The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1886-11-26
THE LEGEND
The Man With the Golden Brain.

Upon reading your letter, madam. l
experienced feeling of rcmoSse.
acknowledge that my short stories are
usually too deeply tinged with sadness
to be pleasing, and l hoped to-day to
offer you something joyous, entirely
free from errors cankering touch. Why
thousand leagues from the smoky msts
of Paris, upon a breezy hill, in the
country of tamborines and muscat wine.
NY home is surrounded by light and
music; l have orchestras of white tails
concerts of tomtits; in the morning the
curlcw's merry song. ''coureit!
cosreN" at noon, the grasshoppcr's
monotonous cry; then, as afternoon
shadows steel athwart the earth, the
sheperds softly awaken the mountain
echoes with their sweet-toncd flies,
while the joyous, silvery laughter of
the beautiful brown girls of fair Prov
ence, floats through the evening air to
my charmed ear from the vineyards.
In truth, the place seems badly cho-
sen for inspiring aught of sombre hues.
ought rather to dispatch from hence
to you rose-colored poems and baskets
full OF lively tales. Ah, well, no! l
am still too near Paris. Every day its
waves OF misery surging high, dash
even into the midst of my lofty pines
their murky spray of gloom. Even as
l write, the sad tidings have reached
me of the miserable death of poor
Charles Barbara, and my mill is all in
mourning.
Farewell to the merry curlews, and
the grasshoppers! l have no more
heart for anything gay. This is why,
madam, instead of the pil1 .ty sportive
tale which | hoped to send you, you
will receive from me but a melancho-
ly legend.
There was once man who had a
golden brain. Yes, madam, brain
entirely of gold. When he came into
the world the physicians thought it inn
possible for this child to live, his heed
was so very heavy, and his skull so
huge. He lived nevertheless, thriving
in the sunshine as beautiful olive
plant; STILL his head continuing dis
proportionately large, always encunl-
bered him with its weight. 1t was pitt
full to behold him stumbling and falling
as he walked, bruising himself against
the furniture.
One day he rolled from the top of a
staircase, striking his forehead against
a marble step below, where his skull
sounded like an ingot. His parents be-
lieved him dead, but upon raising him
there was found only slight wound
with two or three drops of gold gath
cred in his light hair. 1t was thus that
the discovery was made that the ch Id
possessed golden brain.
This secret was carefully preserved.
The poor little one himself was entirely
ignorant of it. From time to time he
inquired why he was not at liberty to
play with boys in the street. They
would rob you, my beautiful treasure, {"
his mother always replied.
Thus the little fellow, acquiring a
great fear of being robbed, became ac-
customed to play all alone, never speak
ing to any one, and skipping heavily
from one parlor to the other.
Not until he was eighteen years old
did his parents reveal to him the mon
strous gift bestowed upon him by des-
tiny, and in return for having nour-
ished and educated him thus far, they
demanded of him little of his gold.
; The boy did not hesitate. Immedi.
ately chow, by what means, the legend
does not telD he plucked away from
his skull fragment of massive gold as
large as walnut, which he proudly
threw upon the knees of his mother
Then, dazzled by the riches that he car
ried in his head, maddened by desire,
intoxicated by power, he quilted tho
home of his childhood, and, departed
into the world, squandering his treas
} ure
Judging from the wild extravaganza
of his life, clothed with the splendor oi
royalty. layishing the gold like water
his brain appeared to be an inexhausti
BILE mine.
On the contrary, however, its con
tents were already diminished to tn,
extent that his eyes had perceptibl,
sunken. his cheek had become NOR,
hollow.
At last, one morning after mad de.
bauch, alone amid the debris of the
feast. where the dying lights shon'
with sickly pallor upon the deserted
scene of the carousal. the unhappy MAJ
for the first time experienced alarm
at the enormous breach which he ha,
already made in his treasure. Truly i
was time to refrain. From thence hi
led new existence. The man wit
the golden brain Withdrawing from TIL
gay world. lived in retirement, subsisl
ing by hard labor, suspicious and tin
,r, orous as miser; endeavoring to fol
- get even the existence of those fat;
riches which he wished never to touc
ar again.
But nnhapply a friend had followe
ID him into his solitude, and this frien
l. was acquainted with his secret. On
~ night the poor man was started out {
his sleep by pain in his head, afrigh
It. full pain; springing up in dismay. h
saw by the rays of the moon his frient
s. who fled. concealing something undo
his cloak.
The thief had stolen away still mo,