Shadowings 



"Remember!" laughed the Souls. "No 

 the folly was in other lives. But we remember ; 

 and remembering, we hate." 



" Ye are all one with me 1 " cried the Man, 

 " how can ye hate ? " 



"One with thee," mocked the Souls, "as 

 the wearer is one with his garment! . . . How 

 can we hate ? As the fire that devours the wood 

 from which it is drawn by the fire-maker even 

 so we can hate." 



" It is a cursed world ! " cried the Man " why 

 did ye not guide me ? " 



The Souls replied to him : 



" Thou wouldst not heed the guiding of ghosts 

 that were wiser than we. . . . Cowards and 

 weaklings curse the world. The strong do not 

 blame the world: it gives them all that they 

 desire. By power they break and take and 

 keep. Life for them is a joy, a triumph, an 

 exultation. But creatures without power merit 

 nothing ; and nothingness becomes their portion. 

 Thou and we shall presently enter into noth- 

 ingness." 



" Do ye fear ? " asked the Man. 



" There is reason for fear," the Souls answered. 

 " Yet no one of us would wish to delay the time 



