Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-03-30
THE STORY OF ATTAIN.


eager questioning. He drank in Eric's
words with more than childish avidity
and belief. To his mind. sharpcned by
the self cominuning of more than CEN
| fury, the wonders of which Gilbert
| spoke were as the things he had vaguely
seen in dreams. wonderful. but conceiv-
able. He accepted everything with n
sanguine expectation of beholding it
himself now that Gilbert had come
among the people. Kulcan often sat
with them as Gilbert told, though it
| taxed his meager store of Atzlan words
of steamboats,, railroads. balloons, can
non, telephones and a thousand other
! things which we call necessities, but
which seemed miracles to the priests
| He told then--and sometimes Leila with
little Eliza sat by his side the while--of
the history Of the nations: how while
Atzlan had slept so peacefully in the
canyon whole races of men had flour
| ished gloriously and passed away and
| been forgotten.
Sometime, he would wander off with
the old prizes into the woods, for he
found lklapcl to be IL philosopher and
full of quaint ideas. His comments upon
the facts Gilbert narrated were often
witty, and always showed IA mind Of
great breadth and power. Of the greed
for money he had but little conception,
and there forc found the utmost difficulty
i'll understanding much Of Gilberis dis
course, nor could the latter easily eX-
plain it TO him. When they discussed
religion Gilbert found him an advanced
thinker, a believer i'll one god-the Gre
ator-but elevated above all forms and
ceremoni&ls of worship. He had ques-
toned Gilbert one warm day. as they
sat together in the shade. until the lat
ter had grown tired Of talking and was
lying upon his back, with his hands mn
der his head. gazing up into the green
network above him.
lllapel unused with faraway look in
his eyes for Il long time and then turned
to the younger luan and said:
"You have told me Of Your people, of
the great cities aud their wondrous do.
ings. Now will | tell you of mine. for
they are the fathers Of all the world.
Older than all the people are they. vet
they still live, Il nation saved FROM flood
and fire, from wars and famines to see
what thcir children have done. |. who
have kept the record of Atzlan : it has
been handed down from father to SON
for thousands upon thousands of years.
lnvioiate, unchanged. will tell You truly,
for with my knowledge and what you
have told me | can see how true are all
our old traditions. As you have said
truly, all the nations Of the world tell
much the HaIpc tale cf their ulilin. but
It's 50 CloU.,cd III tauciful imagery that
1t seems but Il cliid's story. | will tell
you the true tale as my father told NE
and as it WAS told to him by his father,
word for word, and so on back 10 the
very first father Of all,
Ages ago. SO far in the past that the
records have been lost from sheer decay.
our people dWelt Oh the shores Of a great
sea. Cities greater and richer than
Atzlan We're there, and the people were
more numerous than the sands of the
desert. Across the sea there led a mar
row strip Of land to the city of the
gods, which WAS called At, II wondrous
city ON mountain, rich III gCld and
silver. surrounded by water and in
which resided the great ruler Of the
whole Wor'd-a wise, wonder working
king. To him our cities paid yearly
tribute, and in his city our priests were
taught and Sent out to proclaim the
truth. There was then no winter, no
cOld 1t was The summer age.
The jewellers in AT were wiser than
all other people. They commanded the
thunder and the lightning and brought
tA fro ba.,ro,, a
JOurueyed on the water III great canoes.
and the wind obcyed their commands;
they sailed by night, for they knew the
stars and had magic guide. They it was
who taught the early jewellers on the
shores Of the sea how to build their
houses, plant their seed, make their rec
ords and worship their god. They
brought them seed in times of canine,
and cattle and fowls. Twas said of
them that they could see farther than
other men, by which | judge they pos
sessed magic tubes, such as You, nv
brother, have Indeed our books show
them looking through such tubes toward
the stars. They We're white and bearded;
It's from them we derive the white blood
in our people, but they We're of greater
atature; they were large men, like you.
In fact they We're people such as you
have told me of-people who know all
things.
But there came time, the legends
tell, when they grew bold and wicked
defying The gods. Then there appeared
Ill the sky great serpent Of fire. For
days il was seen approaching, md ali
the world tremoled with an awtu!
dread. The light CT it was terrible, and
tames Went before its mouth IL de
Vu'red the san, ~ You can See in our
sacred books, which show Quetzal bat
Ting with it and conquering it; but that