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Chapter 4
Many
days passed before we could speak to the Golden One again. But then came
the day when the sky turned white, as if the sun had burst and spread its
flame in the air, and the fields lay still without breath, and the dust of
the road was white in the glow. So the women of the field were weary, and
they tarried over their work, and they were far from the road when we
came. But the Golden One stood alone at the hedge, waiting. We stopped and
we saw that their eyes, so hard and scornful to the world, were looking at
us as if they would obey any word we might speak.
And
we said: "We
have given you a name in our thoughts, Liberty 5-3000."
"What
is our name?" they asked. "The
Golden One." "Nor
do we call you Equality 7-2521 when we think of you."
"What
name have you given us?" They
looked straight into our eyes and they held their head high and they
answered: "The
Unconquered." For
a long time we could not speak. Then we said:
"Such
thoughts are forbidden, Golden One."
"But
you think such thoughts as these and you wish us to think them."
We
looked into their eyes and we could not lie.
"Yes,"
we whispered, and they smiled, and then we said: "Our dearest one, do
not obey us." They
stepped back, and their eyes were wide and still. "Speak
those words again," they whispered.
"Which
words?" we asked. But they did not answer, and we knew it.
"Our
dearest one," we whispered. Never
have men said this to women. The
head of the Golden One bowed slowly, and they stood still before us, their
arms at their sides, the palms of their hands turned to us, as if their
body were delivered in submission to our eyes. And we could not speak.
Then
they raised their head, and they spoke simply and gently, as if they
wished us to forget some anxiety of their own.
"The
day is hot," they said, "and you have worked for many hours and
you must be weary." "No,"
we answered. "It
is cooler in the fields," they said, "and there is water to
drink. Are you thirsty?" "Yes,"
we answered, "but we cannot cross the hedge."
"We
shall bring the water to you," they said.
Then
they knelt by the moat, they gathered water in their two hands, they rose
and they held the water out to our lips.
We
do not know if we drank that water. We only knew suddenly that their hands
were empty, but we were still holding our lips to their hands, and that
they knew it but did not move. We
raised our head and stepped back. For we did not understand what had made
us do this, and we were afraid to understand it.
And
the Golden One stepped back, and stood looking upon their hands in wonder.
Then the Golden One moved away, even though no others were coming, and
they moved stepping back, as if they could not turn from us, their arms
bent before them, as if they could not lower their hands.
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