1. That a tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere. But the "Deerslayer" tale accomplishes nothing and arrives in air. 2. They require that the episodes in a tale shall be necessary parts of the tale, and shall help to develop it. But as the "Deerslayer" tale is not a tale, and accomplishes nothing and arrives nowhere, the episodes have no rightful place in the work, since there was nothing for them to develop.In addition to these large rules, there are some little ones. These require that the author shall:
3. They require that the personages in a tale shall be alive, except in the case of corpses, and that always the reader shall be able to tell the corpses from the others. But this detail has often been overlooked in the "Deerslayer" tale.
4. They require that the personages in a tale, both dead and alive, shall exhibit a sufficient excuse for being there. But this detail also has been overlooked in the "Deerslayer" tale.
5. The require that when the personages of a tale deal in conversation, the talk shall sound like human talk, and be talk such as human beings would be likely to talk in the given circumstances, and have a discoverable meaning, also a discoverable purpose, and a show of relevancy, and remain in the neighborhood of the subject at hand, and be interesting to the reader, and help out the tale, and stop when the people cannot think of anything more to say. But this requirement has been ignored from the beginning of the "Deerslayer" tale to the end of it.
6. They require that when the author describes the character of a personage in the tale, the conduct and conversation of that personage shall justify said description. But this law gets little or no attention in the "Deerslayer" tale, as Natty Bumppo's case will amply prove.
7. They require that when a personage talks like an illustrated, gilt-edged, tree-calf, hand-tooled, seven- dollar Friendship's Offering in the beginning of a paragraph, he shall not talk like a negro minstrel in the end of it. But this rule is flung down and danced upon in the "Deerslayer" tale.
8. They require that crass stupidities shall not be played upon the reader as "the craft of the woodsman, the delicate art of the forest," by either the author or the people in the tale. But this rule is persistently violated in the "Deerslayer" tale.
9. They require that the personages of a tale shall confine themselves to possibilities and let miracles alone; or, if they venture a miracle, the author must so plausibly set it forth as to make it look possible and reasonable. But these rules are not respected in the "Deerslayer" tale.
10. They require that the author shall make the reader feel a deep interest in the personages of his tale and in their fate; and that he shall make the reader love the good people in the tale and hate the bad ones. But the reader of the "Deerslayer" tale dislikes the good people in it, is indifferent to the others, and wishes they would all get drowned together.
11. They require that the characters in a tale shall be so clearly defined that the reader can tell beforehand what each will do in a given emergency. But in the "Deerslayer" tale, this rule is vacated.
12. Say what he is proposing to say, not merely come near it. 13. Use the right word, not its second cousin.Even these seven are coldly and persistently violated in the "Deerslayer" tale.
14. Eschew surplusage.
15. Not omit necessary details.
16. Avoid slovenliness of form.
17. Use good grammar.
18. Employ a simple and straightforward style.
Once on a time, as poets sing High tales with fancy laden, Born of a very noble king There lived a wondrous maiden. An only child, her kinsfolk boon, So fair, imagination faints; As though amidst the stars the moon, Or Mary amidst the saints From 'neath the castle's dark retreat, Her silent way she wended Each evening to the window-seat Where Lucifer attended. And secretly, with never fail, She watched his double race, Where vessels drew their pathless trail Across the ocean's face. And as intent she drank his light, Desire was quickly there; While he who saw her every night Soon fell in love with her. And sitting thus with rested head, Her elbows on the sill, Her heart by youthful fancy led Did with deep longing fill. While he, a brilliant shining spark, Glowed always yet more clear Towards the castle tall and dark Where she would soon appear * * * * Until one night with shower of rays He slips into her room, As though a strange and silver haze Did round about her loom. And when at last the child to rest Upon her sofa lies, He lays her arms across her breast And closes her soft eyes. While where his ray on mirror lands And is upon her couch red rifted, It falls upon her throat and hands And on her face uplifted. A smile is on her lips it seems; He in the mirror trembles, For smooth his ray glides midst her dreams And round her soul assembles. And while she is in slumber gone She murmurs through her sighs: "Come down to me beloved one, Fair prince of the clear skies. Come down, good Lucifer and kind, O lord of my aspire, And flood my chamber and my mind With your sweetest fire !" And Lucifer beams still more bright To hear her word's emotion; Then like a comet in its flight Dives down into the ocean. And where his bolt is lost to view The sea in whirlpool surges, Till out of the unfathomed blue A handsome youth emerges, Who, leaping off the fretful wave, Lightly through her casement passes; And in his hand he holds a stave Crowned with a wreath of grasses. A prince indeed of royal stock, With heavy hanging golden hair; A purple winding-sheet his smock, Hung round his shoulders bare. A starry glow shines from his eyes, His cheeks are deathly white; A lifeless thing in living guise, A youth born of the night. "Down from the spheres do I come Though dreadful the commotion, My father is the vaulted dome, My mother is the ocean. For I have left my realm to keep Obedience to your command; Born of the zenith and the deep Here I before you stand. O come, fair child of royal birth, Cast this your world aside, For Lucifer has flown to earth To claim you as his bride. And you will live till time is done In castles built of sky, And all the fish will be your own, And all the birds that fly". "O, beautiful you are, good Sire, As but an angel prince could be, But to the course that you desire I never shall agree Strange, as your voice and vesture show, I live while you are dead; Your eyes gleam with an icy glow Which fills my soul with dread." One day went past, and went past-two, Then o'er the castle dark, Fair Lucifer again to view Shone forth his lustrous spark. And scarce his beam waved bright above, Her dreams to him were borne, Her heart again by aching love And cruel longing torn. "Come down, good Lucifer and kind, O lord of my aspire, And flood my chamber and my mind With your sweetest fire !" Now, as he heard her tender cry With pain he faded out, And lightning flew about the sky, Which wheeled and rocked about; Around the earth a lurid glow Poured like a torrent race, Till out of its chaotic flow There grew a human face; About the head dark wisps of hair Girt with a crown of flame, And through the sun-illumined air Borne up by truth he came. His arms of rounded marble sheen Did 'neath a cloak of raven show, And sad and thoughtful was his mien And pallid was his brow. Bright eyes he had that seemed to tell Of strange chimerical bonds; And deep they were as passion's spell, And dark as moonlit ponds. "Down from the spheres have I flown, Though terrible my flight; My father wears Apollo's crown, My mother is the night. O come, fair child of royal birth, Cast this your world aside, For Lucifer has flown to earth To claim you as his bride. A starry halo from the skies About your hair will fall, And you among the spheres will rise The proudest of them all." "O, beautiful you are, good Sire, As but a demon prince could be, But to the course of your desire I never shall agree. You wound me with your crude behest; I dread what you extol; Your heavy eyes, as though possessed, Gleam down into my soul." "But why should I descend to thee? Far better what I give; My days are all eternity, While you but one hour live." "I would not chosen phrases seek, Nor carefully my words arrange, But though with human mouth you speak, Your speech to me is strange. Yet if you wish to prove your worth, That I betroth myself to you, Well, then come down to me on earth And be a mortal too." You ask my endless, life above To barter for a kiss. Aye, I will show how my love, How deep my longing is. My birthright I will fling aside To be reborn of sin, and I Who to all rolling time am tied, Will that great knot untie." At which he turned and went away Midst a cloud of sombre pearl, To renounce his birthright from that day For the love of a mortal girl. * * * * About this time young Catalin Was a page boy of that house, Who filled the festive cups with wine At feast and royal carouse. And carried high the regal train; A foundling, brought by chance, Born of a humble unknown strain, Though roguish in his glance, Round-cheeked, like rose-apples red, Mischievous, bright-eyed, A slipped with quick yet stealthy tread To Catalina's side. Upon my soul, Queen of romance ! Was such a darling ever? Come Catalin, quick try your chance, For now's your time or never. At which he round her waist did twine His arm in sudden wooing. "Behave, you rascal Catalin, Whatever are you doing?" "By sorrow brooding all the while You would your heart assuage, But better you would turn and smile And kiss just once your page." "I know not what your wishes are, Leave me alone, you knave. Ah me ! The longing for that star Will drive me to the grave." "If you don't know, and you would learn How love is set about, Don't recklessly my teaching spurn, First fairly hear me out. As trappers deftly birds pursue With nets among the tree, When I stretch out my arm to you, Slip your arm thus round me. Your eyes into my eyes must glow, Nor turn away, nor close And when I lift you softly, so, Rise gently on your toes. And when my face is downwards bent Your face turned up will stay, That we may gaze with sweet intent For ever and a day. While should you wish at last to learn The measure of love's bliss, When hot my lips on yours do burn Give back again my kiss." Amused, yet with a girl's surprise At what the youth acclaimed, She blushed and turned away her eyes, Half willing, half ashamed. "A chatterbox you were since small With overmuch to tell, Yet I had felt, in spite of all, We'd suit each other well". But Lucifer's slow sailing spark Crept up out of the sea Over the horizon's arc, Prince of eternity. And now my wretched heart does bleed, With tears my eyes grow dim, When e'er I watch the waves that speed Across the sea to him. While he looms with adoring ray My grief to overthrow, Yet ever climbs to heights away Where mortals cannot go. His silver beams that space defy Sadly my watchers are And I shall love him till I die, Yet he be ever far. And thus it is the days to me Are drear as desert sand, The nights filled with a mystery I dare not understand..." "How childish is the way you speak. Come on ! Come, lets run away, That all the world for us shall seek Though no one finds the way. And we shall nothing of this life regret But joyous live and sprightly, Till soon your parents you'll forget, Nor dream your longings nightly." * * * * Lucifer set out and o'er The sky his wings extended, And million years flew past before As many moments ended. A sky of stars above his way, A sky of stars below; As lightning flash midst them astray In one continuous flow. Till round his primal chaos hurled When out of causeless night The first, up flaming dawn unfurled Its miracle of light. Still further flew he ere the start Of things of form devoid, Spurred by the yearning of his heart, Far back into the void. Yet where he reach's is not the bourn Nor yet where eye can see; Beyond where struggling time was torn Out of eternity. Around him there was naught. And still, Strange yearning there was yet, A yearning that all space did fill, As when the blind forget. "O, Father God, this knot untie Of my celestial birth, And praised you will be on high And on the rolling earth. The price you ask is little count, Give fate another course, For you are of fair life the fount And of calm death the source. Take back this halo from my head, Take back my starry lower, And give to me, o God, instead Of human love one hour. Out of the chaos was I wrought, In chaos would I be dispersed, Out of the empty darkness brought, For darkness do I thirst..." "Hyperion, o child divine, Don't thus your state disclaim, Nor ask for miracle, nor sign That has nor sense nor name. You wish to be a man of son, To be a star you scorn; But men quick perish every one, And men each day are born. Yet stars burn on with even glow, And it is fate's intending That they nor time, nor place shall know, Unfettered and unending. Out of eternal yesterday Into tomorrow's grave, Even the sun will pass way That other sun's shall lave; The sun that every morn does rise At last it's spirit gives, For each thing lives because it dies, And dies because it lives. But you, Hyperion, never wane, Night's miracle sublime, But in the sky your place retain, The wonder of all time. So what strange fancy holds your mind What dreaming thus berates you? Return to earth and there you'll find The awakening that awaits you." * * * * Hyperion did straightway go To where through ages gone His gleam upon the earth below Nightly he had shone. And it was evening when he came, Night's darkness slow assembled, And rose the moon a frozen flame That in the water trembled, And filled the forest's twilight clime With a silver starry mist, Where 'neath a tall and spreading lime Two fair-haired children kissed. "O, let me lay in lover's wise My head upon your breast, Beneath the wonder of your eyes, In soft and fragrant rest. In mystery's enchanted light Pervade me with your charm, And flood my soul through passion's night With time's eternal calm. O, quench my longing's eager thirst, My aching doubts overcast, For you to me are love the first, And of my dreams the last." Hyperion gazed down and knew The fire their souls possessed; For scarce the boy her nearer drew, She clasped him to her breast. A rain of petals in the air That softly did enfold Two fervent children strangely fair, With locks of plated gold. She, lost in love's enraptured flight, To heaven turned her eyes, Saw Lucifer's down shining light And whispered through her sighs: "Come down, good Lucifer and kind, O lord of my aspire. And fill the forest and my mind With your sweetest fire !" And Lucifer, alone in space, Her tender summons heard, A planet o'er the ocean's face That trembled at her word, But did not plunge as in former day, And in his heart did cry: "O, what care you, fair face of clay, If it be he or I? Still earth shall only earth remain, Let luck its course unfold, And I in my own kingdom reign Immutable and cold." Translated by Corneliu M. Popescu |
