The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1886-11-18
THE LEGEND
The Man With the Golden Brain

Upon reading your letter, madam,
experienced feeling of remorse. l
acknowledge that my short stories are
usually too deeply t.nged with sadness
to be pleasing, and / hoped to-day to
offer you something joyous, ent rely
free from errors cankering touch. Why
should l be sad after alp live
thousand leagues from the smoky mists
of Paris, upon breezy hill, in the
country of tamborines aud muscat wine.
NV home is surrounded by light and
music: have orchestras of white tails,
concerts of tomtits; in the morning the
curlew's merry song. ''conreh!
coareh!" at noon, tho grasshopper's
monotonous cry; then. as afternoon
shadows steel athwart the earth. the
sheperds softly awaken the mountain
echoes with their sweet-toned 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. All. we'll. 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
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! have no more
heart for anything gay. This is why,
madam, instead of the pretty sportive
tale which l hoped to send you, you
will receive from me but a melancho-
Iy legend.
| There was once q man who had
golden brain. Yes. madam, brain
entirely of gold. When he came into
the world the physicians thought it i'm
possible for this child to live, his head
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 encum-
bcred 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 child
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
great fear of being robbed, became &C.
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 p]ucked away from
his skull fragment of massive gold as
large as a 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 the
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 of
royalty. lavishing the gold like water,
his brain appeared to be an inexhausti-
Bile mine.
On the contrary, however, its con-
tents were already diminished to the
extent that his eyes had perceptibly
sunken, his cheek had become more
hollow.
At last, one morning after mad de-
bauch, alone amid the debris of the
feast where the dying lights shone
with sickly pallor upon the deserted
scene of the carousal, the unhappy man
for the first time experienced alarm,
at the enormous breach which he had
already made in his treasure. Truly it
was time to refrain. From thence he
led new existence. The man with
the golden brain withdrawing from the
gay world, lived in retirement, subsist-
ing by hard labor, suspicious and tim
orous as miser; endeavoring to for
get even the existence OF those fatal
riches which he wished never to touch
again.
But unhappily friend had followed
him into his solitude, and this friend
was acquainted with his secret. One
night the poor man was started out Of
his sleep by pain in his head, alright
ful pain; springing up in dismay, he
saw by the rays of the moon his friend,
who fled, concealing something under
his cloak.
The thief had stolen away still more
of his precious brain!
Shortly afterward the man with the
golden brain fell in love. and that wal
the end Of everything. He loved. better
than his soul, little blonde creature,
who loved him well in return; but who