Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest

. My old host, whose name was Nuflo, went off with his dogs, leaving the girl to attend to my wants. Two or three times during the day she a

rl had not shown herself responsive, but now that Nuflo was back I was treated to as much talk as I cared to hear. He talked of many things, only omitting those which I desired to hear about; but his pet subject appeared to be the divine government of the world-"God's politics"-and its manifest imperfections, or, in o

d. Consider my position. Here am I compelled for my sins

I suddenly interrupted, thinking

o pass that you will one day marry, and that your wife will in due time present you with a son-one that will inherit your for

were saying," I retur

ters altogether beneath His notice; and that He must, like the President of Venezuela or the Emperor of Brazil, appoint men-angels if you like-to conduct His affairs and watch over each district. And it is manifest that for this country of Guayana the proper person has not been appointed. Every evil is done and there is no remedy, and the Christian has no more consideration shown him than the infidel. Now, senor, in a town near the Orinoco I once saw on a church the archangel Michael, made of stone, and twice as tall as a man, with one fo

ers, spoke well; but this, I may say, is a common thing in our country, where the peasant's quickness of intelligence and poetic feeling often compensate for want of instruction. His views also amused me, although they were not novel. But after a while I grew tired of listening, yet I listened still,

ing, old man, I shall be cunning too-and pa

an hinted that I would be safer under his roof than with the Ind

ply Rima, with a jug of water from the spring in her hand, came in; glancing at me, he lifted his finger to signif

, every day is fast-day-only without the fish. We have maize, pumpkin, cassava, potatoes, and these suffice. And even of these cultivated fruits of the earth she eats but little in the house, preferring certain

m with an incr

r dogs,

a man is, so is his dog. Have you not seen dogs eating grass, sir, even in Venezuela, where these sentiments do not pre

"I have no doubt that you are right," I said. "I have heard that there are dogs in China that eat no meat, but are th

ically and replied: "C

not flowery, but resembles that of other dogs which feed on flesh, and have offended my too sensitive nostrils

dour which is peculiar to its kind"; an incon

ramble in the wood, in the hope that Rima would accompany me, and that out among the trees

he was once more the tantalizing, elusive, mysterious creature I had first known through her wandering, melodious voice. The only difference was that the musical, inarticulate sounds were now less often heard, and that she w

herself from sight a dozen times every hour. To induce her to walk soberly at my side or sit down and enter into conversation with me seemed about as impracticable as to ta

n the morning, after calling her several times to no purpose, I began to assume a downcast manner, as if suffering pain or depressed with grief; and at last, finding a convenient exposed root under a tree, on a spot where the ground was dry and strewn with loose yellow sand, I sat down

g which I encouraged myself by saying mentally: "This is a contest between us, and the most patient and the strongest of will, which should be the man, must conquer. And if I win on this

was not to be moved, she approached and stood near me. Her face, when

nd stay with me for a little

d reluctantly, advanced to within a yard of me. Then I rose from my seat on the root,

here a little while and talk to me, not in your language, but in mine, so

shook back her loose hair, and with her small toes moved the sparkling

wered me," I persisted.

es

her spend his day when he

ad slightly, but

r, Rima? Do you re

ot. "Her soul is up there, where the stars and the angels are, grandfather says. But what is that to me? I am here-am I not? I talk to her just the same. Everything I see I point out, and tell her everything. In the daytime-in the woods, when we are

urnful cry, then sunk, and at the last rep

speak to you-cannot hear you! Talk to

into its mysterious depths-its fancies so childlike and feelings so intense-had fallen ag

hen, of your mother, Rima. Do you know

. That is what t

pri

l-it is so far away! And there are thirteen houses by the s

owledge I wished for; so I pressed her to tell me more about

sed that I did not know that she had exhausted the

you ask of the Virgin Mother when you kneel before her picture? Y

t her answer, with som

n the wood it is all gone-like this," and stooping quickly, she raised a

from her mind when she was out of doors, out of sight of the pictur

our old grandfather! He is old-what will you do when he dies

me, then made answer in a

en I go

eely! Will it always be the same if I remain with you? Why are you always so silent in the house, so cold with your old grandfather? So different-so full

my mouth, and then, as if fearing that her meaning had not been made clear, suddenly touching my lips with her finger. "Why do you not answer me?-speak to me-speak to me, like this!" And turning a little more towards me, and glancing at me with eyes that had all at once changed, losing their clouded expression for one of exquisite tenderness, from her lips came a succession of those mysterious sounds which had first attracted me to her, swift and low and b

rd falling from a cloud of foliage on the topmost bough of a tree; and at the same time

m not here," touching my lips as she had done, "and that my words are nothing.

should see there!"

ld you se

he wood, and I look down and see myself there. That is better. Just as large as I am-not small and black like a small, small fly." And after saying this a little disdainfully, she moved a

n space with loitering flight. In a few moments it was gone over the trees; then she turned once more t

ed closely into some wide-spreading bush, or peered behind a tree, when her calling voice had sounded, her rippling laughter would come to me from some other spot. At length, somewhere about the centre of the wood, she led me to an immense mora tree, growing almost isolated, covering wi

still the words flew back to me, and I could not decide whether it was an echo or not. Then I gave up c

re are you

are you?" cam

behind

behind

this time, instead of repeating

rty-five or forty feet in circumference; and after going round two or three times, I turn

on as I had sat down. "Where are you, Rima? I

And stretching myself out at full length under the tree, I remained quiet for two or three minutes. Then a slight rustling sound was heard, and I looked e

t I could see; but by and by, looking further away, I perceived that on one side the longest lower branches reached and mingled with the shorter boughs of the neighbouring trees. While gazing up I heard her low, rippling laugh, and then caught sight of her as she ran along an exposed horizontal branch, erect on her feet; and my heart stood still with

et, and warm-a real human hand; only now when I held it did she seem altogether

me to hold yo

eplied, with

it

satisfaction to make acquaintance

satiny to the touch, and there was no seam nor hem in it that I could see, but it was all in one piece, like the cocoon of the ca

ilent, I continued: "Where did you get this dr

ooked into them they seemed to see and yet not to see me. They were like the clear, brilliant eyes of a bird, which reflect as in a miraculous mirror all the visible world but do not return our look and seem to see us merely as one of the thousand small details that make up the whole picture. Sudde

med, with a bright

lightly, scarcely touching, and moving continuously, with a motion rapid as that of a fluttering moth's wing; while the spider, still paying out his line, remained suspended, rising and falling sligh

g spot appeared, looking like a silver coin on the cloth; but on touching it with my finger it seemed part of the original f

ts spontaneous quickness and dexterity, was merely intended to show me how sh

e and admiration she cried again,

more foliage, then on the lighter green foliage further away. She waved her hand in imita

it might have been a bird,

nd you asked me to

her waist and drawing her a little closer. "Look into my eyes now and see if I am bli

a little mockingly, but made

woods when you say 'Come'-to chase you round the tree to catch you, and l

, y

everything to please you, and you must

ll

ree. Only to have you stand or sit by me and talk will mak

Abel-what is that? It says nothing. I have called

has a name, one name he is called by. You

ce and in a little while where know I? ... in the night when you wake and

l? Your grandfather N

t an old man with two dogs that lives somewhere in the wood?" A

t can I say to

while a sudden merry look shone in her eyes. "You shall listen when I speak, and do all I say. A

away to the distant trees. But I could see into those divine orbs, and knew that she was not looking at any particular object. All the ever-varying expressions-inquisitive, petulant,

r, I said: "Tell me what you

glanced at my face in a questioning way; but only for a moment, t

are like all beautiful things in the wood-flower, and bird, and butterfly, and green leaf, and frond, and little silky-haired monkey high up in the trees. When I look at you I see them all-all and more, a thousand times, for I see Rima herself. And when I listen to Rima's voice, talking in a language I canno

with some secret trouble. "Yes," she replied in a whisper, and the

moment she was gone round the more; nor