No More Learning

A new child: oh, how much new filth hath also
come into the world! Go apart! He who hath
given birth shall wash his soul!
13-
Be not virtuous beyond your powers! And seek
nothing from yourselves opposed to probability!
Walk in the footsteps in which your fathers'
virtue hath already walked! How would ye rise
high, if your fathers' will should not rise with you?
He, however, who would be a firstling, let him


## p. 357 (#546) ############################################

356 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Such persons vaunt about not lying: but in-
ability to lie is still far from being love to truth.
Be on your guard!
Freedom from fever is still far from being know-
ledge! Refrigerated spirits I do not believe in.
He who cannot lie, doth not know what truth is.
10.
If ye would go up high, then use your own legs!
Do not get yourselves carried aloft; do not seat
yourselves on other people's backs and heads!
Thou hast mounted, however, on horseback?
Thou now ridest briskly up to thy goal? Well,
my friend! But thy lame foot is also with thee on
horseback!
When thou reachest thy goal, when thou
alightest from thy horse: precisely on thy height,
thou higher man,—then wilt thou stumble!
11.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! One is only
pregnant with one's own child.
Do not let yourselves be imposed upon or put
upon! Who then is your neighbour? Even if
ye act " for your neighbour "—ye still do not create
for him!
Unlearn, I pray you, this " for," ye creating ones:
your very virtue wisheth you to have naught to do
with "for" and "on account of" and "because. "
Against these false little words shall ye stop your
ears.
"For one's neighbour," is the virtue only of the



## p. 357 (#547) ############################################

LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 357
petty people: there it is said "like and like," and
"hand washeth hand" :—they have neither the
right nor the power for your self-seeking!
In your self-seeking, ye creating ones, there is the
foresight and foreseeing of the pregnant! What
no one's eyes hath yet seen, namely, the fruit—this,
sheltereth and saveth and nourisheth your entire
love.
Where your entire love is, namely, with your
child, there is also your entire virtue! Your work,
your will is your "neighbour": let no false values
impose upon you!
12.
Ye creating ones, ye higher men! Whoever
hath to give birth is sick; whoever hath given
birth, however, is unclean.
Ask women: one giveth birth, not because it
giveth pleasure. The pain maketh hens and poets
cackle.
Ye creating ones, in you there is much unclean-
ness. That is because ye have had to be mothers.
A new child: oh, how much new filth hath also
come into the world! Go apart! He who hath
given birth shall wash his soul!
13-
Be not virtuous beyond your powers! And seek
nothing from yourselves opposed to probability!
Walk in the footsteps in which your fathers'
virtue hath already walked! How would ye rise
high, if your fathers' will should not rise with you?
He, however, who would be a firstling, let him


## p. 358 (#548) ############################################

358 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
take care lest he also become a lastling! And
where the vices of your fathers are, there should ye
not set up as saints!
He whose fathers were inclined for women, and
for strong wine and flesh of wildboar swine; what
would it be if he demanded chastity of himself?
A folly would it be! Much, verily, doth it seem
to me for such a one, if he should be the husband
of one or of two or of three women.
And if he founded monasteries, and inscribed
over their portals: "The way to holiness,"—I
should still say: What good is it! it is a new
folly!
He hath founded for himself a penance-house
and refuge-house: much good may it do! But I
do not believe in it.
In solitude there groweth what any one bringeth
into it—also the brute in one's nature. Thus is
solitude inadvisable unto many.
Hath there ever been anything filthier on earth
than the saints of the wilderness? Around them.
was not only the devil loose—but also the swine.
14.
Shy, ashamed, awkward, like the tiger whose
spring hath failed—thus, ye higher men, have I
often seen you slink aside. A cast which ye made
had failed.
But what doth it matter, ye dice-players! Ye
had not learned to play and mock, as one must
play and mock! Do we not ever sit at a great
table of mocking and playing?
And if great things have been a failure with you.


## p. 359 (#549) ############################################

LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 359
have ye yourselves therefore—been a failure?
And if ye yourselves have been a failure, hath man
therefore—been a failure? If man, however, hath
been a failure: well then! never mind!
IS-
The higher its type, always the seldomer doth a
thing succeed. Ye higher men here, have ye not
all—been failures?
Be of good cheer; what doth it matter? How
much is still possible! Learn to laugh at your-
selves, as ye ought to laugh!
What wonder even that ye have failed and only
half-succeeded, ye half-shattered ones! Doth not
—man's future strive and struggle in you?
Man's furthest, profoundest, star-highest issues,
his prodigious powers—do not all these foam
through one another in your vessel?
What wonder that many a vessel shattereth!
Learn to laugh at yourselves, as ye ought to laugh!
Ye higher men, Oh, how much is still possible!
And verily, how much hath already succeeded!
How rich is this earth in small, good, perfect things,
in well-constituted things!
Set around you small, good, perfect things, ye
higher men. Their golden maturity healeth the
heart. The perfect teacheth one to hope.
16.
What hath hitherto been the greatest sin here on
earth? Was it not the word of him who said:
"Woe unto them that laugh now! "
\


## p. 360 (#550) ############################################

360 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Did he himself find no cause for laughter on the
earth? Then he sought badly. A child even
findeth cause for it.
He—did not love sufficiently: otherwise would
he also have loved us, the laughing ones! But he
hated and hooted us; wailing and teeth-gnashing
did he promise us.
Must one then curse immediately, when one doth
not love? That—seemeth to me bad taste. Thus
did he, however, this absolute one. He sprang
from the populace.
And he himself just did not love sufficiently;
otherwise would he have raged less because people
did not love him. All great love doth not seek
love :—it seeketh more.
Go out of the way of all such absolute ones!
They are a poor sickly type, a populace-type: they
look at this life with ill-will, they have an evil eye
for this earth.
Go out of the way of all such absolute ones!
They have heavy feet and sultry hearts :—they do
not know how to dance. How could the earth be
light to such ones!
17.
Tortuously do all good things come nigh to
their goal. Like cats they curve their backs, they
purr inwardly with their approaching happiness,—
all good things laugh.
His step betrayeth whether a person already
walketh on his own path: just see me walk! He,
however, who cometh nigh to his goal, danceth.
And verily, a statue have I not become, not yet


## p. 361 (#551) ############################################

LXXHI—THE HIGHER MAN. 361
do I stand there stiff, stupid and stony, like a
pillar; I love fast racing.
And though there be on earth fens and dense
afflictions, he who hath light feet runneth even
across the mud, and danceth, as upon well-
swept ice.
Lift up your hearts, my brethren, high, higher!
And do not forget your legs! Lift up also your
legs, ye good dancers, and better still, if ye stand
upon your heads!
18.
This crown of the laugher, this rose-garland
crown: I myself have put on this crown, I myself
have consecrated my laughter. No one else have
I found to-day potent enough for this.
Zarathustra the dancer, Zarathustra the light one,
who beckoneth with his pinions, one ready for
flight, beckoning unto all birds, ready and prepared,
a blissfully light-spirited one :—
Zarathustra the soothsayer, Zarathustra the
sooth-laugher, no impatient one, no absolute one,
one who loveth leaps and side-leaps; I myself
have put on this crown!
19.
Lift up your hearts, my brethren, high, higher!
And do not forget your legs! Lift up also your
legs, ye good dancers, and better still if ye stand
upon your heads!
There are also heavy animals in a state of happi-
ness, there are club-footed ones from the beginning.


## p. 362 (#552) ############################################

362
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Curiously do they exert themselves, like an elephant
which endeavoureth to stand upon its head.
Better, however, to be foolish with happiness than
foolish with misfortune, better to dance awkwardly
than walk lamely. So learn, I pray you, my
wisdom, ye higher men : even the worst thing hath
two good reverse sides,-
-Even the worst thing hath good dancing-legs :
so learn, I pray you, ye higher men, to put your-
selves on your proper legs !
So unlearn, I pray you, the sorrow-sighing, and
all the populace-sadness! Oh, how sad the buffoons
of the populace seem to me to-day! This to-day,
however, is that of the populace.
20.
Do like unto the wind when it rusheth forth from
its mountain-caves : unto its own piping will it
dance; the seas tremble and leap under its footsteps.
That which giveth wings to asses, that which
milketh the lionesses :-praised be that good, unruly
spirit, which cometh like a hurricane unto all the
present and unto all the populace,
-Which is hostile to thistle-heads and puzzle-
heads, and to all withered leaves and weeds :-
praised be this wild, good, free spirit of the storm,
which danceth upon fens and afflictions, as upon
meadows !
Which hateth the consumptive populace-dogs,
and all the ill-constituted, sullen brood :-praised
be this spirit of all free spirits, the laughing storm,
which bloweth dust into the eyes of all the melan-
opic and melancholic!


## p. 363 (#553) ############################################

LXXIII. —THE HIGHER MAN. 363
Ye higher men, the worst thing in you is that
ye have none of you learned to dance as ye ought
to dance—to dance beyond yourselves! What doth
it matter that ye have failed!
How many things are still possible! So learn to
laugh beyond yourselves! Lift up your hearts, ye
good dancers, high! higher! And do not forget the
good laughter!
This crown of the laugher, this rose-garland
crown: to you my brethren do I cast this crown!
Laughing have I consecrated; ye higher men, learn,
I pray you—to laugh!
LXXIV. —THE SONG OF MELANCHOLY.
When Zarathustra spake these sayings, he stood
nigh to the entrance of his cave; with the last
words, however, he slipped away from his guests,
and fled for a little while into the open air.
"O pure odours around me," cried he, "O
blessed stillness around me! But where are mine
animals? Hither, hither, mine eagle and my
serpent!
Tell me, mine animals: these higher men, all of
them—do they perhaps not smell well? O pure
odours around me! Now only do I know and feel
how I love you, mine animals. "
—And Zarathustra said once more: "I love you,
mine animals! " The eagle, however, and the
serpent pressed close to him when he spake these
words, and looked up to him. In this attitude were
they all three silent together, and sniffed and sipped


## p. 364 (#554) ############################################

364
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
the good air with one another. For the air here
outside was better than with the higher men.
2.
Hardly, however, had Zarathustra left the cave
when the old magician got up, looked cunningly
about him, and said: “He is gone!
And already, ye higher men—let me tickle you
with this complimentary and flattering name, as he
himself doeth—already doth mine evil spirit of
deceit and magic attack me, my melancholy devil,
-Which is an adversary to this Zarathustra from
the very heart : forgive it for this ! Now doth it
wish to conjure before you, it hath just its hour;
in vain do I struggle with this evil spirit.
Unto all of you, whatever honours ye like to
assume in your names, whether ye call yourselves
'the free spirits' or 'the conscientious,' or “the
penitents of the spirit,' or 'the unfettered,' or 'the
great longers,'—
-Unto all of you, who like me suffer from the
great loathing, to whom the old God hath died, and
as yet no new God lieth in cradles and swaddling
clothes—unto all of you is mine evil spirit and
magic-devil favourable.
I know you, ye higher men, I know him,-1
know also this fiend whom I love in spite of me,
this Zarathustra: he himself often seemeth to me
like the beautiful mask of a saint,
-Like a new strange mummery in which mine
evil spirit, the melancholy devil, delighteth :- I love
Zarathustra, so doth it often seem to me, for the
sake of mine evil spirit. -


## p. 365 (#555) ############################################

LXXIV. —THE SONG OF MELANCHOLY. 365
But already doth it attack me and constrain me,
this spirit of melancholy, this evening-twilight devil:
and verily, ye higher men, it hath a longing-
-Open your eyes ! —it hath a longing to come
naked, whether male or female, I do not yet know :
but it cometh, it constraineth me, alas! open your
wits!
The day dieth out, unto all things cometh now
the evening, also unto the best things; hear now,
and see, ye higher men, what devil--man or woman
—this spirit of evening-melancholy is ! ”
Thus spake the old magician, looked cunningly
about him, and then seized his harp.
3.
In evening's limpid air,
What time the dew's soothings
Unto the earth downpour,
Invisibly and unheard-
For tender shoe-gear wear
The soothing dews, like all that's kind-
gentle-
Bethinkst thou then, bethinkst thou, burning
heart,
How once thou thirstedest
For heaven's kindly teardrops and dew's down-
droppings,
All singed and weary thirstedest,
What time on yellow grass-pathways
Wicked, occidental sunny glances
Through sombre trees about thee sported,
Blindingly sunny glow-glançes, gladly-hurting ?


## p. 365 (#556) ############################################

364 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
the good air with one another. For the air here
outside was better than with the higher men.
Hardly, however, had Zarathustra left the cave
when the old magician got up, looked cunningly
about him, and said: "He is gone!
And already, ye higher men—let me tickle you
with this complimentary and flattering name, as he
himself doeth—already doth mine evil spirit of
deceit and magic attack me, my melancholy devil,
—Which is an adversary to this Zarathustra from
the very heart: forgive it for this! Now doth it
wish to conjure before you, it hath just its hour:
in vain do I struggle with this evil spirit.
Unto all of you, whatever honours ye like to
assume in your names, whether ye call yourselves
'the free spirits' or 'the conscientious,' or 'the
penitents of the spirit,' or 'the unfettered,' or 'the
great longers,'—
—Unto all of you, who like me suffer from the
great loathing, to whom the old God hath died, and
as yet no new God lieth in cradles and swaddling
clothes—unto all of you is mine evil spirit and
magic-devil favourable.
I know you, ye higher men, I know him,—I
know also this fiend whom I love in spite of me,
this Zarathustra: he himself often seemeth to me
like the beautiful mask of a saint,
:—Like a new strange mummery in which mine
evil spirit, the melancholy devil, delighteth :—I love
Zarathustra, so doth it often seem to me, for the
sake of mine evil spirit. —
v


## p. 365 (#557) ############################################

LXXIV. —THE SONG OF MELANCHOLY. 365
But already doth it attack me and constrain me,
this spirit of melancholy, this evening-twilight devil:
and verily, ye higher men, it hath a longing—
—Open your eyes! —it hath a longing to come
naked, whether male or female, I do not yet know:
but it cometh, it constraineth me, alas! open your
wits!
The day dieth out, unto all things cometh now
the evening, also unto the best things; hear now,
and see, ye higher men, what devil—man or woman
—this spirit of evening-melancholy is! "
Thus spake the old magician, looked cunningly
about him, and then seized his harp.
In evening's limpid air,
What time the dew's soothings
Unto the earth downpour,
Invisibly and unheard—
For tender shoe-gear wear
The soothing dews, like all that's kind-
gentle—:
Bethinkst thou then, bethinkst thou, burning
heart,
How once thou thirstedest
For heaven's kindly teardrops and dew's down-
droppings,
All singed and weary thirstedest,
What time on yellow grass-pathways
Wicked, occidental sunny glances
Through sombre trees about thee sported,
Blindinglysunny glow-glances, gladly-hurting?


## p. 366 (#558) ############################################

366 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
"Of truth the wooer? Thou ? "—so taunted
they—
"Nay! Merely poet!
A brute insidious, plundering, grovelling,
That aye must lie,
That wittingly, wilfully, aye must lie:
For booty lusting,
Motley masked,
Self-hidden, shrouded,
Himself his booty—
He—of truth the wooer?
Nay! Mere fool! Mere poet!
Just motley speaking,
From mask of fool confusedly shouting,
Circumambling on fabricated word-bridges,
On motley rainbow-arches,
'Twixt the spurious heavenly
And spurious earthly,
Round us roving, round us soaring,—
Mere fool! Mere poet!
He—of truth the wooer?
Not still, stiff, smooth and cold,
Become an image,
A godlike statue,
Set up in front of temples,
As a God's own door-guard:
Nay! hostile to all such truthfulness-statues,
In every desert homelier than at temples,
With cattish wantonness,
Through every window leaping
Quickly into chances,
Every wild forest a-sniffing,
v


## p. 367 (#559) ############################################

LXXIV. —THE SONG OF MELANCHOLY. 367
Greedily-longingly, sniffing,
That thou, in wild forests,
'Mong the motley-speckled fierce creatures,
Shouldest rove, sinful-sound and fine-coloured,
With longing lips smacking,
Blessedly mocking, blessedly hellish, blessedly
bloodthirsty,
Robbing, skulking, lying-roving :-
Or unto eagles like which fixedly,
Long adown the precipice look,
Adown their precipice :--
Oh, how they whirl down now,
Thereunder, therein,
To ever deeper profoundness whirling !
Then,
Sudden,
With aim aright,
With quivering flight,
On lambkins pouncing,
Headlong down, sore-hungry,
For lambkins longing,
Fierce 'gainst all lamb-spirits,
Furious-fierce 'gainst all that look
Sheeplike, or lambeyed, or crisp-woolly,
-Grey, with lambsheep kindliness!
Even thus,
Eaglelike, pantherlike,
Are the poet's desires,
Are thine own desires 'neath a thousand guises,
Thou fool! Thou poet !


## p. 368 (#560) ############################################

368
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Thou who all mankind viewedst-
So God, as sheep-:
The God to rend within mankind,
As the sheep in mankind,
And in rending laughing-
That, that is thine own blessedness!
Of a panther and eagle-blessedness!
Of a poet and fool—the blessedness! ”--
In evening's limpid air,
What time the moon's sickle,
Green, 'twixt the purple-glowings,
And jealous, stealth forth :
-Of day the foe,
With every step in secret,
The rosy garland-hammocks
Downsickling, till they've sunken
Down nightwards, faded, downsunken :-
Thus had I sunken one day
From mine own truth-insanity,
From mine own fervid day-longings,
Of day aweary, sick of sunshine,
-Sunk downwards, evenwards, shadowwards :
By one sole trueness
All scorched and thirsty :
-Bethinkst thou still, bethinkst thou, burning
heart,
How then thou thirstedest ?
That I should banned be
From all the trueness !
Mere fool! Mere poet!


## p. 369 (#561) ############################################

LXXV. -SCIENCE.
369
LXXV. -SCIENCE.
Thus sang the magician; and all who were
present went like birds unawares into the net of his
artful and melancholy voluptuousness. Only the
spiritually conscientious one had not been caught :
he at once snatched the harp from the magician
and called out: “Air! Let in good air! Let in
Zarathustra! Thou makest this cave sultry and
poisonous, thou bad old magician!
Thou seducest, thou false one, thou subtle one,
to unknown desires and deserts. And alas, that
such as thou should talk and make ado about the
truth!
Alas, to all free spirits who are not on their
guard against such magicians! It is all over with
their freedom : thou teachest and temptest back
into prisons,-
-Thou old melancholy devil, out of thy lament
soundeth a lurement: thou resemblest those who
with their praise of chastity secretly invite to
voluptuousness ! ”
Thus spake the conscientious one; the old
magician, however, looked about him, enjoying his
triumph, and on that account put up with the
annoyance which the conscientious one caused him.
“Be still! ” said he with modest voice, “good songs
want to re-echo well; after good songs one should
be long silent.
Thus do all those present, the higher men.
Thou, however, hast perhaps understood but little
2 A


## p. 370 (#562) ############################################

370
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
of my song? In thee there is little of the magic
spirit. ”
“Thou praisest me,” replied the conscientious
one, “in that thou separatest me from thyself; very
well! But, ye others, what do I see? Ye still sit
there, all of you, with lusting eyes—;
Ye free spirits, whither hath your freedom gone!
Ye almost seem to me to resemble those who have
long looked at bad girls dancing naked : your souls
themselves dance!
In you, ye higher men, there must be more of
that which the magician calleth his evil spirit of
magic and deceit :-we must indeed be different.
And verily, we spake and thought long enough
together ere Zarathustra came home to his cave, for
me not to be unaware that we are different.
We seek different things even here aloft, ye and I.
For I seek more security; on that account have I
come to Zarathustra. For he is still the most
steadfast tower and will
-To-day, when everything tottereth, when all
the earth quaketh. Ye, however, when I see what
eyes ye make, it almost seemeth to me that ye seek
more insecurity,
-More horror, more danger, more earthquake.
Ye long (it almost seemeth so to me-forgive my
presumption, ye higher men)-
-Ye long for the worst and dangerousest life,
which frighteneth me most,-for the life of wild
beasts, for forests, caves, steep mountains and
labyrinthine gorges.
And it is not those who lead out of danger that
please you best, but those who lead you away from


## p. 371 (#563) ############################################

LXXV. -SCIENCE.
371
all paths, the misleaders. But if such longing in
you be actual, it seemeth to me nevertheless to be
impossible.
For fear—that is man's original and fundamental
feeling; through fear everything is explained,
original sin and original virtue. Through fear
there grew also my virtue, that is to say:
Science.
For fear of wild animals—that hath been longest
fostered in man, inclusive of the animal which he
concealeth and feareth in himself:-Zarathustra
calleth it the beast inside. '
Such prolonged ancient fear, at last become
subtle, spiritual and intellectual—at present, me-
thinketh, it is called Science. ”-
Thus spake the conscientious one ; but Zarathus-
tra, who had just come back into his cave and had
heard and divined the last discourse, threw a hand-
ful of roses to the conscientious one, and laughed
on account of his “truths. ” “Why! ” he exclaimed,
“what did I hear just now? Verily, it seemeth to
me, thou art a fool, or else I myself am one: and
quietly and quickly will I put thy 'truth' upside
down.
For fear—is an exception with us. Courage,
however, and adventure, and delight in the uncer-
tain, in the unattempted—courage seemeth to me
the entire primitive history of man.
The wildest and most courageous animals hath
he envied and robbed of all their virtues: thus
only did he become-man.
This courage, at last become subtle, spiritual and
intellectual, this human courage, with eagle's


## p. 372 (#564) ############################################

372
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
pinions and serpent's wisdom: this, it seemeth to
me, is called at present—".
“ Zarathustra ! ” cried all of them there as-
sembled, as if with one voice, and burst out at the
same time into a great laughter; there arose,
however, from them as it were a heavy cloud.
Even the magician laughed, and said wisely:
“Well! It is gone, mine evil spirit !
And did I not myself warn you against it when
I said that it was a deceiver, a lying and deceiving
spirit ?
Especially when it showeth itself naked. But
what can I do with regard to its tricks! Have I
created it and the world ?
Well! Let us be good again, and of good cheer!
And although Zarathustra looketh with evil eye-
just see him! he disliketh mem:
-Ere night cometh will he again learn to love
and laud me; he cannot live long without commit-
ting such follies.
He-loveth his enemies: this art knoweth he
better than any one I have seen. But he taketh
revenge for it-on his friends ! ”
Thus spake the old magician, and the higher men
applauded him ; so that Zarathustra went round,
and mischievously and lovingly shook hands with
his friends,-like one who hath to make amends
and apologise to every one for something. When
however he had thereby come to the door of his
cave, lo, then had he again a longing for the good
air outside, and for his animals,--and wished to
steal out.


## p. 373 (#565) ############################################

LXXVI. --DAUGHTERS OF THE DESERT. 373
LXXVI. -AMONG DAUGHTERS OF THE
DESERT.
“Go not away! ” said then the wanderer who
called himself Zarathustra's shadow, “abide with
us otherwise the old gloomy affliction might again
fall upon us.
Now hath that old magician given us of his
worst for our good, and lo! the good, pious pope
there hath tears in his eyes, and hath quite
embarked again upon the sea of melancholy.
Those kings may well put on a good air before
us still: for that have they learned best of us all at
present! Had they however no one to see them, I
wager that with them also the bad game would
again commence,
- The bad game of drifting clouds, of damp
melancholy, of curtained heavens, of stolen suns, of
howling autumn-winds,
-The bad game of our howling and crying for
help! Abide with us, O Zarathustra! Here there
is much concealed misery that wisheth to speak,
much evening, much cloud, much damp air !
Thou hast nourished us with strong food for men,
and powerful proverbs : do not let the weakly,
womanly spirits attack us anew at dessert!
Thou alone makest the air around thee strong
and clear! Did I ever find anywhere on earth such
good air as with thee in thy cave?
Many lands have I seen, my nose hath learned
to test and estimate many kinds of air : but with
thee do my nostrils taste their greatest delight!


## p. 374 (#566) ############################################

374
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Unless it be,-unless it be, do forgive an old
recollection! Forgive me an old after-dinner song,
which I once composed amongst daughters of the
desert :-
For with them was there equally good, clear,
Oriental air ; there was I furthest from cloudy,
damp, melancholy Old-Europe !
Then did I love such Oriental maidens and
other blue kingdoms of heaven, over which hang
no clouds and no thoughts.
Ye would not believe how charmingly they sat
there, when they did not dance, profound, but with-
out thoughts, like little secrets, like beribboned
riddles, like dessert-nuts-
Many-hued and foreign, forsooth! but without
clouds : riddles which can be guessed: to please
such maidens I then composed an after-dinner
psalm. "
Thus spake the wanderer who called himself
Zarathustra's shadow; and before any one answered
him, he had seized the harp of the old magician,
crossed his legs, and looked calmly and sagely
around him :-with his nostrils, however, he inhaled
the air slowly and questioningly, like one who in
new countries tasteth new foreign air. Afterward
he began to sing with a kind of roaring.
The deserts grow: woe him who doth them hide!
-Ha!
Solemnly!
In effect solemnly!
A worthy beginning !


## p. 375 (#567) ############################################

LXXVI. —DAUGHTERS OF THE DESERT. 375
Afric manner, solemnly!
Of a lion worthy,
Or perhaps of a virtuous howl-monkey—
—But it's naught to you,
Ye friendly damsels dearly loved,
At whose own feet to me,
The first occasion,
To a European under palm-trees,
A seat is now granted. Selah.
Wonderful, truly!
Here do I sit now,
The desert nigh, and yet I am
So far still from the desert,
Even in naught yet deserted:
That is, I'm swallowed down
By this the smallest oasis—:
—It opened up just yawning,
Its loveliest mouth agape,
Most sweet-odoured of all mouthlets:
Then fell I right in,
Right down, right through—in 'mong you,
Ye friendly damsels dearly loved! Selah.
Hail! hail! to that whale, fishlike,
If it thus for its guest's convenience
Made things nice ! —(ye well know,
Surely, my learned allusion ? )
Hail to its belly,
If it had e'er
A such loveliest oasis-belly
As this is: though however I doubt about it,
—With this come I out of Old-Europe,


## p. 375 (#568) ############################################

374 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
Unless it be,—unless it be—, do forgive an old
recollection! Forgive me an old after-dinner song,
which I once composed amongst daughters of the
desert:—
For with them was there equally good, clear,
Oriental air; there was I furthest from cloudy,
damp, melancholy Old-Europe!
Then did I love such Oriental maidens and
other blue kingdoms of heaven, over which hang
no clouds and no thoughts.
Ye would not believe how charmingly they sat
there, when they did not dance, profound, but with-
out thoughts, like little secrets, like beribboned
riddles, like dessert-nuts—
Many-hued and foreign, forsooth! but without
clouds: riddles which can be guessed: to please
such maidens I then composed an after-dinner
psalm. "
Thus spake the wanderer who called himself
Zarathustra's shadow; and before any one answered
him, he had seized the harp of the old magician,
crossed his legs, and looked calmly and sagely
around him :—with his nostrils, however, he inhaled
the air slowly and questioningly, like one who in
new countries tasteth new foreign air. Afterward
he began to sing with a kind of roaring.
2.
The deserts grow: woe him who doth them hide!
—Ha!
Solemnly!
In effect solemnly!
A worthy beginning!


## p. 375 (#569) ############################################

LXXVI. —DAUGHTERS OF THE DESERT. 375
Afric manner, solemnly!
Of a lion worthy,
Or perhaps of a virtuous howl-monkey-
-But it's naught to you,
Ye friendly damsels dearly loved,
At whose own feet to me,
The first occasion,
To a European under palm-trees,
A seat is now granted. Selah.
Wonderful, truly!
Here do I sit now,
The desert nigh, and yet I am
So far still from the desert,
Even in naught yet deserted :
That is, I'm swallowed down
By this the smallest oasis — :
-It opened up just yawning,
Its loveliest mouth agape,
Most sweet-odoured of all mouthlets :
Then fell I right in,
Right down, right through-in 'mong you,
Ye friendly damsels dearly loved! Selah.
Hail ! hail ! to that whale, fishlike,
If it thus for its guest's convenience
Made things nice ! -(ye well know,
Surely, my learned allusion ? )
Hail to its belly,
If it had e'er
A such loveliest oasis-belly
As this is : though however I doubt about it,
-With this come I out of Old-Europe,


## p. 376 (#570) ############################################

376
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV.
That doubt'th more eagerly than doth any
Elderly married woman.
May the Lord improve it!
Amen!
Here do I sit now,
In this the smallest oasis,
Like a date indeed,
Brown, quite sweet, gold-suppurating,
For rounded mouth of maiden longing,
But yet still more for youthful, maidlike,
Ice-cold and snow-white and incisory
Front teeth : and for such assuredly,
Pine the hearts all of ardent date-fruits. Selah.
To the there-named south-fruits now,
Similar, all-too-similar,
Do I lie here; by little
Flying insects
Round-sniffled and round-played,
And also by yet littler,
Foolisher, and peccabler
Wishes and phantasies, -
Environed by you,
Ye silent, presentientest
Maiden-kittens,
Dudu and Suleika,
-Roundsphinxed, that into one word
I may crowd much feeling:
(Forgive me, O God,
All such speech-sinning! )
--Sit I here the best of air sniffling,
Paradisal air, truly,


## p. 377 (#571) ############################################

LXXVI. —DAUGHTERS OF THE DESERT. 377
Bright and buoyant air, golden-mottled,
As goodly air as ever
From lunar orb downfell-
Be it by hazard,
Or supervened it by arrogancy?
As the ancient poets relate it.
But doubter, I'm now calling it
In question : with this do I come indeed
Out of Europe,
That doubt'th more eagerly than doth any
Elderly married woman.
May the Lord improve it!
Amen.
This the finest air drinking,
With nostrils out-swelled like goblets,
Lacking future, lacking remembrances,
Thus do I sit here, ye
Friendly damsels dearly loved,
And look at the palm-tree there,
How it, to a dance-girl, like,
Doth bow and bend and on its hunches bob,
--One doth it too, when one view'th it long ! -
To a dance-girl like, who as it seem'th to me,
Too long, and dangerously persistent,
Always, always, just on single leg hath stood ?