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They could not see enough of this richly colored picture, of these graceful
movements.
When our friends later on had a closer glimpse of the
city's inhabitants, they discovered that Gabokol and Fliorot were by no means
exceptionally handsome examples of their race, but that perfect beauty,
comeliness and grace, as well as a noble-mindedness which was reflected in
their eyes, were the general attributes of all Edenites.
Yet they were far from being alike. Rather the personal distinction of form
and feature appeared to be more marked than it is on the earth; and, to look
into the pleasant faces, or even the sunny eyes, of any of these people, was
to be captivated by them at first sight.
XLII IN A HOSPITABLE HOME
THAT day they did not descend, or rather float down, into the city; for
Gabokol's dwelling was a residence on a level with the mountain rim which
sloped down into the
valley.
The house was in a garden of exceptional splendor and beauty. Only now did our
friends see all that wealth of form
and color with which the flowers, shrubbery, and creepers of Eden were
endowed.
At first they thought that even the vegetables were ornamental plants, until
later on the housewife explained everything to them.
The poultry-yard was especially fascinating; for our pheasants, peacocks, and
guinea-hens come nowhere near the color and markings of the variegated kinds
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of laying fowl, ducks, and geese in which the place abounded. Even the eggs of
Eden's poultry far excelled in flavor the earthly kind, and, moreover, they
were colored like Easter eggs or speckled like the loveliest eggs of the
earth's nesting birds.
Hank, who penetrated ever deeper and more swiftly into the mysteries of Eden's
language, continued to serve as interpreter; but the others were already
beginning to understand words here and there, after having had their attention
called to them. Their knowledge of the natural relationship of sounds gave
them the clue. Remarkably enough, John picked it up quicker than the others,
perhaps because he relied more upon his inbred feeling for language.
Time and again, Gabokol assured them how happy he and
his would be to accommodate his esteemed visitors from another world. He would
show each of them to his own chamber; they were so accustomed here to
harboring guests, the oftener and more numerous the better that in every house
three quarters of the space was set aside for guest-rooms.
House-doors there were none; you entered through the roof, as was the case in
all of Eden's homes. As the villa was a one-storied structure, they all
managed the somewhat lofty jump. Gabokol and Fliorot floated in ahead of them.
"Ma!" called Gabokol, when they had entered the dwelling.
Instantly a radiant form appeared, an apparition of such
grace, youthfulness, and beauty as none had ever before seen, with the
exception of Schulze, who still recalled the even lovelier vision that had
startled him on his morning watch.
But the lady of the house who floated towards our friends was enough to prove
that on Eden too the female sex was the lovelier one, however handsome the men
might be.
"Bleodila," Gabokol presented his wife, with the emphasis on the O of the
melodious name, which Hank translated as
"The Blossoming One," decidedly a fitting name for this flower-like woman.
Bleodila was overjoyed to have guests in her home, and she led them into the
living-room, whose walls were built of rock-crystal and decorated with jewels
in artistic flower patterns.
Here our friends were invited to seat themselves in comfortable chairs of
multicolored, transparent basket-weave.
These delicately woven chairs had not been calculated for the weight of heavy
earth-people, yet they proved to be tough enough to withstand even
Munchhausen's weight without falling apart.
The Captain continued to use the same chair, the largest and strongest one, of
course. The spherical shape which it immediately assumed, a rare departure
from its original shape and that of all the others in Eden, gave the owners of
this chair a lasting souvenir of the visit of the stout Captain.
When the guests had taken their places, the youthful mother of the household
called in her oldest daughter; it was the custom in Eden to present members of
the family to visitors one by one, rather than all at once.
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The little twenty-year-old sprite who now appeared was clothed in a pale rose [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]