Karel Čapek

“ The child tripped on to the merry-go-round as if it were entering the open gates of Paradise, and the nursemaid followed as though in a trance and seated it in one of the boats drawn by swans. "Free rides to-day!" said Binder hoarsely; the orchestrion burst out jubilantly, and the merry-go-round began to turn as though it would soar up into the sky. Jan Binder reeled. What could this mean? Why, it wasn't the merry-go-round that was turning now, but the whole earth was spinning round and round. ”

“ The whole day Prokop wandered about trying to catch sight of her. “You mustn't appear this evening.” Of course, you don’t belong to their society; she feels more free among those swells. It was extraordinary; in the depths of his soul Prokop was aware that he did not really love her, yet he was tortured, full of anger and humiliation. That evening he wandered about the park in the rain thinking of the Princess sitting in the salon in an atmosphere of gaiety and freedom; he felt like a mangy dog which had been kicked out into the rain. There is nothing more painful in life than to be ashamed. ”

“ Clytie. Oh, couldn’t we!
Sometimes Iris,
A wicked liar is.
Felix. Oh, stop it, stop it!
Otto. Ha, ha! That ’s splendid. Iris, liar is.
Iris. Darling, you have such strange ideas about poetry. But you’ll never guess what a beautiful rhyme Felix made to my name. Guess.
Victor. Give it up.
Clytie. You must tell us.
Iris. (Triumphantly) ‘Fire is’!
Victor. What?
Iris. ‘I shall have flown where the fire is!’
Otto. Ha, ha, ha! ‘Fire is’,—that ’s jolly clever.
Iris. Oh, you’re horrid. You’ve no sense of art or poetry, or anything. I’ve no patience with you. ”

“ I was afraid that I should get lost, that I should be run over by a motor-bus, that something would happen to me, that it was all up with me, that human life is worthless, that man is a large-sized bacillus swarming by the million on a sort of mouldy potato, that perhaps the whole thing was only a bad dream, that mankind would perish as the result of some dreadful catastrophe, that man is powerless, that for no reason whatever I should burst out crying, and that everyone would laugh at me—the whole seven and a half millions of them. ”

“ And you, Fabry, had once been shot in the head. And you, Gall, torn limb from limb. And Hallemeier knifed.
Hallemeier
Fancy me being knifed. [Pause.] Why are you so quiet, you fools? Speak, can't you?
Alquist
And who is to blame for all this?
Hallemeier
Nobody is to blame except the Robots.
Alquist
No, it is we who are to blame. You, Domin, myself, all of us. For our own selfish ends, for profit, for progress, we have destroyed mankind. Now we'll burst with all our greatness.
Hallemeier
Rubbish, man. Mankind can't be wiped out so easily. ”

“ I bow down to you, O Cambridge, for upon me was conferred the honour of eating on the dais among the learned masters in a hall so vast and old that I felt as if I were only dreaming about it; I greet you with both hands, O Cambridge, for I was vouchsafed the joy of eating with students, masters and other young people from earthenware dishes in the Half Moon; and happy I was among them. And I have seen lawns where only the masters and not the undergraduates may walk, and staircases where only the graduates and not the students may play billiards ”

“ If you search in the London collections for ivory carvings or embroidered tobacco pouches, you will find them; if you search for the perfection of human work, you will find it in the Indian museum and the Babylonian gallery, in the Daumiers, Turners, and Watteaus, or in the Elgin marbles. But then you leave this accumulation of all the world’s treasures and you can ride for hours and miles on the top of a bus from Ealing to East Ham, and from Clapham to Bethnal Green; and you will scarcely find a place where your eye could derive pleasure from the beauty and lavishness of human work. ”

“ In my picture I have surrounded them with all the beauties of the Lake District; you see there a bridge beneath which flows a small river with trout, soft shrubs, wavy trees, oval and pleasant hills covered with copses and quickset hedges, the ridges of the Cumbrian mountains, and finally a sky full of moisture and light; amongst the trees you perceive the tops of cottages built of reddish or greenish stone, and you will admit that to be a cow in the Lake District is a great favour which falls to the lot only of the most sacred and worthy among all creatures. ”

“ But do not say that things in our country are on a small scale; the universe around us is, thank God, just as great as the universe around the British Empire. A small steamboat will not hold as much as one of those big ships; but, my dear sir, it can sail just as far or even else where. That depends on the crew.
My head is still all in a whirl; for a moment, I feel as if I had just come out of a huge factory and were deafened by the stillness outside; and then the next moment it is as if I could hear all the pious chimes of England ringing. ”

“ Emilia
And that was all?
Hauk-Sendorf
Eh? Oh—You are quite like her! Dear lady, may I give you these flowers?
Emilia
Thanks.
Hauk-Sendorf
I could look at you forever.
Emilia
But sit down now, dear. Berti, a chair.
[She sits down on the throne]
Janek
I will get one.
[He runs after a chair]
Kristina
Not there!
[She runs after him]
Prus
[To Hauk-Sendorf]
Cher comte.
Hauk-Sendorf
[Steps across to him]
Well, well, well! Baron Prus! Pardon me—I didn’t see you. How pleased I am. How are you?
Prus
How are you? ”

“ Felix. Iris, dear, don’t laugh at me. I’ve had awful experiences—in my imagination. Terrible disappointments. Love-affairs without number—but only in my dreams. Dreams are the poet’s life. I know all women, and I’ve not known one—I swear it, Iris.
Iris. Then why do you say you are tired of women?
Felix. Oh, Iris, every one disparages the thing that he loves best.
Iris. Do you mean dark women? You love Clytie—the cat.
Felix. No—dreams, eternal dreams.
Iris. You have such passionate eyes, Felix. You’re awfully clever. What are you thinking about now?
Felix. About you. Woman is a riddle. ”

“ He saw her as she had been that evening; hands, little hands in tight gloves, drops of moisture from her breath on her thick veil, a clear glance, full of suffering; beautiful, sad and brave, “you will save him, won’t you?” She looked at him with serious, troubled eyes, and all the time was gripping in her hand some sort of a package, a sealed package, pressing it to her bosom agitatedly and trying to keep control of herself.
It was as if Prokop had received a blow in the face. Where did I put that package? Whoever that girl may be, I promised her that I would take it to Thomas. ”

“ How eagerly then he would peer into people's faces to note when "it" would begin to affect them, when the Absolute would creep into their being by the nose or ears or any other part, and begin to dissolve the hardness of their nature, overpower their personal tendencies, and cure their moral wounds; to watch the Absolute turn them up with its heavy plough, warm them, master them, and shape them anew; to see it lay open to them a world so marvellous and yet intrinsically so human, of wonders, ecstasy, enlightenment, inspiration and belief! ”

“ Helena
I, too, have found a place, Primus. It is very strange. Human beings lived there once, but now it is overgrown with weeds. No one goes there any more—no one but me.
Primus
What did you find there?
Helena
A cottage and a garden, and two dogs. They licked my hands, Primus. And their puppies! Oh, Primus! You take them in your lap and fondle them and think of nothing and care for nothing else all day long. And then the sun goes down, and you feel as though you had done a hundred times more than all the work in the world. ”

“ What was the trouble, Radius?
Radius. (Two steps toward her. Opens and closes fists) I won’t work for you. Put me into the stamping mill.
Helena. Do you hate us? Why?
Radius. You are not as strong as the Robots. You are not as skillful as the Robots. The Robots can do everything. You only give orders. You do nothing but talk.
Helena. But someone must give orders.
Radius. I don’t want a master. I know everything for myself.
Helena. Radius! Doctor Gall gave you a better brain than the rest, better than ours. You are the only one of the Robots that understands perfectly. ”

“ In the front bench the bald and furrowed little man hung upon his words with attentive eyes. Prokop gave him a smile.
“Friends,” he began quietly and as if in a dream, “last night . . . I paid a tremendous price. I lived through . . . and lost . . .” He made an effort to pull himself together. “Sometimes one experiences . . . such pain that . . . that it ceases to be one’s own. You open your eyes and see. The universe is overcast and the earth holds her breath in agony. The world must be redeemed. You would be unable to bear your pain if you only suffered alone. ”

“ In a year's time you will stop the manufacture of the Absolute of your own accord. But, oh, the damage, the devastation it will bring to pass in the meantime! Gentlemen, in the name of Heaven, do not imagine that the Church brings God into the world. The Church merely confines Him and controls Him. And you two unbelievers are loosing Him upon the earth like a flood. The ship of Peter will survive even this deluge; like the Ark of Noah, it will ride out this inundation of the Absolute—but your modern society," cried the Bishop with a mighty voice, "that will pay the price!" ”

“ The mystery of Emilia Marty, born Elena Makropoulos, is the mystery of endless existence dovetailing into the daily lives of men and women that are mortal. Her spell is the spell of a woman persisting and all-knowing, case-hardened in the virtue and vice, the experience and the sensation, of a life that has ceased to begin and wax, to waver and decline—a life that is perpetual. ”

“ Below there was still probably the earth, but Prokop was afraid to open his eyes and see again the flying avenue. Quicker! To be smothered! Quicker still! His chest was constricted by terror and dizziness, he could hardly breathe, and gasped with delight at the wild way in which they tore through space. The car slipped up and down hills and valleys while from somewhere beneath their feet there came the cries of people and the whining of a dog. Sometimes they turned almost lying over on their sides, as if they had been caught up by a tornado. ”

“ Bondy! Bondy bit his lip; things had turned out nicely!
"Mr. Machat," he began, in subdued tones, "I only wanted to know how the new Karburator was doing the heating on your premises."
"Oh, splendidly! It's so beautifully warm in every one of the houses! Just as though they were being warmed with eternal love! Do you know," said Machat rapturously, wiping his eyes, "whoever enters there becomes at one stroke a changed man. It is like Paradise there. We are all living as if we were in Heaven. ”

“ Prokop crushed her in his arms; a long breathless embrace, and her body, stretched taut like a bow, collapsed softly and helplessly against him. She lay on his breast with closed eyes. Sweet and meaningless phrases came from her lips; she allowed her face, neck and hair to be covered with his violent kisses, moving her head as if she were intoxicated and did not know what she was doing. Submissive, half swooning, utterly tender; perhaps happy at this moment with an inexpressible happiness. O God, what a trembling and lovely smile there was on her lips! ”

“ Hauk-Sendorf
What? What’s happened to you?
Emilia
If you could only understand what Bombita said to me! We old ones know altogether too much. But you have more than we, you fools! Infinitely more! You have everything. Why, you couldn’t wish for anything more. You live, but in us life has stopped. And it cannot go on! God, what loneliness!
Prus
Why did you come here—for the Makropoulos secret? Why do you want to live longer?
Emilia
[Quietly, almost in a whisper]
Because I am afraid to die.
Prus
So even an immortal isn’t spared that? ”

“ Annie struggled desperately, her hair fell over her face, and now, now she suddenly became weak and drooped. . . . Prokop threw himself upon her; but instead found in his arms nothing but long rags and bandages. He tore them and ripped them up, trying to disengage himself from them, and then he woke up.
He was exceedingly ashamed of his dream, dressed quietly, sat down at the window and waited for the dawn. There is no frontier between night and day. The sky becomes the slightest bit pale; there is still neither light nor sound; but the signal has been given to nature to awake! ”

“ Now the girl’s face became a little brighter, her moist lips opened. Perhaps Nausicaa was speaking, but Prokop still wanted to bless her for the cloud of sympathy which made her face so rosy. “And may the gods grant thee all thy heart’s desire; a husband and a home, and a mind at one with his may they give—a good gift, for there is nothing mightier and nobler than when man and wife are of one heart and mind in a house, a grief to their foes and to their friends great joy, but their own hearts know it best.” ”

“ Now, gentlemen, what shall we do with it?
Gregor
With what?
Kolonaty
With the Makropoulos secret. Somewhere here is a formula for a three-hundred-year life. Can we get hold of it?
Prus
She has it in her bosom.
Kolonaty
Good! Gentlemen, it is a thing of unimaginable importance. What shall we do with it?
Gregor
Nothing at all. The formula belongs to me. I am her heir.
Kolonaty
Keep your mouth shut! As long as she is alive, you are not her heir; and she can live for another three hundred years, if she wants to. Don’t you see, we must get hold of it.
Gregor
By trickery? ”

“ Prokop put his arms round her as if he were her uncle and not knowing what to say muttered something to the effect that she was a good girl and wonderfully lovable; upon which the sobs changed to long sighs (he felt somewhere on his arm a hot dampness) and it was all right. O Night, Queen of heaven, you lighten the breast of the aflicted and loosen the heavy tongue; you quicken, bless, endow with wings the quietly beating heart, oppressed and silent; the thirsty can drink of your endlessness. ”

“ You must choose, the princess or the girl. You can’t have the princess; you may worship her from the distance but you may not kiss her hand, and you must not ask her whether she loves you. A princess may not do such things; she has behind her a thousand years of noble blood. Did you know that we used to be kings? Ah, you know nothing, but you ought to know at least that a princess lives in a glass case and you may not touch her. But you can have the ordinary woman, this dark girl. ”

“ And again the countryside began to unroll itself, but curiously, as if in a dream and backwards; a little town, an, avenue of poplars, pebbles, a bridge, a village. The snorting car climbed zig-zag fashion up a long hill; and here was the cross-roads where they had parted. Prokop raised himself up and would have jumped out of the car, but Mr, d’Hémon drew him back, and put the car into top speed. Prokop closed his eyes and now they were no longer going along the road but had mounted into the air and were flying. ”

“ Prokop stared wildly at the roaring furnace.
And the heavens shall be cleaved by a fiery power and the voice of God shall be heard in the thunder.
Two more masses went up, one after the other, and were broken up by a band of fire. Then came the sound of a still more terrible explosion—evidently the ammunition stores. A roaring mass flew into the air, exploded, and came down in the form of a ray of sparks. The roar changed into a pounding bombardment; in the stores there were exploding rockets which flew up like sparks from an anvil. ”

“ Prokop grew red and did not dare to look at her.
“And if he does do it,” she asked breathlessly, “will he be terribly famous? Like Darwin?”
“If he does it,” said Monsieur d’Hémon without hesitation, “kings will consider it an honour to carry his coffin. That is, if there are still any kings.”
“Rubbish,” muttered Prokop, but the Princess glowed with inexpressible delight. He would not have looked at her for anything in the world; embarrassed, he mumbled something or other, crumbling a piece of sugar in his fingers. Finally he ventured to lift his eyes. ”

“ Prokop drew a chair up to the crackling stove and stared into the flames without even looking round at the girl. He heard her walking about the room hesitatingly on the tips of her toes, putting something straight. He did not know what she was doing. She was now standing still silently. There is an extraordinary power in flames and flowing water; you stare at them, become bewildered, cease to think, know nothing, and are unable to recollect anything, but before you there is represented everything that has ever happened without form and outside time. ”

“ Mr. Kraft, sweating with horror, agreed with everything which the enraged genius threw out. Then Prokop’s vehemence exhausted itself, he became silent, frowned and drank more than was good for him. Then he lay on the bed, fully dressed, rocking himself from side to side and gazing with large eyes into the swirling darkness.
The next morning he got up, calm and disgusted, and immigrated to his laboratory for good. But he did nothing but lounge about the room, kicking a sponge in front of him. ”

“ Misty darkness, a row of lights shining through it, lights of a factory. Mr. d’Hémon drove the car in and out of the traffic in the streets, slipped through a suburb which seemed to be in ruins and they were again in the open. In front of the car stretched two long antennæ of light which fell on rubbish, mud, stones. The car whirled round corners, the exhaust drumming like a machine gun, and then threw itself at a long stretch of road as if it were winding it in. To the right and the left was a criss-cross pattern of narrow valleys between hills. ”

“ Daimon stopped, breathing with difficulty. “I’m old,” he said, “I can’t get my breath as I used to. I’ve got to depend on people more and more. . . . There’s no one at the station to-day; the telegraphist has remained below with the others . . . but that doesn’t matter. Come on!”
The top of the hill was cut about as if it had been the scene of a battle; abandoned towers, a wire cable, enormous deserted slag heaps and on the top of the largest of them a wooden shed with an aerial above it. “That’s . . . the station,” panted Daimon. “It stands on forty thousand tons of magnesia. ”

“ Having put everything in order and seen that it was all right he wished to report to his superior what he had done, but Prokop was still shut up in the Princess’s cubicle and was so quiet that it seemed as if he were not breathing. So Dr. Krafft remained alone on the floating platform, which splashed coldly on the surface of the water. Now and then there was a plop! as some fish leapt out of the water and fell back again, and sometimes a rustling in the rushes. Dr. Krafft began to feel uneasy in the midst of this solitude. ”

“ He opened his hand and the little mouse nimbly ran along his sleeve up to his shoulder, sniffed delicately at his hairy ear and hid in his collar.
“He’s a beauty,” breathed Prokop.
The old man’s face glowed with pleasure. “Wait and see what he can do,” and he ran to the cart, rooted about in it, and returned with a box full of tickets arranged in series. He gave the box a shake, gazing with his shining eyes into the distance. “Show him, mouse, show him his love.” He whistled between his teeth like a bat. The mouse sprang up, ran along his arm, and jumped on to the box. Holding his breath. ”

“ The Princess simply drank in every one of his words, as if this line of Tartar cutthroats was the finest in the world. Prokop watched her with dismay; she did not even wince at the story of four thousand eyes having been plucked out. Involuntarily he looked for Tartar features in her face. She was extraordinarily beautiful, drew herself up and enveloped herself in her own dignity ”