Seeing Things at Night.
by Heywood Broun.
Introduction
The first difficulty was the t.i.tle. It was felt that _Seeing Things at Night_ might suggest theatrical essays to the exclusion of anything else. That was not the author"s intention. He meant to suggest rather newspaper articles of any sort done more or less on the spur of the moment for next day"s consumption. There was also some question as to the order in which the various "pieces" should be arranged. The author was tempted to follow the example of Adolf Wolff, a free verse poet who published a volume some years ago called _Songs, Sighs and Curses_, and explained in a foreword, "When asked in what sequence he would arrange his poems, Wolff threw the ma.n.u.scripts in the air, saying "Let Fate decide." They now appear in the order in which they were picked up from the floor."
Broun, however, feared that some of his essays might crash through the floor like the mistakes of a cannonball juggler and that others would prove so lacking in weight when put to the test that it would be necessary to pluck them from the ceiling rather than the floor. The arrangement, therefore, is premeditated though haphazard. In respect to his age the author also wishes to explain that the character, H. 3rd, who appears from time to time is his son and not his grandson. He also wishes to acknowledge the courtesy of _The New York Tribune_, _Vanity Fair_, _McCall"s_, _Collier"s Weekly_ and _The Nation_ in permitting him to reprint various articles which first appeared in their pages.
SEEING THINGS AT NIGHT
The Fifty-first Dragon
Of all the pupils at the knight school Gawaine le Coeur-Hardy was among the least promising. He was tall and st.u.r.dy, but his instructors soon discovered that he lacked spirit. He would hide in the woods when the jousting cla.s.s was called, although his companions and members of the faculty sought to appeal to his better nature by shouting to him to come out and break his neck like a man. Even when they told him that the lances were padded, the horses no more than ponies and the field unusually soft for late autumn, Gawaine refused to grow enthusiastic.
The Headmaster and the a.s.sistant Professor of Pleasaunce were discussing the case one spring afternoon and the a.s.sistant Professor could see no remedy but expulsion.
"No," said the Headmaster, as he looked out at the purple hills which ringed the school, "I think I"ll train him to slay dragons."
"He might be killed," objected the a.s.sistant Professor.
"So he might," replied the Headmaster brightly, but he added, more soberly, "We must consider the greater good. We are responsible for the formation of this lad"s character."
"Are the dragons particularly bad this year?" interrupted the a.s.sistant Professor. This was characteristic. He always seemed restive when the head of the school began to talk ethics and the ideals of the inst.i.tution.
"I"ve never known them worse," replied the Headmaster. "Up in the hills to the south last week they killed a number of peasants, two cows and a prize pig. And if this dry spell holds there"s no telling when they may start a forest fire simply by breathing around indiscriminately."
"Would any refund on the tuition fee be necessary in case of an accident to young Coeur-Hardy?"
"No," the princ.i.p.al answered, judicially, "that"s all covered in the contract. But as a matter of fact he won"t be killed. Before I send him up in the hills I"m going to give him a magic word."
"That"s a good idea," said the Professor. "Sometimes they work wonders."
From that day on Gawaine specialized in dragons. His course included both theory and practice. In the morning there were long lectures on the history, anatomy, manners and customs of dragons. Gawaine did not distinguish himself in these studies. He had a marvelously versatile gift for forgetting things. In the afternoon he showed to better advantage, for then he would go down to the South Meadow and practise with a battle-ax. In this exercise he was truly impressive, for he had enormous strength as well as speed and grace. He even developed a deceptive display of ferocity. Old alumni say that it was a thrilling sight to see Gawaine charging across the field toward the dummy paper dragon which had been set up for his practice. As he ran he would brandish his ax and shout "A murrain on thee!" or some other vivid bit of campus slang. It never took him more than one stroke to behead the dummy dragon.
Gradually his task was made more difficult. Paper gave way to papier-mache and finally to wood, but even the toughest of these dummy dragons had no terrors for Gawaine. One sweep of the ax always did the business. There were those who said that when the practice was protracted until dusk and the dragons threw long, fantastic shadows across the meadow Gawaine did not charge so impetuously nor shout so loudly. It is possible there was malice in this charge. At any rate, the Headmaster decided by the end of June that it was time for the test.
Only the night before a dragon had come close to the school grounds and had eaten some of the lettuce from the garden. The faculty decided that Gawaine was ready. They gave him a diploma and a new battle-ax and the Headmaster summoned him to a private conference.
"Sit down," said the Headmaster. "Have a cigarette."
Gawaine hesitated.
"Oh, I know it"s against the rules," said the Headmaster. "But after all, you have received your preliminary degree. You are no longer a boy.
You are a man. To-morrow you will go out into the world, the great world of achievement."
Gawaine took a cigarette. The Headmaster offered him a match, but he produced one of his own and began to puff away with a dexterity which quite amazed the princ.i.p.al.
"Here you have learned the theories of life," continued the Headmaster, resuming the thread of his discourse, "but after all, life is not a matter of theories. Life is a matter of facts. It calls on the young and the old alike to face these facts, even though they are hard and sometimes unpleasant. Your problem, for example, is to slay dragons."
"They say that those dragons down in the south wood are five hundred feet long," ventured Gawaine, timorously.
"Stuff and nonsense!" said the Headmaster. "The curate saw one last week from the top of Arthur"s Hill. The dragon was sunning himself down in the valley. The curate didn"t have an opportunity to look at him very long because he felt it was his duty to hurry back to make a report to me. He said the monster, or shall I say, the big lizard?--wasn"t an inch over two hundred feet. But the size has nothing at all to do with it.
You"ll find the big ones even easier than the little ones. They"re far slower on their feet and less aggressive, I"m told. Besides, before you go I"m going to equip you in such fashion that you need have no fear of all the dragons in the world."
"I"d like an enchanted cap," said Gawaine.
"What"s that?" answered the Headmaster, testily.
"A cap to make me disappear," explained Gawaine.
The Headmaster laughed indulgently. "You mustn"t believe all those old wives" stories," he said. "There isn"t any such thing. A cap to make you disappear, indeed! What would you do with it? You haven"t even appeared yet. Why, my boy, you could walk from here to London, and n.o.body would so much as look at you. You"re n.o.body. You couldn"t be more invisible than that."
Gawaine seemed dangerously close to a relapse into his old habit of whimpering. The Headmaster rea.s.sured him: "Don"t worry; I"ll give you something much better than an enchanted cap. I"m going to give you a magic word. All you have to do is to repeat this magic charm once and no dragon can possibly harm a hair of your head. You can cut off his head at your leisure."
He took a heavy book from the shelf behind his desk and began to run through it. "Sometimes," he said, "the charm is a whole phrase or even a sentence. I might, for instance, give you "To make the"--No, that might not do. I think a single word would be best for dragons."
"A short word," suggested Gawaine.
"It can"t be too short or it wouldn"t be potent. There isn"t so much hurry as all that. Here"s a splendid magic word: "Rumplesnitz." Do you think you can learn that?"
Gawaine tried and in an hour or so he seemed to have the word well in hand. Again and again he interrupted the lesson to inquire, "And if I say "Rumplesnitz" the dragon can"t possibly hurt me?" And always the Headmaster replied, "If you only say "Rumplesnitz," you are perfectly safe."
Toward morning Gawaine seemed resigned to his career. At daybreak the Headmaster saw him to the edge of the forest and pointed him to the direction in which he should proceed. About a mile away to the southwest a cloud of steam hovered over an open meadow in the woods and the Headmaster a.s.sured Gawaine that under the steam he would find a dragon.
Gawaine went forward slowly. He wondered whether it would be best to approach the dragon on the run as he did in his practice in the South Meadow or to walk slowly toward him, shouting "Rumplesnitz" all the way.
The problem was decided for him. No sooner had he come to the fringe of the meadow than the dragon spied him and began to charge. It was a large dragon and yet it seemed decidedly aggressive in spite of the Headmaster"s statement to the contrary. As the dragon charged it released huge clouds of hissing steam through its nostrils. It was almost as if a gigantic teapot had gone mad. The dragon came forward so fast and Gawaine was so frightened that he had time to say "Rumplesnitz"
only once. As he said it, he swung his battle-ax and off popped the head of the dragon. Gawaine had to admit that it was even easier to kill a real dragon than a wooden one if only you said "Rumplesnitz."
Gawaine brought the ears home and a small section of the tail. His school mates and the faculty made much of him, but the Headmaster wisely kept him from being spoiled by insisting that he go on with his work.
Every clear day Gawaine rose at dawn and went out to kill dragons. The Headmaster kept him at home when it rained, because he said the woods were damp and unhealthy at such times and that he didn"t want the boy to run needless risks. Few good days pa.s.sed in which Gawaine failed to get a dragon. On one particularly fortunate day he killed three, a husband and wife and a visiting relative. Gradually he developed a technique.
Pupils who sometimes watched him from the hill-tops a long way off said that he often allowed the dragon to come within a few feet before he said "Rumplesnitz." He came to say it with a mocking sneer. Occasionally he did stunts. Once when an excursion party from London was watching him he went into action with his right hand tied behind his back. The dragon"s head came off just as easily.
As Gawaine"s record of killings mounted higher the Headmaster found it impossible to keep him completely in hand. He fell into the habit of stealing out at night and engaging in long drinking bouts at the village tavern. It was after such a debauch that he rose a little before dawn one fine August morning and started out after his fiftieth dragon. His head was heavy and his mind sluggish. He was heavy in other respects as well, for he had adopted the somewhat vulgar practice of wearing his medals, ribbons and all, when he went out dragon hunting. The decorations began on his chest and ran all the way down to his abdomen.
They must have weighed at least eight pounds.
Gawaine found a dragon in the same meadow where he had killed the first one. It was a fair-sized dragon, but evidently an old one. Its face was wrinkled and Gawaine thought he had never seen so hideous a countenance.
Much to the lad"s disgust, the monster refused to charge and Gawaine was obliged to walk toward him. He whistled as he went. The dragon regarded him hopelessly, but craftily. Of course it had heard of Gawaine. Even when the lad raised his battle-ax the dragon made no move. It knew that there was no salvation in the quickest thrust of the head, for it had been informed that this hunter was protected by an enchantment. It merely waited, hoping something would turn up. Gawaine raised the battle-ax and suddenly lowered it again. He had grown very pale and he trembled violently. The dragon suspected a trick. "What"s the matter?"
it asked, with false solicitude.