Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-01-04
him close to the strangers feet. Soon
after he raised his carving and laid it
across the mans knee.

him close to the strangers feet. Soon
after he raised his carving and laid it
across the mans knee.
eyes, will tell you" he muttered;
II will tell you all about it."
He put his finger on the grotesque
little manilin at the bottom (ah, that
man who believed nothing, hoped moth
ing, felt nothing-how he loved himD,
and with eager finger the fellow moved
upward, explaining over fantastic fig
ures and mountains, to the browning
bird from whose wing dropped feath-
er. At the end he spoke with broken
breath-short words, like one who ut
ters things Of mighty import.
The stranger watched more the face
than the carving, and there was now
and then a show of white teeth be-
meath the mustaches as he listened
II Think he said blandly when the
boy had done, "that partly under
stand you. 1t is something after this
fashion, is it not?" He smiled. 'In
certain valleys there was hunter"
He touched the grotesque little figure
at the bottom. DAY by day he went
to hunt for wild fowl in the woods, and
it CHANGED that once he stood on the
shores of a large lake. While he stood
waiting in the rushes for the coming
of the birds a great shadow fell on
him, and in the water he saw re-
Election. He looked up to the sky, but
the thing was gone. Then 8 burning
desire came over him to see once again
that reflection in the water, and all
day he watched and waited, but night
came, and it had not returned. Then
he went home with his empty bag,
moody and silent. His comrades came
questioning about him to know the rea-
son, but he answered them nothing.
He sat alone and brooded. Then his
friend came to him, and to him he
spoke.
II have seen today he said, that
which never saw before-a vast white
bird, with silver wings outstretched,
sailing in the everlasting blue. And
now it is as though great fire burned
within my breast. 1t was but sheen,
a simmer, a reflection in the water,
but now desire nothing more on earth
than to hold her.
Ellis friend laughed
1t was but beam playing on the
water or the shadow OF your own head.
Tomorrow you will forget her, he said.
But tomorrow and tomorrow and
tomorrow the hunter walked alone. He
sought in the forest and in the woods,
by the lakes and among the rushes.
but he could not find her. He shot no
more wild fowl. What We're they to
him?
-, What ails limp said his comrades.
He is mad said. one
e : Mo-, but he is worse said another.
He would see that which none of us
have seen and make himself q wonder
Come, let us forswear his compa-
n.y., said all.
so the hunter walked alone.
aOne night. as he wandered in the
shade, very heartsore and weeping. an
old man stood before him, grander and
taller than the sons Of men,
"'Who are you?' asked the hunter.
am WISDOM answered the old
man, but some men called me Knowl-
edge. All my life have grown in
these valleys, but no man sees me till
he has sorrowed much. The eyes must
be washed with tears that are to be-
hold me, and, according as man has
suffered, speak
And the hunter cried:
"'Oh, you who have lived here so
long, tell me, what is that great wild
bird have seen sailing in the blue?
They would have me believe she is a
dream. the shadow of my own heaa'
'The old man smiled
Her name ts Truth. He who has
once seen her never rests again. Till
death he desires her.
And the hunter cried:
"'Oh, tell me where may find her!
"But the man said:
"'You have not suffered enough and
went.
"Then the hunter took from his
breast the shuttle of Imagination and
wound on it the thread of his Wishes,
and all night he sat and wove net
In the morning he spread the golden
net open on the ground and into it he
threw few grains Of credulity. which
his father had left him and which he
kept in his breast pocket They were
like white puffballs. and when you trod
on them a brown dust few out. Then
he sat by to see what would happen.
The first that came into the net was a
snow white bird, with doves eyes. and
he sang beautiful song. "A human
God. q human God. human Godr it
sang. The second that came was black
and mystical, with dark. lovely eyes,
that looked into the depths of your
soul. and he sang only this-'Immor-
tally"
And the hunter took them both in
his arms, for he said:
They are surely of the beautiful
family of Truth .
"Then came another. green and gold.
who sang in n shrill voice. like one cry
ing in the market place, Reward after
death, reward after death!
And he said:
"'You are not so fair, but you are