Shining One

“ Unhesitating, always with that same high serenity, Lakla and the O'Keefe, hands clasped like little children, drew closer to that wondrous shape. I could not see their faces, but I saw awe fall upon those of the watching dwarfs, and into the burning eyes of Yolara crept a doubt. Closer they drew to the Dweller, and closer, I following them step by step. The Shining One's whirling lessened; its tinklings were faint, almost stilled. It seemed to watch them apprehensively. A silence fell upon us all, a thick silence, brooding, ominous, palpable. ”

“ The banked tiers chanted. The mighty sounds pealed forth! It was a Saturnalia of demigods—Yolara transformed beyond semblance of earth—her beauty flaring out into unholy and devilish, and at once holy and wondrous fulfilment impossible to tell.
Whirling, murmuring, bell-notes storming, the Shining One began to pass from the dais down the ramp, still embracing, still interwoven with those who had thrown themselves into its spirals. They drew along with it as though half carried; in dreadful dance; white faces sealed forever—into that semblance of those who held within linked God and devil. ”

“ Now the shaping of the Shining One had been a long, long travail and time had flown over the outer world laya upon laya. For a space the Shining One was content to dwell here; to be fed with the foods of light: to open the eyes of the Three to mystery upon mystery and to read for them facet after facet of the gem of truth. Yet as the tides of consciousness flowed through it they left behind shadowings and echoes of their burdens; and the Shining One grew stronger, always stronger of itself within itself. Its will strengthened and now not always was it the will of the Three ”

“ Robin sat looking after the Block S range boss. He had thought himself cool and he found that he was shaking with anger and he knew that his face was white. Probably Shining Mark thought those were the signs of a man who was getting the fear of God put in his heart. So that was the play. Put fear into him so that he would quit the Bar M Bar, quit the country. Men had shifted ranges before now to avoid trouble with a potential killer. Steele was all that. Robin didn’t doubt that Shining Mark would make his word good. ”

“ And Iseult rose up where she sat apart,
And with her sweet soul deepening her deep eyes
Cast the furs from her and subtle embroideries
That wrapped her from the storming rain and spray,
And shining like all April in one day,
Hair, face, and throat dashed with the straying showers,
She stood the first of all the whole world's flowers,
And laughed on Tristram with her eyes, and said,
'I too have heart then, I was not afraid.'
And answering some light courteous word of grace
He saw her clear face lighten on his face
Unwittingly, with unenamoured eyes,
For the last time. ”

“ And with light lips yet full of their swift smile,
And hands that wist not though they dug a grave,
Undid the hasps of gold, and drank, and gave,
And he drank after, a deep glad kingly draught:
And all their life changed in them, for they quaffed
Death; if it be death so to drink, and fare
As men who change and are what these twain were.
And shuddering with eyes full of fear and fire
And heart-stung with a serpentine desire
He turned and saw the terror in her eyes
That yearned upon him shining in such wise
As a star midway in the midnight fixed.
Their Galahault was the cup, and she that mixed; ”

“ Again I noted that broad, classic brow, with the little tendrils of shining bronze caressing it, the tilted, delicate, nut-brown brows that gave a curious touch of innocent diablerie to the lovely face—flowerlike, pure, high-bred. A touch of roguishness, subtly alluring, sparkling over the maiden Madonna-ness that lay ever like a delicate, luminous suggestion beneath it.
"What is wisdom, O maiden, but clear seeing and understanding?" ”

“ Ambrose thought with a sudden recollection that the moon, that world of splendour, was shining in a farther land, on the coast of the wild rocks, on the heaving sea, on the faery apple-garths in Avalon, where, though the apples are always golden, yet the blossoms of enchantment never fade, but hang for ever against the sky. ”

“ Within the black background of the fissure stood a shape, an apparition, a woman—beautiful, awesome, incredible!
She was tall, standing there swathed from chin to feet in clinging veils of pale amber, she seemed taller even than tall Drake. Yet it was not her height that sent through me the thrill of awe, of half incredulous terror which, relaxing my grip, let my smoking rifle drop to earth; nor was it that about her proud head a cloud of shining tresses swirled and pennoned like a misty banner of woven copper flames—no, nor that through her veils her body gleamed faint radiance. ”

“ At last we began to ascend, and the air grew rarer; I looked down and saw the pure white mist tracking the outline of the river like a shroud, and a vague and shadowy country, imaginations and fantasy of swelling hills and hanging woods, and half-shaped outlines of hills beyond, and in the distance the glare of the furnace fire on the mountain, growing by turns a pillar of shining flame, and fading to a dull point of red. ”

“ There is the sound of sonorous plainsong from the monastic choir, of gross exuberant gaiety from the vineyards by the river; one listens to the eternal mystic mirth of them that rest in the purple shadow by the white, climbing road. The gracious and ornate châteaux on the Loire and the Vienne rise fair and shining to confront the incredible secrets of dim, far lifted Gothic naves, that seem ready to take the great deep and float away from the mist and dust of earthly towns to anchor in the haven of the clear city that hath foundations ”

“ It was obvious that the young reporters of today are no antiquarians. In writing of these things in his diary, Blake expresses a curious kind of remorse, and talks of the duty of burying the Shining Trapezohedron and of banishing what he had evoked by letting daylight into the hideous jutting spire. At the same time, however, he displays the dangerous extent of his fascination, and admits a morbid longing—pervading even his dreams—to visit the accursed tower and gaze again into the cosmic secrets of the glowing stone. ”

“ But Von Hetzdorp said that among his race were many wise men who could make more once they had studied it.
"Then he spoke of the robes that protected from the Shining Devil. Lugur told him of the priests who make them and of the earth they dig that coats them. Then said the German that his wise men would make many for themselves, in case the Shining Devil should ever grow too strong, and that Lugur and he and his nation would give the Shining Devil all the rest of the world to eat. ”

“ The "shining woman," youngest and mortal daughter of the angels of God, leaving her sisters to tend the flocks and close the folds of the stars, fills herself with the images of perishable things; she feeds upon the sorrow that comes of beauty, the heathen weariness of heart, that is sick of life because death will come, seeing how "our little life is rounded with a sleep." ”

“ The German questioned much, but Lugur sent for more drink and grew merrier and threatened him, and the German was silent through fear. Thereafter I listened when I could, and little more I learned, but that little enough. Ja! Lugur is hot for conquest; so Yolara and so the council. They tire of it here, and the Silent Ones make their minds, not too easy, no, even though they jeer at them! And this they plan—to rule our world with their Shining Devil that Lugur says has grown strong enough to fare forth. ”

“ THE red Trolde asked the German how came it he worshipped Thanaroa." I could not resist a swift glance of triumph toward O'Keefe. "And the German," rumbled Olaf, "said that all his people worshipped Thanaroa and now fought against the other nations that denied him. He said that his ruler believed his people the chosen of Thanaroa, and because the other nations had defied him, his people had taken up arms. Ja! And Lugur believed—for Lugur he worships Thanaroa more, much more than the Shining Devil. Ja! ”

“ The next person that sits in it, except myself, may he stick in it!"
"Oh, fie, fie, Shiana!" said the angel; "there is a beautiful wish gone to waste. You have two more; don't forget Mercy."
"I have," said Shiana, "a little malvogue of meal at home, and every dalteen that comes in must needs push his fist into it. The next person that puts his hand into that malvogue, except myself, may he stick in it!"
"Oh, Shiana, Shiana, you have not an atom of sense!" said the angel. "Now you have only one wish more. Ask the Mercy of God for your soul." ”

“ Or what is it you want?"
"It is no wonder you should ask that question, Father," said Shiana. "It is hard to say what sort of man I am, or what it is that I want. Whatever sort of man I am, I have this to say about this match: it would be better for Short Mary to die the worst death that ever a human being died, than that I should marry her. That is the sort of man I am. ”

“ Sheila.—But listen, Peg; I wonder what power there was in that jewel that the barefooted woman gave to Shiana, so that the great grief left him so suddenly. What a pity that everybody who is in trouble has not one like it. ”

“ What am I to do at all, at all? It is a hard thing to happen to me at the end of my life! Oh! I am ruined! Utterly ruined! What shall I do! What shall I do?"
"Shut your mouth and not be bothering us—that's what you'll do!" said Sive. "It is not you that are at a loss by it, but I. If I get him into my hands I'll tear the eyes out of his head. And now I think of it, what string was tying your tongue," said she to Shiana, "that you didn't speak when we passed you as we went down the fair-green? ”

“ Surely the world knows he is not bound in the sight of God to fulfil that promise."
"Doubtless," said the priest, "if the promise does exist, he is not bound to fulfil it."
"If it does exist, Father, do you say?" said John. "That implies that you think it does not exist. If it does not exist, oughtn't it to be possible to put a curb on Sive's tongue? If what she is saying is all lies—if she has no claim upon Shiana by right of any promise,—she beats all the women I have ever seen, and Shiana beats all the men I have ever seen." ”

“ Heaven grant the Italians are out with their candles if the lightning stops!
What am I afraid of? Is it not an avatar of Nyarlathotep, who in antique and shadowy Khem even took the form of man? I remember Yuggoth, and more distant Shaggai, and the ultimate void of the black planets . . .
The long, winging flight through the void . . . cannot cross the universe of light . . . re-created by the thoughts caught in the Shining Trapezohedron . . . send it through the horrible abysses of radiance . . .
My name is Blake—Robert Harrison Blake of 620 East Knapp Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin . ”

“ I used to get up early and go out, and leave the little modern village behind me, hidden in the hot haze. And then I would stand in the misty meadows and watch the green turf shimmer and lighten, as the grey halo rolled away. ”

“ This is simply the story of what happened to poor Junius when she found herself much too close to a Flying Saucer, long enough so she could be analyzed and long enough to cause some strange happenings on that farm.
the
shining
cow by ALEX JAMES Robbie whined and acted like his eyes were burning, as if he'd gotten dust or something even stranger into them....
Zack Stewart stared sleepily into the bottom of his cracked coffee cup as his wife began to gather the breakfast dishes.
Mrs. Stewart was a huge, methodical woman, seasoned to the drudgery of a farm wife. ”

“ At last she spoke.
"He is coming to you, Shiana!" said she. "The enemy is almost close to you," said she. And if it was a great gladness and delight to look at her beautiful, noble countenance, even greater was the gladness and delight of listening to the sound of her speech. ”

“ The perfect meekness of that child-like soul,
Turning 'mid sorrow's chastening to its God,
And loosening every link of earthly hope,
To gird an angel's glorious garments on.
The younger lingered yet a little while,
Drooping and beautiful. Strongly the nerve
Of that lone spirit clasped its parent-prop;
Yet still in timid tenderness embraced
The Rock of Ages—while the Saviour's voice
Confirmed its trust: "Suffer the little ones
To come to me." ”

“ O'Malley tells of devil-worship with box found in great Egyptian ruins—says they call up something that can't exist in light. Flees a little light, and banished by strong light. Then has to be summoned again. Probably got this from deathbed confession of Francis X. Feeney, who had joined Starry Wisdom in '49. These people say the Shining Trapezohedron shows them heaven & other worlds, & that the Haunter of the Dark tells them secrets in some way. ”

“ We were all making game of Dermot that day that he went up. Perhaps he knew what he was about. 'There is not a ghost nor a pooka that does not know his own business himself.' And see now, Shiana did not say, 'I won't marry her,' but 'I have no notion of marrying.' Perhaps it may not come so easily to me to break off the match as I thought it would.——And see too, here am I weighing and balancing, while, perhaps, the match is being finished by my mother. May she not be rewarded for her trouble! How very neighbourly she is! ”

“ She looks on high! Her lips in prayer do move!
She clasps her hands as if in agony!
One pleading look she sends to Heaven above,
Then thus with falt’ring voice says to her dying love, XXV.
“O, canst thou not, my husband! speak to me?
O, shall I hear that well known voice no more?
My heart will break. O, God! I cry to thee,
And in this awful hour thine aid implore.
Deep calleth unto deep;—the waves do roar,
Thy waves and billows, rushing o’er my head!
God of all mercy! in this trying hour,
Have pity on the work thy hands have made;
May everlasting arms be underneath me spread. ”