Gibran Stories Omnibus

aloneness. Countless are the eagles who descend from the
upper air to live with moles that they may know the secrets of the
earth. There are those who renounce the kingdom of dreams that they may
not seem distant from the dreamless. And those who renounce the kingdom
of nakedness and cover their souls that others may not be ashamed in
beholding truth uncovered and beauty unveiled. And greater yet than all
of these is he who renounces the kingdom of sorrow that he may not seem
proud and vainglorious.”
      Then rising he leaned upon his reed and said, “Go now to the great
city and sit at its gate and watch all those who enter into it and
those who go out. And see that you find him who, though born a king, is
without kingdom; and him who though ruled in flesh rules in spirit
—though neither he nor his subjects know this; and him also who but
seems to rule yet is in truth slave of his own slaves.”
      After he had said these things he smiled on me, and there were a
thousand dawns upon his lips. Then he turned and walked away into the
heart of the forest.
      And I returned to the city, and I sat at its gate to watch the
passers-by even as he had told me. And from that day to this numberless
are the kings whose shadows have passed over me and few are the
subjects over whom my shadow passed.
       
     

THE LION'S DAUGHTER
         
      Four slaves stood fanning an old queen who was asleep upon her
throne. And she was snoring. And upon the queen's lap a cat lay purring
and gazing lazily at the slaves.
      The first slave spoke, and said, “How ugly this old woman is in her
sleep. See her mouth droop; and she breathes as if the devil were
choking her.”
      Then the cat said, purring, “Not half so ugly in her sleep as you in
your waking slavery.”
      And the second slave said, “You would think sleep would smooth her
wrinkles instead of deepening them. She must be dreaming of something
evil.”
      And the cat purred, “Would that you might sleep also and dream of
your freedom.”
      And the third slave said, “Perhaps she is seeing the procession of
all those that she has slain.”
      And the cat purred, “Aye, she sees the procession of your
forefathers and your descendants.”
      And the fourth slave said, “It is all very well to talk about her,
but it does not make me less weary of standing and fanning.”
      And the cat purred, “You shall be fanning to all eternity; for as it
is on earth, so it is in heaven.”
      At this moment the old queen nodded in her sleep, and her crown fell
to the floor.
      And one of the slaves said, “That is a bad omen.”
      And the cat purred, “The bad omen of one is the good omen of
another.”
      And the second slave said, “What if she should wake, and find her
crown fallen! She would surely slay us.”
      And the cat purred, “Daily from your birth she has slain you and you
know it not.”
      And the third slave said, “Yes, she would slay us and she would call
it making a sacrifice to the gods.”
      And the cat purred, “Only the weak are sacrificed to the gods.”
      And the fourth slave silenced the others, and softly he picked up
the crown and replaced it, without waking her, on the old queen's head.
      And the cat purred, “Only a slave restores a crown that has fallen.”
      And after a while the old queen woke, and she looked about her and
yawned. Then she said, “Methought I dreamed, and I saw four
caterpillars chased by a scorpion around the trunk of an ancient oak
tree. I like not my dream.”
      Then she closed her eyes and went to sleep again. And she snored.
And the four slaves went on fanning her.
      And the cat purred, “Fan on, fan on, stupids. You fan but the fire
that consumes you.”
       
     

TYRANNY
         
      Thus sings the she-dragon that guards the seven caves by the sea:
      “My mate shall come riding on the waves. His thundering roar shall
fill the earth with fear, and the flames of his nostrils shall set the
sky afire. At the eclipse of the moon we shall be wedded, and at the
eclipse of the sun I shall give birth to a Saint George, who shall slay
me.”
      Thus sings the she-dragon that guards the seven caves by the sea.