Tubal

“ Bathed in cloud, seeing their path dimly, they walked hand in hand, loaded with gifts of the chase, and of the vine, and pure water, and sweet-scented wood. Ariel found a new beauty in the thick vapor which shut out the heavens, and so stilled the song of the trees that, listening, he believed he could hear the very mist singing, as it moved onward upon its errand of fruitfulness and health; but Tubal saw power, and felt his strength grow within him, and, invigorated, stood erect, and trod more proudly the earth which he claimed as his own. ”

“ When blacksmith Tubal tamed creative fire, And Jabal dwelt in tents and Jubal struck the lyre; Flesh grown corrupt brought forth a monstrous birth And obscene giants trod the shrinking earth, Till God, impatient of their sinful brood, Gave rein to wrath and drown'd them in the Flood. ”

“ Tubal is said by Tabari to have discovered the art of fermenting the juice of the grape, as well as that of music. Eblis deceived the young man, who was full of gaiety, and taught him many things, amongst others how to make wine. Tubal took grapes and crushed them, and made must, and let it grow bitter. Then he took it and put it in a glass jug. He made flutes, lutes, cymbals, and drums. When he began to drink the wine he had made, he jumped and danced. All the sons of Cain looked on, and, pleased with his merriment, they also drank and played on the instruments Tubal had made. ”

“ Enter a MAN from ANTONIO
MAN. Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his house, and desires
to
speak with you both.
SALERIO. We have been up and down to seek him.
Enter TUBAL
SOLANIO. Here comes another of the tribe; a third cannot be
match'd, unless the devil himself turn Jew.
Exeunt SOLANIO, SALERIO, and MAN
SHYLOCK. How now, Tubal, what news from Genoa? Hast thou found
my
daughter?
TUBAL. I often came where I did hear of her, but cannot find
her.
SHYLOCK. Why there, there, there, there! A diamond gone, cost
me
two thousand ducats in Frankfort! ”

“ Yer knows me—Tubal Cummings, from Wolf’s Gap Ferry. I done fotch a young lady and gempleman here what’s come to wisit yer.”
There was a sound of movement in the dark house, and presently a light gleamed through the joints of the windows, and soon afterward the door was opened by an elderly woman, who stood on the threshold, bearing a flaming tallow candle high above her head, and exclaiming:
“Uncle Tubal! Do you say you have brought visitors here at this place, at this hour of the night? ”

“ But when Tubal saw what had happened, he was terrified, and ran back to Lamech, crying out, "You have slain our forefather Cain!" And Lamech also was struck with horror, and raised his hands and smote them together with a mighty blow. And in so doing he struck the head of Tubal with his full strength, and Tubal fell down dead. Then Lamech returned to his house, and spoke to his wives the words that are written in the Book of Genesis. This story, a very ancient one, as I said, was invented by the Jews to explain the difficult passage in Genesis ”

“ Jabal and Jubal may be forms of a root used in Hebrew and Phoenician for ram and ram’s horn (i.e. trumpet) , and underlying our “jubilee.” Tubal may be the eponymous ancestor of the people of that name mentioned in Ezekiel in connexion with “vessels of bronze.” [2] All three names are sometimes derived from יבל‎ in the sense of offspring, so that they would be three different words for “son,” and there are numerous other theories as to their etymology. ”

“ You cannot compare the subjects on the tower itself; but of my series of photographs take 6 and 21, and put them side by side.
I need not dwell on the conditions of resemblance, which are instantly visible; but the difference in the treatment of the heads is incomprehensible. That of the Tubal Cain is exquisitely finished, and with a painter's touch; every lock of the hair laid with studied flow, as in the most beautiful drawing. ”

“ But Rabbinic tradition is unanimous on its signification. The book Jasher says that in those days men did not love to have children, therefore they gave their wives drink to make them sterile. Zillah had taken this drink, and she was barren till in her old age she bare Tubal-cain and Naamah. Now Lamech became blind in his old age, and he was led about by the boy Tubal-cain. Tubal-cain saw Cain in the 83distance, and supposing from the horn on his forehead that he was a beast, he said to his father, “Span thy bow and shoot!” Then the old man discharged his arrow, and Cain fell dead. ”

“ I have many glories,10
no little strength in all the land,
but I must conceal from every man
the secret power of precious skill
and the path I follow. Tell what my name is.
The text is uncommonly difficult, as though the author tried too hard to be “poetical.” The answer must be Metal in some form: ore, gold, money. The keeper of the fire is Tubal Cain (Gen. 4:22) . ”

“ But in the matter of etymology, I do not know that we can advance beyond the quaint phrase of old Sir Walter Raleigh in his “History of the World,” that “there is a certain likelihood of name between Tubalcain and Vulcan.” I rely more upon the wide-spread tradition of Tubalcain in the legends of Dædalus, Vulcan, Weland, Galant, Wielant, Wayland Smith, which approaches very nearly an identification. ”

“ I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear; would she were hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin. No news of them? Why so? And I know not what’s spent in the search. Why, thou—loss upon loss! The thief gone with so much, and so much to find the thief, and no satisfaction, no revenge, nor no ill luck stirring but what lights o’ my shoulders, no sighs but o’ my breathing, no tears but o’ my shedding.
TUBAL.
Yes, other men have ill luck too. Antonio, as I heard in Genoa—
SHYLOCK.
What, what, what? Ill luck, ill luck? ”

“ It was the region long inhabited By all the race of Seth; and Jubal said, "Here have I found my thirsty soul's desire, Eastward the hills touch heaven, and evening's fire Flames through deep waters, I will take my rest, And feed anew from my great mother's breast, The sky-clasped Earth, whose voices nurture me As the flowers' sweetness doth the honey-bee." He lingered wandering for many an age, And, sowing music, made high heritage For generations far beyond the Flood For the poor late-begotten human brood Born to life's weary brevity and perilous good. ”

“ There is a roadstead and good anchorage at Tubul, and in any emergency ships may procure an abundance of bullocks, sheep, and excellent vegetables, in exchange for knives, axes, buttons, beads, &c. The water at the mouth of the river is salt, but good fresh water may be easily obtained a little way up on the north side, where a rivulet joins the Tubul.
Having travelled about six miles, we descended to the beach of a very extensive bay, and saw the island of Santa Maria in the horizon. ”

“ There, too, the very stones are jacinths and the pebbles pure pearls, and the Tuba-tree shields the faithful from the heat of the sun, as they rest beneath it and gaze up at its golden flowers and silver leaves, and refresh themselves with the milk, wine, and honey which flow abundantly from its sweet and glorious stem. ”

“ From the roots of Tuba spring all the rivers and springs of paradise,—water, wine, milk and honey affording variety. Seventy-two immortal virgins of ravishing loveliness and free from mortal impurities will receive each faithful in a tent of pearls, jacinths, and emeralds; eighty thousand servants will await his orders; each meal will [Pg 339] be served in dishes of gold by three hundred attendants, each one offering a different dish, and the last morsel being as palatable as the first. ”

“ Then from the east, with glory on his head Such as low-slanting beams on corn-waves spread, Came Jubal with his lyre: there 'mid the throng, Where the blank space was, poured a solemn song, Touching his lyre to full harmonic throb And measured pulse, with cadences that sob, Exult and cry, and search the inmost deep Where the dark sources of new passion sleep. Joy took the air, and took each breathing soul, Embracing them in one entranced whole, Yet thrilled each varying frame to various ends, As Spring new-waking through the creature sends Or rage or tenderness ”

“ He knew not if that gaze the music sent, Or music that calm gaze: to hear, to see, Was but one undivided ecstasy: The raptured senses melted into one, And parting life a moment's freedom won From in and outer, as a little child Sits on a bank and sees blue heavens mild Down in the water, and forgets its limbs, And knoweth nought save the blue heaven that swims. "Jubal," the face said, " I am thy loved Past, The soul that makes thee one from first to last. I am the angel of thy life and death, Thy outbreathed being drawing its last breath. ”

“ So large is the Túba tree that a man “mounted on the fleetest horse would not be able to gallop from one end of its shade to the other in a hundred years.” All the rivers of Paradise take their rise from the root of the Tree of Happiness; some of them flow with water, some with milk, some with wine, and others with honey. Their beds are of musk, their sides of saffron, their earth of camphire, and their pebbles are rubies and emeralds. ”

“ The hollow vessel's clang, the clash, the boom, Like light that makes wide spiritual room And skyey spaces in the spaceless thought, To Jubal such enlarged passion brought, That love, hope, rage, and all experience, Were fused in vaster being, fetching thence Concords and discords, cadences and cries That seemed from some world-shrouded soul to rise, Some rapture more intense, some mightier rage, Some living sea that burst the bounds of man's brief age. ”

“ On the southern side of the ridge, between mountains of barren rock, snow-slashed, and cleft by tremendous rifts, lying in shadows of cool gray, the deep, bright, winding Duab flows down the green valley which it blesses, among stretches of wheat and mounds where only the forgotten dead have their habitation,—a silver thread in the mellow light. ”

“ At a point possibly a mile or more down the stream from the place in which it is decided to cast the poison, the women and girls, aided by a few men, fix their conical traps across the stream so that no large fish may escape. When all is ready the túba is thrown into the river, and everyone dashes downstream with loud exclamations, some in boats, some on rafts, or; where the water is shallow, wading or jumping from rock to rock. ”

“ On the 8th of September we left the village of Soliman, and about three o'clock in the afternoon came to Wed el Tumbel, which is not a river, as the name would seem to signify, but three villages situated upon a pool of water, nearly in a line from north to south. The intermediate country between this and Herbagi is covered with great crops of dora. The plain extends as far as the sight reaches. Though there is not much wood, the country is not entirely destitute of it, and the farther you go from Sennaar the finer the trees. ”

“ We never saw a human being on the whole route, much less lawless hordes of Bedouins. Tabor stands solitary and alone, a giant sentinel above the Plain of Esdraelon. It rises some fourteen hundred feet above the surrounding level, a green, wooden cone, symmetrical and full of grace—a prominent landmark, and one that is exceedingly pleasant to eyes surfeited with the repulsive monotony of desert Syria. We climbed the steep path to its summit, through breezy glades of thorn and oak. ”

“ I was now, as may be imagined, very familiar with all the tribe, and, by being able to make myself just understood, could join them in any affair, though Tugela was not present, as at this hunt.
After our assembling we soon set off, and proceeded in so straight a direction that I supposed the lair of a lion had already been ascertained, which surmise proved correct, for we had not gone a very great distance before we came in sight of the king of the desert, alone and majestic, having by his side the bare bones of an eland, the flesh of which animal had just served to stay his royal hunger. ”

“ A thick turban encircles his brow. He is tall and slender one moment, corpulent the next, according as the wind inflates his robe or escapes and allows it to collapse.
What a feast of color! And you notice that somehow these changing combinations always result in harmonies. One feels the same effect as though he were listening to a clash of barbarous instruments in a sweet, wild melody of the desert.
There goes a chocolate-colored Nubian, in a terra cotta tunic, carrying a shining copper kettle under each arm. His glistening feet and legs are bare. ”

“ For as every tree nowadays has to pay toll to the people, the Muses have been ejected, and the wood has to go a-begging. We go down to the Valley of Egeria, and into the caves so unlike to nature; how much more near to us would be the spirit of the fountain if its waters were fringed by a green border of grass, and there were no marble to outrage the native tufa! ”

“ Men of distant tribes in strange garb are also here: some wearing head-dresses of waving plumes, like huge busbys; another, one of the dreaded Touaregs, in dark robes with dark turban, veiled, like a woman, in black or intensely dark blue. These are masked men, fierce and mysterious as the sun they contend with and the desert they rule. ”

“ The Tiber between low, interrupted slopes, some covered with longest most compact green grass, others of brown, unreal tufo, like crumbled masonry, or hollowed into Signorelli-looking grottoes, with deep growths of Judas-tree, broom, and scant asphodels; all green and brown, of such shapes that one wonders whether they also, like so many seeming boulders scattered in their neighbourhood, are not in reality masonry, long destroyed towns. ”