WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:05.719 Anthem by Anne Ran, chapter one. It is a sin 2 00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:08.519 to write this. It is a sin to think words 3 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:11.800 no others think, and to put them down on a 4 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:16.839 paper no others are to see. It is base and evil. 5 00:00:17.559 --> 00:00:19.960 It is as if we are speaking alone to no 6 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:24.719 ears but our own. And we know well that there 7 00:00:24.760 --> 00:00:28.199 is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone. 8 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:32.320 We have broken the laws. The laws say that men 9 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:35.399 may not write unless the Council of Vocations bid them. 10 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:39.600 So may we be forgiven. But this is not the 11 00:00:39.640 --> 00:00:42.880 only sin upon us. We have committed a greater crime. 12 00:00:43.479 --> 00:00:47.719 And for this crime there is no name. What punishment 13 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:51.280 awaits us if it be discovered, we know not, for 14 00:00:51.399 --> 00:00:53.880 no such crime has come in the memory of men, 15 00:00:54.359 --> 00:00:58.079 and there are no laws to provide for it. It is 16 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:01.399 dark here. The flame of the candle stands still in 17 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:04.680 the air. Nothing moves in this tunnel save our hand 18 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:07.840 on the paper. We are alone here under the earth. 19 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:12.799 It is a fearful word alone. The laws say that 20 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:16.799 none among men may be alone, ever and at any time, 21 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:20.200 for this is the great transgression and the root of 22 00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:24.879 all evil. But we have broken many laws, and now 23 00:01:24.920 --> 00:01:27.760 there is nothing here save our one body and it 24 00:01:27.799 --> 00:01:31.040 is strange to see only two legs stretched on the ground, 25 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:33.959 and on the wall before us the shadow of our 26 00:01:34.040 --> 00:01:37.799 one head. The walls are cracked, and water runs upon 27 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:42.200 them in thin threads, without sound, black and glistening as blood. 28 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:45.359 We stole the candle from the larder of the home 29 00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:49.319 of the street sweepers. We shall be sentenced to ten 30 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:52.560 years in the palace of corrective detention if it be discovered. 31 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:56.719 But this matters not. It matters only that the light 32 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:59.799 is precious, and we should not waste it to write 33 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:02.760 when we need it for that work, which is our crime. 34 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:07.599 Nothing matters save the work, our secret, our evil, our 35 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:12.759 precious work. Still we must also write, for may the 36 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:15.879 council have mercy upon us. We wish to speak for 37 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:21.599 once to no ears, but our own. Our name is 38 00:02:21.639 --> 00:02:26.319 equality seven two five two one, as it is written 39 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:29.199 on the iron bracelet which all men wear on their 40 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:33.039 left wrist, with their names upon it. We are twenty 41 00:02:33.080 --> 00:02:36.439 one years old. We are six feet tall, and this 42 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:39.479 is a burden, for there are not many men who 43 00:02:39.479 --> 00:02:43.639 are six feet tall. Ever, have the teachers and leaders 44 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:47.360 pointed to us and frowned and said, there is evil 45 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:50.879 in your bones? Equality seven two five two one. For 46 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:53.560 your body has grown beyond the bodies of your brothers. 47 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:58.000 But we cannot change our bones nor our body. We 48 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:01.159 were born with a curse has always driven us to 49 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:04.840 thoughts which are forbidden. It has always given us wishes 50 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:09.520 which men may not wish. We know that we are evil, 51 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:12.879 but there is no will in us and no power 52 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:16.479 to resist it. This is our wonder and our secret fear, 53 00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:21.199 that we know and do not resist. We strive to 54 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:23.719 be like all of our brother men, for all men 55 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:27.280 must be alike. Over the portals of the Palace of 56 00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:31.319 the World Council, there are words cut in marble which 57 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:35.159 we are required to repeat to ourselves whenever we are tempted. 58 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:41.919 We are one and all, and all in one. There 59 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:46.840 are no men but only the Great We one, indivisible 60 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:51.400 and forever. We repeat this to ourselves, but it helps 61 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:56.120 us not. These words were cut long ago. There is 62 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:59.680 a green mold in the grooves of the letters, and 63 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:04.039 yellow streaks in the marbles, which come from more years 64 00:04:04.039 --> 00:04:08.439 than men could count. And these words are truth, for 65 00:04:08.520 --> 00:04:11.400 they are written on the Palace of the World Council, 66 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:14.120 and the World Council is the body of all truth. 67 00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:19.040 Thus has it been ever since the Great Rebirth, and 68 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:24.480 farther back than that no memory can reach. But we 69 00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:27.000 must never speak of the times before the Great Rebirth, 70 00:04:27.240 --> 00:04:29.279 else we are sentenced to three years in the palace 71 00:04:29.319 --> 00:04:32.759 of corrective attention. It's only the old ones who whisper 72 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:36.000 about it. In the evenings, in the home of the useless, 73 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:40.000 they whisper many strange things, of the towers which rose 74 00:04:40.040 --> 00:04:44.079 to the sky in those unmentionable times, and of the 75 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:47.680 wagons which moved without horses, and of the lights which 76 00:04:47.720 --> 00:04:52.040 burned without flame. But those times were evil, and those 77 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:56.240 times passed away when men saw the great truth, which 78 00:04:56.279 --> 00:05:00.399 is this, that all men are won, and that there 79 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:03.120 is no will save the will of all men. Together, 80 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:07.639 all men are good and wise. It is only we 81 00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:13.240 equality seven two five two one, we alone who were 82 00:05:13.240 --> 00:05:17.879 born with a curse, for we are not like our brothers. 83 00:05:18.920 --> 00:05:22.079 And as we look back upon our life, we see 84 00:05:22.120 --> 00:05:25.920 that it has ever been thus, and that it has 85 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:31.920 brought us, step by step to our last supreme transgression, 86 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:38.319 our crime of crimes. Hidden here under the ground, we 87 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:41.000 remember the home of the infants, where we lived till 88 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:44.920 we were five years old, together with all the children 89 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:47.399 of the city who had been born in the same year. 90 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:51.240 The sleeping halls there were white and clean and bare 91 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:54.839 of all things save one hundred beds. We were just 92 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:59.240 like all our brothers. Then, save for one transgression, we 93 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:03.759 fought with our bathers. There were few offenses blacker than 94 00:06:04.040 --> 00:06:07.399 to fight with our brothers at any age and for 95 00:06:07.480 --> 00:06:11.560 any cause whatsoever. The counsel of the home told us so, 96 00:06:12.279 --> 00:06:15.839 And of all the children of that year, we were 97 00:06:15.879 --> 00:06:19.519 locked in the cellar most often. When we were five 98 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:22.000 years old, we were sent to the home of the students, 99 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:26.439 where they were ten wards for our ten years of learning. 100 00:06:27.319 --> 00:06:30.399 Men must learn till they reached their fifteenth year. Then 101 00:06:30.439 --> 00:06:33.000 they go to work in the home of the students. 102 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:35.279 We arose when the big bell rang in the tower, 103 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:37.839 and we went to our beds. When it rang again, 104 00:06:38.759 --> 00:06:41.360 before we removed our garments, we stood in the great 105 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:44.839 sleeping hall, and we raised our right arms, and we 106 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:49.120 sat all together with the three teachers at the head. 107 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:54.639 We are nothing mankind is all by the grace of 108 00:06:54.680 --> 00:06:59.439 our brothers, or we allowed our lives. We exist through 109 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:05.360 by and for our brothers, who are the state Amen. 110 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:10.240 Then we slept the sleeping halls were white and clean 111 00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:14.319 and bare of all things save one hundred beds. We 112 00:07:14.759 --> 00:07:18.480 Equality seven two five two one were not happy in 113 00:07:18.519 --> 00:07:21.399 those years in the home of the students. It was 114 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:24.199 not that the learning was too hard for us. It 115 00:07:24.279 --> 00:07:27.720 was that the learning was too easy. This is a 116 00:07:27.720 --> 00:07:30.720 great sin to be born with a head which is 117 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:33.319 too quick. It is not good to be different from 118 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:37.199 our brothers, but it is evil to be superior to them. 119 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:41.199 The teachers told us so, and they frowned when they 120 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:45.319 looked upon us. So we fought against this curse. We 121 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:48.800 tried to forget our lessons, but we always remembered. We 122 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:52.120 tried not to understand what the teachers taught, but we 123 00:07:52.199 --> 00:07:55.920 always understood it before the teachers had spoken. We looked 124 00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:59.920 upon Union five three nine nine two, who were a pair, 125 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:03.279 oh boy with only half a brain, and we tried 126 00:08:03.319 --> 00:08:06.519 to say and do as they did, that we might 127 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:10.360 be like them, like Union five three nine nine two. 128 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:14.639 But somehow the teachers knew that we were not, and 129 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:17.279 we were lashed more often than all the other children. 130 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:21.279 The teachers were just for they had been appointed by 131 00:08:21.319 --> 00:08:24.560 the councils, and the counsels are the voice of all justice, 132 00:08:25.079 --> 00:08:28.439 for they are the voice of all men. And if sometimes, 133 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:32.679 in the secret darkness of our heart we regret that 134 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:37.519 which befell us on our fifteenth birthday, we knew that 135 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:41.080 it was through our own guilt we had broken a law, 136 00:08:41.639 --> 00:08:43.919 for we had not paid heed to the words of 137 00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:48.519 our teachers. The teachers had said to us, all, dare 138 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:51.600 not choose in your mind the work you would like 139 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:54.200 to do. When you leave the home of the students, 140 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:58.919 you shall do what the Council of Vocations shall prescribe 141 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:03.840 for you. The Council of Vocation knows in its great 142 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:09.120 wisdom where you are needed by your brother men, better 143 00:09:09.159 --> 00:09:12.600 than you can know it in your unworthy little minds. 144 00:09:13.320 --> 00:09:15.799 And if you are not needed by your brother men, 145 00:09:16.279 --> 00:09:19.039 there is no reason for you to burden the earth 146 00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:23.360 with your bodies. We knew this well in the years 147 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:28.080 of our childhood. But our curse broke our will. We 148 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:31.200 were guilty, and we confessed it here. We were guilty 149 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:35.639 of the great transgression of preference. We preferred some work 150 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:38.879 and some lessons to others. We did not listen well 151 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:42.399 to the history of the councils elected since the Great Rebirth, 152 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:46.120 but we loved the science of things we wish to know. 153 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:49.519 We wish to know about all the things which make 154 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:53.039 the earth around us. We ask so many questions that 155 00:09:53.080 --> 00:09:57.679 the teachers forbade it. We think that there are mysteries 156 00:09:57.720 --> 00:09:59.639 in the sky and under the water, and in the 157 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:03.200 plant which grow. But the Council of Scholars has said 158 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:07.960 that there are no mysteries. And the Council of Scholars 159 00:10:08.039 --> 00:10:11.840 knows all things. And we learned much from our teachers. 160 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:14.440 We learned that the earth is flat, and that the 161 00:10:14.440 --> 00:10:17.960 sun revolves around it, which causes the day and night. 162 00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:21.159 We learned the names of all the winds which blow 163 00:10:21.240 --> 00:10:24.080 over the seas and push the sails of our great ships. 164 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:26.840 We learned how to bleed men, to cure them of 165 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:30.919 all ailments. We loved the science of things. And in 166 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:34.320 the darkness, in the secret hour, when we awoke in 167 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:37.360 the night, and there were no brothers around us, but 168 00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:41.120 only their shapes in the beds and their snores, we 169 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:44.720 closed our eyes, and we held our lips shut, and 170 00:10:44.759 --> 00:10:48.279 we stopped our breath, that no shudder might let our 171 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:51.960 brothers see or hear or guess. And we thought that 172 00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:54.480 we wished to be sent to the home of the 173 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:59.759 scholars when our time would come. All of the great 174 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:03.559 modern inventions come from the home of scholars, such as 175 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:06.960 the newest one, which was found only one hundred years ago, 176 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:11.919 of how to make candles from wax and string, also 177 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:15.000 how to make glass, which is put in our windows 178 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:18.440 to protect us from the rain. To find these things, 179 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:21.720 the scholars must study the earth and learn from the rivers, 180 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:25.279 from the sands, from the winds and the rocks. And 181 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:27.200 if we went to the home of scholars, we could 182 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:30.679 learn from these. Also we could ask questions of these, 183 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:36.240 for they do not forbid questions, and questions give us 184 00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:40.039 no rest. We know not why our curse makes us seek. 185 00:11:40.279 --> 00:11:46.039 We know not whatever and ever, but we cannot resist it. 186 00:11:46.039 --> 00:11:48.799 It whispers to us that there are great things on 187 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:52.799 this earth of ours, that we must know them. We 188 00:11:52.840 --> 00:11:56.240 ask why must we know? But it has no answer 189 00:11:56.279 --> 00:12:00.480 to give us. We must know that we may know. 190 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:04.440 So we wished to be sent to the home of scholars. 191 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:07.879 We wished it so much that our hands trembled under 192 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:10.639 the blankets in the night, and we bit our arm 193 00:12:10.759 --> 00:12:14.159 to stop that other pain which we could not endure. 194 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:18.120 It was evil, and we dared not face our brothers 195 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:21.639 in the morning, for men may wish nothing for themselves, 196 00:12:22.919 --> 00:12:25.919 and we were punished when the Council of Vocations came 197 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:30.240 to give us our life mandates, which tell those who 198 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:33.320 reached their fifteenth year what their work is to be 199 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:37.080 for the rest of their days. The Council of Vocations 200 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:39.320 came in on the first day of spring, and they 201 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:42.399 sat in the Great Hall, and we who were fifteen, 202 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:45.159 and all the teachers came into the Great Hall, and 203 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:49.840 the Council of Vocations sat on a high dais, and 204 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:52.600 they had but two words to speak to each of 205 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:56.679 the students. They called the students' names, and when the 206 00:12:56.679 --> 00:13:01.360 students stepped before them, one after another, the council said 207 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:08.399 carpenter or doctor, or cook or leader. Then each student 208 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:11.279 raised their right arm and said, the will of our 209 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:15.799 brothers be done. Now. If the council said carpenter or cook, 210 00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:19.519 the students so assigned go to work and do not 211 00:13:19.559 --> 00:13:23.159 study any further. But if the council has said Leader, 212 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:25.840 then those students go to the home of the Leaders, 213 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:28.919 which is the greatest house in the city, for it 214 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:32.919 has three stories, and there they study for many years, 215 00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:35.759 so that they may become candidates and be elected to 216 00:13:35.799 --> 00:13:38.720 the City Council, and the State Council and the World 217 00:13:38.759 --> 00:13:42.360 Council by a free and general vote of all men. 218 00:13:43.159 --> 00:13:45.639 But we wish not to be a leader, even though 219 00:13:45.639 --> 00:13:48.399 it is a great honor. We wish to be a scholar. 220 00:13:49.399 --> 00:13:51.960 So we awaited our turn in the Great Hall, and 221 00:13:52.039 --> 00:13:54.840 then we heard the Council of Vocations call our name 222 00:13:55.679 --> 00:14:01.240 equality seven two five two One walked to the dais, 223 00:14:01.399 --> 00:14:04.080 and our legs did not tremble, and we looked up 224 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:07.039 at the council. There were five members of the council, 225 00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:12.000 three of the male gender and two of the female. 226 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:14.799 Their hair was white, and their faces were cracked as 227 00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:17.960 the clay of a dry river bed. They were old. 228 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:20.960 They seemed older than the marble of the Temple of 229 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:23.840 the World Council. They sat before us, and they did 230 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:27.080 not move, and we saw no breath to stir the 231 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:30.519 folds of their white togas. But we knew that they 232 00:14:30.519 --> 00:14:33.480 were alive, for a finger of the hand of the 233 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:38.440 oldest rose pointed to us and fell down again. This 234 00:14:38.679 --> 00:14:41.480 was the only thing which moved, for the lips of 235 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:45.960 the oldest did not move. As they said, street sweeper, 236 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:50.120 We felt the cords of our neck grow tight as 237 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:53.159 our head rose higher to look upon the faces of 238 00:14:53.159 --> 00:14:57.120 the council, and we were happy. We knew we had 239 00:14:57.159 --> 00:14:59.960 been guilty, but now we had a way to atone 240 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:03.720 for it. We would accept our life mandate, and we 241 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:08.039 would work for our brothers gladly and willingly, and we 242 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:11.879 would erase our sin against them, which they did not know, 243 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:15.840 but we knew, for we were happy and proud of 244 00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:19.600 ourselves and of the victory over ourselves. We raised our 245 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:23.320 right arm and we spoke, and our voice was the clearest, 246 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:26.879 the steadiest voice in the hall that day, and we said, 247 00:15:27.480 --> 00:15:30.919 the will of our brothers be done. And we looked 248 00:15:30.919 --> 00:15:33.639 straight into the eyes of the council, But their eyes 249 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:38.679 were as cold as blue glass buttons. So we went 250 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:41.519 into the home of the street sweepers. It is a 251 00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:44.360 gray house on a narrow street. There is a sun 252 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:47.000 dial in the courtyard by which the council of the 253 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:49.440 home can tell the hours of the day and when 254 00:15:49.480 --> 00:15:53.159 to ring the bell. When the bell rings, we arise 255 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:56.200 from our beds. The sky is green and cold in 256 00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:58.799 our windows to the east, and the shadow on the 257 00:15:58.840 --> 00:16:01.879 sun dial marks off a half hour. While we dress 258 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:04.960 and eat our breakfast in the dining hall, where there 259 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:08.600 are five long tables with twenty clay plates and twenty 260 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:12.120 clay cups on each table. Then we go to work 261 00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:15.200 in the streets of the city with our brooms and 262 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:18.639 our rakes. In five hours, when the sun is high, 263 00:16:18.919 --> 00:16:23.039 we return to the home and we eat our midday meal, 264 00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:26.799 for which one half hour is allowed. Then we go 265 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:30.320 to work again. In five hours, the shadows are blue 266 00:16:30.360 --> 00:16:33.039 on the pavements, and the sky is blue with a 267 00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:37.080 deep brightness which is not bright. We come back to 268 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:40.559 have our dinner, which last one hour. Then the bell 269 00:16:40.679 --> 00:16:42.879 rings and we walk in a straight column to one 270 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:47.000 of the city halls for the social meeting. Other columns 271 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:49.399 of men arrive from the homes of the different trades. 272 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:52.720 The candles are lit, and the councils of the different 273 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:56.039 homes stand in a pulpit, and they speak to us 274 00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:59.879 of our duties and our brother men. Then visiting leaders 275 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:03.840 mount the pulpit and they read to us the speeches 276 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:07.720 which were made in the city council that day. For 277 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:10.759 the city council represents all men, and all men must know. 278 00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:16.039 Then we sing hymns, the Hymn of Brotherhood, the Hymn 279 00:17:16.119 --> 00:17:19.680 of Equality, and the hymn of the collective spirit. The 280 00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:22.400 sky is a soggy purple when we return to the home. 281 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:24.920 Then the bell rings, and we walk in a straight 282 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:28.440 column to the city theater for three hours of social recreation. 283 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:32.799 Their a play is shown upon the stage, with two 284 00:17:32.839 --> 00:17:36.960 great choruses from the home of the actors, which speak 285 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:41.119 and answer all together in two great voices. The plays 286 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:44.559 are about toil, and how good it is. Then we 287 00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:47.599 walk back to the home in a straight column. The 288 00:17:47.640 --> 00:17:51.519 sky is like a black sieve, pierced by silver drops 289 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:57.240 that tremble, ready to burst through. The moths beat against 290 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:00.680 the street lanterns. We go to our beds, and we 291 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:04.920 sleep till the bell rings again. The sleeping halls are 292 00:18:04.920 --> 00:18:07.880 white and clean and bare of all things save one 293 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:12.319 hundred beds. Thus we have lived each day of four 294 00:18:12.440 --> 00:18:17.359 years until two springs ago, when our crime happened. Thus 295 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:21.799 must all men live until they are forty. At forty 296 00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:24.799 they're worn out. At forty they are sent to the 297 00:18:24.839 --> 00:18:28.640 home of the useless, where the old ones live. The 298 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:31.400 old ones do not work, for the state takes care 299 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:33.920 of them. They sit in the sun and summer, and 300 00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:36.359 they sit by the fire in winter. They do not 301 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:40.279 speak often, for they are weary. The old ones know 302 00:18:40.839 --> 00:18:44.240 that they are soon to die. When a miracle happens 303 00:18:44.519 --> 00:18:47.400 and some one lives to be forty five, they are 304 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:51.240 the ancient ones, and children stare at them when passing 305 00:18:51.319 --> 00:18:54.480 by the home of the useless. Such is to be 306 00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:57.640 our life, as that of all our brothers, and of 307 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:01.960 the brothers who came before us. Such would have been 308 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:05.160 our life had we not committed our crime, which has 309 00:19:05.319 --> 00:19:08.880 changed all things for us. And it was our curse 310 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:12.440 which drove us to our crime. We had been a 311 00:19:12.440 --> 00:19:16.279 good street sweeper, and like all our brothers, street sweepers, 312 00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:20.440 save for our cursed wish to know. We looked too 313 00:19:20.519 --> 00:19:23.160 long at the stars at night, and at the trees 314 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:25.839 and the earth. And when we cleaned the yard of 315 00:19:25.880 --> 00:19:30.160 the home of the scholars, we gathered the glass vials, 316 00:19:30.519 --> 00:19:34.799 the pieces of metal, the dried bones which they had discarded. 317 00:19:35.400 --> 00:19:37.920 We wished to keep these things and to study them, 318 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:41.000 but we had no place to hide them. So we 319 00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:44.240 carried them to the city cesspool, and then we made 320 00:19:44.279 --> 00:19:47.599 the discovery. It was on a day of the spring 321 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:51.519 before last. We street sweepers worked in brigades of three, 322 00:19:52.039 --> 00:19:55.640 and we were with Union five three nine ninety two. 323 00:19:57.480 --> 00:20:01.119 They of the half brain, and with internet National for 324 00:20:01.640 --> 00:20:05.720 eight eight one eight now Union five three nine ninety 325 00:20:05.720 --> 00:20:10.599 two were a sickly lad, and sometimes they were stricken 326 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:16.759 with convulsions, when their mouth froths and their eyes turn white. 327 00:20:17.480 --> 00:20:22.240 But International four eight eight one eight are different. They 328 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:27.839 are tall, strong youth, and in their eyes are like fireflies, 329 00:20:28.359 --> 00:20:31.400 for there is laughter in their eyes. We cannot look 330 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:34.839 upon International four eight eight one eight and not smile 331 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:39.039 and answer for this. They were not liked in the 332 00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:41.799 home of the students, as it were not proper to 333 00:20:41.880 --> 00:20:45.920 smile without reason. And also they were not liked because 334 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:48.880 they took pieces of coal, and they drew pictures upon 335 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:52.920 the walls, and they were pictures which made men laugh. 336 00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:56.119 But it is only our brothers in the home of 337 00:20:56.160 --> 00:21:01.160 the artists, which are permitted to draw pictures. So International 338 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:04.519 four eight eight one eight were sent to the home 339 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:10.039 of the street sweepers like ourselves International four eight eight 340 00:21:10.359 --> 00:21:14.400 one eight, And we are friends. This is an evil 341 00:21:14.519 --> 00:21:19.079 thing to say, for it is a great transgression, the 342 00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:23.960 great transgression of preference, to love any among men better 343 00:21:24.039 --> 00:21:27.359 than the others. Since we must love all men, and 344 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:31.359 all men are of our friends, so International four eight 345 00:21:31.400 --> 00:21:34.599 eight one eight. And we have never spoken of it, 346 00:21:35.160 --> 00:21:38.279 but we know, we know when we look into each 347 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:42.759 other's eyes, and when we look thus without words, we 348 00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:48.160 both know other things, also, strange things for which there 349 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:53.400 are no words. And these things frighten us. So on 350 00:21:53.480 --> 00:21:57.200 that day of the spring before last Union five three 351 00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:00.000 nine ninety two, we're stricken with convulsions on the edge 352 00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:04.200 to the city, near the city theater. We left them 353 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:06.519 to lie in the shade of the theater tent, and 354 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:09.480 we went with International four eight eight one eight to 355 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:12.960 finish our work. We came together to the great ravine 356 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:18.079 behind the theater. It is empty save for trees and weeds. 357 00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:21.839 Behind the ravine there is a plane, and behind the 358 00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:27.680 plane there lies the uncharted forest, about which men must 359 00:22:27.799 --> 00:22:31.839 not think. We were gathering the papers and the rags 360 00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:34.880 which the wind had blown from the theater when we 361 00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:38.119 saw an iron bar among the weeds. It was old 362 00:22:38.279 --> 00:22:42.200 and rusted by many rains. We pulled with all our strength, 363 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:45.640 but we could not move it. So we called International 364 00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:48.960 four eight eight one eight, and together we scraped the 365 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:53.359 earth around the bar. Of a sudden, the earth fell 366 00:22:53.400 --> 00:22:57.079 in before us, and we saw an old iron grill 367 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:01.480 over a black holee National four eight eight one eight. 368 00:23:01.559 --> 00:23:04.559 Step back, but we pulled at the grill and it 369 00:23:04.599 --> 00:23:08.279 gave way. And then we saw iron rings as steps 370 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:12.680 leading down a shaft into a darkness without bottom. We 371 00:23:12.759 --> 00:23:15.960 shall go down, we said to International four eight eight 372 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:21.519 one eight. It is forbidden. They answered, We said, the 373 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:24.440 Council does not know of this hole, so it cannot 374 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:28.839 be forbidden. And they answered, since the Council does not 375 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:31.519 know of this hole, there could be no law permitting 376 00:23:31.559 --> 00:23:34.839 to enter it, and everything which is not permitted by 377 00:23:34.920 --> 00:23:39.680 law is forbidden. But we said we shall go. Nonetheless, 378 00:23:41.480 --> 00:23:44.480 they were frightened, but they stood by and watched us go. 379 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:47.920 We hung on the iron rings with our hands and 380 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:51.720 our feet. We could see nothing below us, and above us. 381 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:55.759 The hole open upon the sky grew smaller and smaller, 382 00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:58.319 till it came to be the size of a button. 383 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:03.200 But still we went down. Then our foot touched the ground. 384 00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:06.759 We rubbed our eyes, for we could not see. Then 385 00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:09.480 our eyes became used to the darkness, and we could 386 00:24:09.480 --> 00:24:13.839 not believe what we saw. No man known to us 387 00:24:14.039 --> 00:24:16.880 could have built this place, nor the men known to 388 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:20.599 our brothers who lived before us, and yet it was 389 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:24.839 built by men. It was a great tunnel. Its walls 390 00:24:24.880 --> 00:24:28.599 were hard and smooth to the touch. It felt like stone, 391 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:31.680 but it wasn't stone. On the ground there were long, 392 00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:35.279 thin tracts of iron, but it was not iron. It 393 00:24:35.319 --> 00:24:38.640 felt smooth and cold as glass. We knelt and we 394 00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:42.680 crawled forward, our hand groping along the iron line to 395 00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:45.559 see where it would lead. But there was an unbroken 396 00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:50.480 night ahead. Only the iron tracks glowed through it, straight 397 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:54.680 and white, calling us to follow. But we could not follow, 398 00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:57.400 for we were losing the puddle of light behind us. 399 00:24:57.839 --> 00:25:00.599 So we turned and we crawled back, our hand on 400 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:03.920 the iron line, and our heart beat in our fingertips 401 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:09.160