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<v Speaker 1>Chapter ten of Anthem. This is a LibriVox recording. All

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<v Speaker 1>LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information

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<v Speaker 1>or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by

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<v Speaker 1>Caden von Klegg Anthem by Einrand, Chapter ten. We are

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<v Speaker 1>sitting at a table, and we are writing this upon

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<v Speaker 1>paper made thousands of years ago. The light is dim

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<v Speaker 1>and we cannot see the golden one, only one lock

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<v Speaker 1>of gold on the pillow of an ancient bed. This

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<v Speaker 1>is our home. We came upon it to day at sunrise.

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<v Speaker 1>For many days we had been crossing a chain of mountains.

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<v Speaker 1>The forest rose among cliffs, and whenever we walked out

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<v Speaker 1>upon a barren stretch of rock, we saw great peaks

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<v Speaker 1>before us in the west, and to the north of us,

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<v Speaker 1>and to the south. As far as our eyes could see,

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<v Speaker 1>the peaks were red and brown, with the green streaks

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<v Speaker 1>of forests as vanes upon them, with blue mists as

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<v Speaker 1>veils over their heads. We had never heard of these

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<v Speaker 1>mountain nor seen them marked on any map. The uncharted

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<v Speaker 1>forest has protected them from the cities and from the

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<v Speaker 1>men of the cities. We climbed paths where the wild

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<v Speaker 1>goat dared not follow. Stones rolled from under our feet,

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<v Speaker 1>and we heard them striking the rocks below, farther and

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<v Speaker 1>farther down, and the mountains rang with each stroke, and

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<v Speaker 1>long after the strokes had died. But we went on,

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<v Speaker 1>for we knew that no men would ever follow our

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<v Speaker 1>track nor reach us here. Then to day, at sunrise,

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<v Speaker 1>we saw a white flame among the trees, high on

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<v Speaker 1>a sheer peak before us. We thought that it was

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<v Speaker 1>a fire, and we stopped, but the flame was unmoving,

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<v Speaker 1>yet blinding as liquid metal. So we climbed toward it

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<v Speaker 1>through the rocks, and there before us, on a broad summit,

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<v Speaker 1>with the mountains rising behind it, stood a house such

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<v Speaker 1>as we had never seen, and the white fire came

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<v Speaker 1>from the sun on the glass of its windows. The

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<v Speaker 1>house had two stories and a strange roof, flat as

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<v Speaker 1>a floor. There was more wind window than wall upon

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<v Speaker 1>its walls, and the windows went on straight around the corners.

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<v Speaker 1>Though how this kept the house standing we could not guess.

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<v Speaker 1>The walls were hard and smooth of that stone, unlike

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<v Speaker 1>stone which we had seen in our tunnel. We both

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<v Speaker 1>knew it without words. This house was left from the

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<v Speaker 1>unmentionable times. The trees had protected it from time and weather,

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<v Speaker 1>and from men who have less pity than time and weather.

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<v Speaker 1>We turned to the golden one and asked, are you afraid?

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<v Speaker 1>But they shook their head. So we walked to the

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<v Speaker 1>door and threw it open, and we stepped together into

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<v Speaker 1>the house of the unmentionable times. We shall need the

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<v Speaker 1>days and years ahead to look, to learn, and to

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<v Speaker 1>understand the things of this house. To day, we could

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<v Speaker 1>only look and try to believe the sights of our eyes.

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<v Speaker 1>We pulled the heavy curtains from the windows, and we

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<v Speaker 1>saw that the rooms were small, and we thought that

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<v Speaker 1>not more than twelve men could have lived here. We

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<v Speaker 1>thought it strange that men had been permitted to build

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<v Speaker 1>a house for only twelve. Never had we seen rooms

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<v Speaker 1>so full of light. The sun rays danced upon colors, colors,

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<v Speaker 1>more colors than we thought possible, we who had seen

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<v Speaker 1>no houses save the white ones, the brown ones, and

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<v Speaker 1>the gray There were great pieces of glass on the walls,

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<v Speaker 1>but it was not glass, for when we looked upon it,

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<v Speaker 1>we saw our own bodies and all the things behind us,

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<v Speaker 1>as on the face of a lake. There were strange

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<v Speaker 1>things which we had never seen, and the use of

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<v Speaker 1>which we do not know. And there were globes of

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<v Speaker 1>glass everywhere in each room, the globes with the metal

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<v Speaker 1>cobwebs inside, such as we had seen in our tunnel.

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<v Speaker 1>We found the sleeping Hall, and we stood in awe

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<v Speaker 1>upon its threshold, for it was a small room, and

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<v Speaker 1>there were only two beds in it. We found no

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<v Speaker 1>other beds in the house, and then we knew that

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<v Speaker 1>only two had lived here. And this passes understanding. What

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<v Speaker 1>kind of world did they have? The men of the

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<v Speaker 1>unmentionable times? We found garments and the golden One gasped

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<v Speaker 1>at the sight of them, for they were not white

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<v Speaker 1>tunics nor white togas they were of all colors, no

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<v Speaker 1>two of them alike. Some crumbled to dust as we

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<v Speaker 1>touched them, but others were of heavier cloth, and they

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<v Speaker 1>felt soft and new in our fingers. We found a

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<v Speaker 1>room with walls made of shelves, which held rows of

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<v Speaker 1>manuscripts from floor to ceiling. Never had we seen such

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<v Speaker 1>a number of them, nor of such strange shape. They

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<v Speaker 1>were not soft and rolled, they had hard shells of

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<v Speaker 1>cloth and leather, and the letters on their pages were

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<v Speaker 1>so small and so even that we wondered at the

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<v Speaker 1>men who had such handwriting. We glanced through the pages,

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<v Speaker 1>and we saw that they were written in our language.

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<v Speaker 1>But we found many words which we could not understand.

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<v Speaker 1>Tomorrow we shall begin to read these scripts. When we

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<v Speaker 1>had seen all the rooms of the house, we looked

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<v Speaker 1>at the Golden One, and we both knew the thought

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<v Speaker 1>in our minds. We shall never leave this house, we said,

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<v Speaker 1>nor let it be taken from us. This is our

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<v Speaker 1>home and the end of our journey. This is our house,

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<v Speaker 1>golden one, and ours, and it belongs to no other

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<v Speaker 1>men whatever. As far as the earth may stretch, we

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<v Speaker 1>shall not share it with others. And we share not

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<v Speaker 1>our joy with them, nor our love, nor our hunger.

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<v Speaker 1>So be it to the end of our days. Your

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<v Speaker 1>will be done, they said. Then we went out to

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<v Speaker 1>gather wood for the great hearth of our home. We

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<v Speaker 1>brought water from the stream which runs among the trees

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<v Speaker 1>under our windows. We killed a mountain goat, and we

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<v Speaker 1>brought its flesh to be cooked in a strange copper

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<v Speaker 1>pot we found in a place of wonders, which must

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<v Speaker 1>have been the cooking room of the house. We did

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<v Speaker 1>this work alone, for no words of ours could take

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<v Speaker 1>the golden one away from the big glass, which is

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<v Speaker 1>not glass. They stood before it, and they looked and

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<v Speaker 1>looked upon their own body. When the sun sank beyond

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<v Speaker 1>the mountains, the golden one fell asleep on the floor,

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<v Speaker 1>amidst jewels and bottles of crystal and flowers of silk.

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<v Speaker 1>We lifted the golden one in our arms, and we

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<v Speaker 1>carried them to a bed, their head falling softly upon

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<v Speaker 1>our shoulder. Then we lit a candle, and we brought

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<v Speaker 1>paper from the room of the manuscripts, and we sat

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<v Speaker 1>by the window, for we knew that we could not

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<v Speaker 1>sleep to night. And now we look upon the earth

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<v Speaker 1>and sky, This spread of naked rocks and peaks and

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<v Speaker 1>moonlight is like a world ready to be borne, a

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<v Speaker 1>world that waits. It seems to us it asks a

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<v Speaker 1>sign from us, a spark, a first commandment. We cannot

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<v Speaker 1>know what word we are to give, nor what great

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<v Speaker 1>deed this earth expects to witness. We know it waits.

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<v Speaker 1>It seems to say it has great gifts to lay

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<v Speaker 1>before us, but it wishes a greater gift from us.

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<v Speaker 1>We are to speak. We are to give its goal,

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<v Speaker 1>its highest meaning, to all this glowing space of rock

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<v Speaker 1>and sky we look ahead. We beg our heart for

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<v Speaker 1>guidance in answering this call. No voice is spoken, yet

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<v Speaker 1>we have heard. We look upon our hands. We see

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<v Speaker 1>the dust of centuries, the dust which hid grins et secrets,

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<v Speaker 1>and perhaps great evils. And yet it stirs no fear

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<v Speaker 1>within our hearts, but only silent reverence and pity. May

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<v Speaker 1>knowledge come to us? What is the secret our heart

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<v Speaker 1>has understood, and yet will not reveal to us, although

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<v Speaker 1>it seems to beat as if it were endeavoring to

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<v Speaker 1>tell it. End of Chapter ten. Recording by Caden von

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<v Speaker 1>Clegg The Lunar Island dot blogspot dot com