, my friends.
But even this have ye heard from me, who is
still the most reserved of men—and will be so!
Ah, my friends! I should have something more
to say unto you! I should have something more
to give unto you! Why do I not give it? Am I
then a niggard ? —
When, however, Zarathustra had spoken these
words, the violence of his pain, and a sense of the
nearness of his departure from his friends came
over him, so that he wept aloud; and no one knew
how to console him. In the night, however, he
went away alone, and left his friends.
## p. 180 (#266) ############################################
## p. 181 (#267) ############################################
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA
THIRD PART
"Ye look aloft when ye long
for exaltation, and I look down-
ward because I am exalted.
"Who among you can at the
same time laugh and be exalted?
"He who climbeth on the
highest mountains, laugheth at
all tragic plays ana tragic
realities. " — Zarathustra, I. ,
"Reading and Writing" (p. 44).
## p. 182 (#268) ############################################
]
## p. 183 (#269) ############################################
XLV. —THE WANDERER.
THEN, when it was about midnight, Zarathustra
went his way over the ridge of the isle, that he
might arrive early in the morning at the other
coast; because there he meant to embark. For
there was a good roadstead there, in which foreign
ships also liked to anchor: those ships took many
people with them, who wished to cross over from
the Happy Isles. So when Zarathustra thus as-
cended the mountain, he thought on the way of
his many solitary wanderings from youth onwards,
and how many mountains and ridges and summits
he had already climbed.
I am a wanderer and mountain-climber, said he
to his heart, I love not the plains, and it seemeth
I cannot long sit still.
And whatever may still overtake me as fate
and experience—a wandering will be therein, and
a mountain-climbing: in the end one experienceth
only oneself.
The time is now past when accidents could
befall me; and what could now fall to my lot which
would not already be mine own!
It returneth only, it cometh home to me at last
—mine own Self, and such of it as hath been long
abroad, and scattered among things and accidents.
And one thing more do I know: I stand now
## p. 184 (#270) ############################################
184
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
before my last summit, and before that which hath
been longest reserved for me. Ah, my hardest
path must I ascend! Ah, I have begun my lone-
somest wandering!
He, however, who is of my nature doth not avoid
such an hour: the hour that saith unto him: Now
only dost thou go the way to thy greatness !
Summit and abyss — these are now comprised
together!
Thou goest the way to thy greatness : now hath
it become thy last refuge, what was hitherto thy
last danger!
Thou goest the way to thy greatness : it must
now be thy best courage that there is no longer
any path behind thee!
Thou goest the way to thy greatness : here shall
no one steal after thee! Thy foot itself hath effaced
the path behind thee, and over it standeth written :
Impossibility.
And if all ladders henceforth fail thee, then must
thou learn to mount upon thine own head : how
couldst thou mount upward otherwise ?
Upon thine own head, and beyond thine own
heart!
Now must the gentlest in thee become
the hardest.
He who hath always much-indulged himself,
sickeneth at last by his much-indulgence. Praises
on what maketh hardy! I do not praise the land
where butter and honey-flow !
To learn to look away from oneself, is necessary
in order to see many things :—this hardiness is
needed by every mountain-climber.
He, however, who is obtrusive with his eyes as a
## p. 185 (#271) ############################################
XLV. —THE WANDERER. 185
discerner, how can he ever see more of anything
than its foreground!
But thou, O Zarathustra, wouldst view the ground
of everything, and its background: thus must thou
mount even above thyself—up, upwards, until thou
hast even thy stars under thee!
Yea! To look down upon myself, and even upon
my stars: that only would I call my summit, that
hath remained for me as my last summit! —
Thus spake Zarathustra to himself while ascend-
ing, comforting his heart with harsh maxims: for
he was sore at heart as he had never been before.
And when he had reached the top of the mountain-
ridge, behold, there lay the other sea spread out
before him: and he stood still and was long silent.
The night, however, was cold at this height, and
clear and starry.
I recognise my destiny, said he at last, sadly.
Well! I am ready. Now hath my last lonesome-
ness begun.
Ah, this sombre, sad sea, below me! Ah, this
sombre nocturnal vexation! Ah, fate and sea!
To you must I now go down!
Before my highest mountain do I stand, and
before my longest wandering: therefore must I
first go deeper down than I ever ascended:
—Deeper down into pain than I ever ascended,
even into its darkest flood! So willeth my fate.
Well! I am ready.
Whence come the highest mountains? so did I
once ask. Then did I learn that they come out
of the sea.
## p. 186 (#272) ############################################
186
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
That testimony is inscribed on their stones, and
on the walls of their summits. Out of the deepest
must the highest come to its height. -
Thus spake Zarathustra on the ridge of the
mountain where it was cold: when, however, he
came into the vicinity of the sea, and at last stood
alone amongst the cliffs, then had he become weary
on his way, and eagerer than ever before.
Everything as yet sleepeth, said he; even the
sea sleepeth. Drowsily and strangely doth its eye
gaze upon me.
But it breatheth warmly-I feel it. And I feel
also that it dreameth. It tosseth about dreamily
on hard pillows.
Hark! Hark! How it groaneth with evil
recollections ! Or evil expectations ?
Ah, I am sad along with thee, thou dusky
monster, and angry with myself even for thy sake.
Ah, that my hand hath not strength enough!
Gladly, indeed, would I free thee from evil
dreams! -
And while Zarathustra thus spake, he laughed
at himself with melancholy and bitterness. What!
Zarathustra, said he, wilt thou even sing consolation
to the sea ?
Ah, thou amiable fool, Zarathustra, thou too-
blindly confiding one! But thus hast thou ever
been: ever hast thou approached confidently all
that is terrible.
Every monster wouldst thou caress. A whiff of
warm breath, a little soft tuft on its paw—; and
immediately wert thou ready to love and lure it.
## p. 187 (#273) ############################################
XLV. —THE WANDERER. 187
Love is the danger of the lonesomest one, love to
anything, if it only live! Laughable, verily, is my
folly and my modesty in love! —
Thus spake Zarathustra, and laughed thereby a
second time. Then, however, he thought of his
abandoned friends—and as if he had done them a
wrong with his thoughts, he upbraided himself
because of his thoughts. And forthwith it came
to pass that the laugher wept—with anger and
longing wept Zarathustra bitterly.
XLVI. —THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA.
1.
When it got abroad among the sailors that
Zarathustra was on board the ship—for a man who
came from the Happy Isles had gone on board
along with him,—there was great curiosity and
expectation. But Zarathustra kept silent for two
days, and was cold and deaf with sadness; so that
he neither answered looks nor questions. On the
evening of the second day, however, he again
opened his ears, though he still kept silent: for
there were many curious and dangerous things
to be heard on board the ship, which came from
afar, and was to go still further. Zarathustra, how-
ever, was fond of all those who make distant
voyages, and dislike to live without danger. And
behold! when listening, his own tongue was at last
loosened, and the ice of his heart broke. Then
did he begin to speak thus:
To you, the daring venturers and adventurers,
## p. 188 (#274) ############################################
188
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III.
enjoy nerous gulljike to
and whoever hath embarked with cunning sails
upon frightful seas,-
To you the enigma-intoxicated, the twilight-
enjoyers, whose souls are allured by flutes to every
treacherous gulf :
-For ye dislike to grope at a thread with
cowardly hand; and where ye can divine, there do
ye hate to calculate-
To you only do I tell the enigma that I saw-
the vision of the lonesomest one. —
Gloomily walked I lately in corpse-coloured twi-
light-gloomily and sternly, with compressed lips.
Not only one sun had set for me.
A path which ascended daringly among boulders,
an evil, lonesome path, which neither herb nor shrub
any longer cheered, a mountain-path, crunched
under the daring of my foot.
Mutely marching over the scornful clinking of
pebbles, trampling the stone that let it slip: thus
did my foot force its way upwards.
Upwards :-in spite of the spirit that drew it
downwards, towards the abyss, the spirit of gravity,
my devil and arch-enemy.
Upwards :-although it sat upon me, half-dwarf,
half-mole; paralysed, paralysing ; dripping lead in
mine ear, and thoughts like drops of lead into my
brain.
"O Zarathustra,” it whispered scornfully, syllable
by syllable, “thou stone of wisdom! Thou threwest
thyself high, but every thrown stone must-fall!
O Zarathustra, thou stone of wisdom, thou sling-
stone, thou star-destroyer! Thyself threwest thou
so high,but every thrown stone-must fall!
## p. 189 (#275) ############################################
XLVI. —THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA. 189
Condemned of thyself, and to thine own stoning :
O Zarathustra, far indeed threwest thou thy stone-
but upon thyself will it recoil ! ”
Then was the dwarf silent; and it lasted long.
The silence, however, oppressed me; and to be thus
in pairs, one is verily lonesomer than when alone!
I ascended, I ascended, I dreamt, I thought,—but
everything oppressed me. A sick one did I re-
semble, whom bad torture wearieth, and a worse
dream reawakeneth out of his first sleep. -
But there is something in me which I call
courage: it hath hitherto slain for me every dejec-
tion. This courage at last bade me stand still and
say: "Dwarf! Thou! Or I! ”-
For courage is the best slayer,—courage which
attacketh : for in every attack there is sound of
triumph.
Man, however, is the most courageous animal :
thereby hath he overcome every animal. With
sound of triumph hath he overcome every pain ;
human pain, however, is the sorest pain.
Courage slayeth also giddiness at abysses: and
where doth man not stand at abysses! Is not
seeing itself-seeing abysses ?
Courage is the best slayer : courage slayeth also
fellow-suffering. Fellow-suffering, however, is the
deepest abyss : as deeply as man looketh into life,
so deeply also doth he look into suffering.
Courage, however, is the best slayer, courage
which attacketh: it slayeth even death itself; for
it saith : “ Was that life? Well! Once more ! ”
In such speech, however, there is much sound of
triumph. He who hath ears to hear, let him hear. -
## p. 190 (#276) ############################################
190 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, III
2.
"Halt, dwarf! " said I. "Either I—or thou! I,
however, am the stronger of the two—: thou
knowest not mine abysmal thought! It—couldst
thou not endure! "
Then happened that which made me lighter: for
the dwarf sprang from my shoulder, the prying
sprite! And it squatted on a stone in front of
me. There was however a gateway just where we
halted.
"Look at this gateway! Dwarf! " I continued,
"it hath two faces. Two roads come together
here: these hath no one yet gone to the end of.
This long lane backwards: it continueth for an
eternity. And that long lane forward—that is
another eternity.
They are antithetical to one another, these roads;
they directly abut on one another:—and it is here,
at this gateway, that they come together. The
name of the gateway is inscribed above: 'This
Moment. '
But should one follow them further—and ever
further and further on, thinkest thou, dwarf, that
these roads would be eternally antithetical ? "—
"Everything straight lieth," murmured the dwarf,
contemptuously. "All truth is crooked ; time itself
is a circle. "
"Thou spirit of gravity! " said I wrathfully, " do
not take it too lightly! Or I shall let thee squat
where thou squattest, Haltfoot,—and I carried thee
high! "
"Observe," continued I, "This Moment! From
## p. 191 (#277) ############################################
XLVI. —THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA. 191
the gateway, This Moment, there runneth a long
eternal lane backwards: behind us lieth an eternity.
Must not whatever can run its course of all
things, have already run along that lane? Must
not whatever can happen of all things have already
happened, resulted, and gone by?
And if everything have already existed, what
thinkest thou, dwarf, of This Moment? Must not
this gateway also—have already existed?
And are not all things closely bound together in
such wise that This Moment draweth all coming
things after it? Consequently itself also?
For whatever can run its course of all things, also
in this long lane outward—must it once more run ! —
And this slow spider which creepeth in the
moonlight, and this moonlight itself, and thou and
I in this gateway whispering together, whispering
of eternal things—must we not all have already
existed?
—And must we not return and run in that
other lane out before us, that long weird lane—
must we not eternally return ? "—
Thus did I speak, and always more softly: for I
was afraid of mine own thoughts, and arrear-
thoughts. Then, suddenly did I hear a dog howl
near me.
Had I ever heard a dog howl thus? 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.
