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Speaker 1: Silence, a fable by Edgar Allan Poe. The mountain, pinnacles, slumber, valleys,

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crags and caves are silent. Listen to me, said the demon,

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as he placed his hand upon my head. The region

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of which I speak is a dreary region in Libya,

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by the borders of the river Zaire. And there is

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no quiet there, nor silence. The waters of the river

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have a saffron and sickly yew, and they flow not

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onward to the sea, but palpitate forever and forever beneath

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the ret eye of the sun, with a tumultuous and

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convulsive motion, for many miles. On either side of the

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river's oozy bed is a pale desert of gigantic water lilies.

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They sigh one unto the other in that solitude, and

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stretch towards the heaven their long and ghastly necks, and

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not to and fro their everlasting heads. And there is

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an indistinct murmur which cometh out from among them, like

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the rushing of supterene water. And they sigh one unto

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the other. But there is a boundary to theiron, the

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boundary of the dark, horrible, lofty forest. There, like the

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waves about the hebrides. The low underwoot is agitated continually,

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but there is no wind throughout the heaven. And the

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tall primeval trees rock eternally hither and thither with a

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crashing and mighty sound, and from their high summits, one

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by one drop everlasting dews. And at the roots strange

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poisonous flowers lie writhing and perturbed slumber. And overhead, with

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a rustling and loud noise, the gray clouds rush westwardly

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forever until they roll a cataract over the fiery wall

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of the horizon. But there is no wind throughout the heaven,

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and by the shores of the river Zyra, there is

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neither quiet nor silence. It was night, and the rain fell,

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and falling it was rain, but having fallen it was blood.

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And I stood in the morass among the tall lilies,

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and the rain fell upon my hat, and the lily

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sighed one into the other in the solemnity of their desolation.

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And all at once the moon arose through the thin,

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ghastly mist and was crimson in color. And mine eyes

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fell upon a huge gray rock which stood by the

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shore of the river, and was lighted by the light

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of the moon, and the rock was gray and ghastly

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and tall, and the rock was gray. Upon its front

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were characters engraven in the stones. And I walked through

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the morass of water lilies until I came close in

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to the shore, that I might read the characters upon

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the stone. But I could not decipher them. And I

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was going back into the morass when the moon shone

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with a fuller ret and I turned and looked again

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upon the rock and upon the characters, and the characters

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were desert. And I looked upwards, and there stood a

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man upon the summit of the rock. And I hid

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myself among the water lilies, that I might discover the

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action of the man. And the man was tall and

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stately in form, and wrapped up from his shoulders to

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his feet in the toga of old Rome. And the

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outlines of his figure were indistinct, But his features were

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the features of a deity. For the mantle of the night,

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and of the mist, and of the moon, and of

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the dew had left uncovered the features of his face.

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And his brow was lofty with thought, and his eye

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wild with care. And in the few furrows upon his

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cheek I read the fables of sorrow and the weariness

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and disgusted with mankind, and the longing after solitude. And

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the man sat on the rock and leaned his hat

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upon his hand, and looked out upon the desolation. He

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looked down into the low and quiet shriverery, and up

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into the tall primeval trees, and up high at the

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rustling heaven, and into the crimson moon. And I lay

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close within shelter of the lilies, and observed the actions

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of the man. And the man trembled in the solitude.

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But the knight waned, and he sat upon the rock.

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And the man turned his attention from the heaven and

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looked out upon the dreary river Zayra, and upon the yellow,

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ghastly waters, and upon the pale legions of the water lily.

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And the man listened to the sighs of the water lilies,

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and to the murmur that came up from among them.

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And I lay close within my covert and observed the

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actions of the man. And the man trembled in the solitude.

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But the night waned, and he sat upon the rock.

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Then I went down into the recesses of the Moras

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and waded afar in among the wilderness of the lilies,

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and called into the hippopotamy, which dwelt among the fence

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in the recesses of the morahs. And the Hippopotamy heard

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my cow and came with the behemoth unto the foot

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of the rock, and roared loudly and fearfully beneath the moon.

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And I lay close within my covert and observed the

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actions of the man. And the man tramped in the solitude,

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but the night went, and he sat upon the rock.

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Then I cursed the elements with the curs of tumult,

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and the frightful tempest gathered in the heaven where before

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there had been no wind, and the heaven became livid

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with the violence of the tempest. And the rain beat

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upon the head of the man, and the floods of

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the river came down, and the river was tormented into foam,

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and the water lily shrieked within their beds, and the

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forests crumbled before the wind, and the thunder rolled, and

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the lightning fell, and the rock rocked to its foundation.

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And I lay close within my covert and observed the

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actions of the man. And the man trembled in the solitude,

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but the night went and he sat upon the rock.

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Then I grew angry and cursed with the curs of

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silence the river and the lilies, and the wind and

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the forest, and the heaven and the thunder and the

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sighs of the water lilies. And they became a cursed

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and were still. And the moon ceased to totter up

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its pathway to heaven, and the thunder died away, and

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the lightning did not flash, and the clouds hung motionless,

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and the waters sunk to their level and remained, and

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the trees ceased to rock, and the water lilies sighed

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no more, and the murmur was heard no longer from

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among them, nor any shadow of sound throughout the vast

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illimitable desert. And I looked upon the characters of the rock,

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and they were changed, and the characters were silence. And

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my eyes fell upon the countenance of the man, and

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his countenance was one with terror. And hurriedly he raised

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his head from his hand and stood forth upon the

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rock and listened. But there was no voice throughout the

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vast illimitable desert, and the characters upon the rock were silence.

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And the man shuddered and turned his face away, and

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flat afar off in haste, so that I beheld him

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no more. Now there are fine tills in the volumes

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of the Magi, in the iron bound, melancholy volumes of

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the Magi. Therein I say, I glorious histories of the

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heaven and of the Earth, and of the mighty Sea,

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and of the Genii that overruled the sea and the

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earth and the lofty heaven. There was much lore too

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in the sayings which were set by the sybyls, and

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holly holy things were heard of old by the dim

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leaves that trembled around the Dona. But as Allah liveth

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that fable which the Damon told me as he sat

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by my sight in the shadow of the tomb, I

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hold to be the most wonderful of all. And as

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the demon made an end of his story, he fell

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back within the cavity of the tomb and laughed. And

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I could not laugh with the demon. And he cursed

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me because I could not laugh. And the lynx which

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dwelleth for ever in the tomb, came out therefrom and

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lay down at the feet of the demon and looked

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at him steadily in the face, and of silence, a

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fable