9. IX.
And the sleep of the youth was troubled, and
strange visions prevailed in his slumbers. A thousand
streaming lights, that seemed half girt with a
drapery of cloud, danced around him in the closing
void. Then, as they departed, mighty shadows
rose even from the earth at his feet, and they
floated away from before his sight, only to give
place to other and mightier shadows yet. These
came in sable and timed array, — a gorgeous company
of trooping forms, having strange shapes
that yielded to the light; and they bore solemn
banners that went trailing through the sky. Then,
a mightier form than all the rest, — a shadowless
form, full of light that yet gave none forth, —
came following after, and Ipsistos saw that it wore
a crown upon its head, and yet the face beneath
it was hidden from his straining gaze. From the
midst of the crown rose a broad tongue of flame,
that waved to and fro among the clouds by reason
of the rapid motion of the shadow. And the
shadow stood still when it hung above the spot
where the youth was sleeping, and the tongue of
fire which was upon the crown ceased to move in
the wind. And, even as he looked, Ipsistos beheld
a sheet of flame pass out from the tongue,
and it fell from cloud to cloud, and it parted them
all, and it rested upon his own forehead. And at
the same moment the mighty shadows which had
hung around him, with brows of dusk and threatening,
took to flight with a rushing noise, and the
youth could hear them scream while they flew, as
if pursued by a mighty terror. And a bright
light, like the bursting of a meteor, fell around
him, and he heard a voice like that which had
counselled him before, louder and more piercing
but not less musical, that stopt his ascending spirit,
and riveted his wandering thought.
“Arise, Ipsistos, thou art called unto thy office.
Thy sleep is over. The light is around thee, —
the promise of the day. Tarry not, but come.”
And a shivering fell upon the sleeper as he
heard these warning accents, and marvelled at the
increased power of the voice: and his heart sunk
within him, not as he felt unwillingness to serve as
he was bidden, but because he despaired of doing
his service fitly, by reason of his inability. And
he said to himself as he awakened, —
“Now, wherefore should I be chosen for this
mighty work? Am I not the son of the brick-maker,
— is not my extraction mean, and, of a
certainty, I have not been taught in the mysteries
of the college, nor in the divine languages of past
ages? I am but mocked with this sweet delusion,
— I do but cheat myself with the vanities of mine
own heart.”
And the voice came to his ears again from
among the pale groves, that lay behind him in the
silence of their birth-hour. And the voice was
sweeter in his ears than ever, and it was strong
also. And it cheered him with words of encouragement.
“Wherefore should'st thou doubt of thy own
fitness for the work of her whom thou lovest? I
tell thee, Ipsistos, that the servant is honored by
the service, and the work of truth takes no honor
from the proudest and the wealthiest, — nay, not
even from the wisest in the land. Thy humility
is becoming in thee, and is the best wisdom thou
canst bring to my service. But thou must be bold
too, and confident, — humble, because thou well
knowest how little is thy knowledge in respect to
truth, — bold, as it is thy purpose to have knowledge
of the truth only. Come to me in this valley
of shadow, — build here thy altars; and hither
bring the constant offering of thy heart, not of
thy hands. Come.”
And the voice melted away in his ears, and the
youth heard nothing but the murmuring of the
wind as it streamed upon its way among the
branches of the bending lindens. But he rose as
he was bidden, and went forward to the silent
dwelling of the shade from whence the sounds had
arisen. And, as his feet faltered, by reason of his
uncertainty, the voice whispered him on his true
path, and strengthened him to come.
