The New Moon, page 25
Zico set me down at the gate of that marvelous city. I went into it with the intention of exploring it and getting to know its inhabitants; the men were handsome ad well-built; the women were marvelously beautiful, as much for their facial features as for the perfection of their bodily figures, which attained excellence in the majority.
I was marveling at everything I saw and so absorbed in my contemplation and my thoughts that I did not notice the effect that I was having on the inhabitants, some of whom were following me while others were observing me curiously.
I arrived in a place in the city where I saw several benches placed in front of the entrance to a house. I sat down on one of them, because I was tired, and a few minutes later an exceedingly pretty woman came to invite me to go into her house. At that invitation, made so cordially, I got up and followed her.
She took me into a room where I saw a large table covered with different foodstuffs that were unfamiliar to me, but which simultaneously flattered sight, the sense of smell and the stomach. Benches were placed around the table and several people were already sitting there. The lady of the house offered me her hand and led me to the top of the table, where she sat me down beside her, which I did with pleasure. Immediately, she covered my plate with morsels of food, which I ate with a hearty appetite, because they were good and I was hungry.
The lady seemed benevolent and showed considerable interest in me. She asked me who I was, where I came from and what was the motive for my voyage to their country, where no man like me had ever been seen before. I answered all her questions; she seemed amazed by my replies.
The astonishment they caused her was noticed by the other guests, who did not take long to enquire as to the cause of her astonishment, and it was supposable that I would soon be known throughout the city—a supposition that was promptly verified. The news of the presence of an extraordinary man in Mirabilis reached the governor, who came to see me and invited me to be his guest, which invitation I accepted.
I thanked the lady who had given me hospitality and went with the governor, who took me to his palace, where I was splendidly lodged and served perfectly, with regard to my meals and everything else that I needed.
On the first day the governor invited me to dine with him, but before dinner he introduced me to his wife, who welcomed me graciously. She was in a sumptuously decorated drawing room, sitting on a sofa of which she occupied one end; she was marvelously beautiful. All the ladies who were sitting with her did not cede anything to her in that regard. I bowed respectfully, to which she responded with a nod of her head, and offered me her hand.
The governor then took me into a large hall, where several seats were arranged in a circle in the middle. The ladies I had seen in the drawing room came into the hall, preceded by the governor’s wife, and took their places in the circle of seats. At a sign from the governor, a domestic blew into a stout pipe that passed through the floor, and the part around which the ladies were gathered sank, soon to be replaced by a table covered with the most appetizing dishes. Then the governor’s wife drew her chair closer to the table that had risen up through the opening in the floor; everyone else followed her example.
The carver fulfilled his function, and when everyone had eaten, the table sank down and was almost immediately replaced by another, laden with the dessert. Then everyone returned to the drawing room, where some of the ladies sang, in a delightful manner. Then we went for a stroll in the gardens, which were admirable. The evening was very beautiful, although the air was slightly agitated, and finally, as the wind increased, everyone went back indoors.
Toward the middle of the night, however, a storm broke out; we were tossed around in the palace as if we had been on a ship at sea, rolling and pitching. There were gusts of wind that caused considerable damage in the palace, and caused almost all its residents to pass a sleepless night, because beds were thrown in various directions, and items of furniture followed the same movement. There was an upheaval, and general turmoil.
The next morning, I went out in order to go and see the hospitable lady, but I could no longer find her house; all of them had changed places. I no longer recognized the streets along which I had passed the day before, new streets having been formed by the upsets of the night. However, I was not tempted to explore that new city, because I feared that if I got lost in the labyrinth I might not be able to find my way back to the governor’s palace. That is why I retraced my steps and succeeded, although not without difficulty, in finding it again.
I saw the governor, who was coming back after going to see the King, in order to give him an account of all the changes occasioned in the city by the hurricane, and to receive his orders. He had spoken to him about me, and had depicted me as a man endowed with extraordinary knowledge.
“I would be very glad to see this man,” the King had said to him. “He might be able to indicate to us means of repairing, if not everything, at least a part of the disasters and upheavals that occurred last night. Tell him that I desire to see him, and bring him to me.”
“You Majesty will be obeyed. When does he want me to have the honor of introducing this stranger to him?”
“As soon as possible and without ceremony; I desire to judge in advance my fashion of introducing myself to him.”
The governor asked me if I was ready to yield to the King’s desire.
“Your expression is very just, for a King’s desire is an order, a summons. I can’t refuse, and we’ll leave whenever it pleases Your Excellency.”
“That’s good,” he said. “We’ll have lunch and then set off.”
We ate, and immediately afterwards we went to see the King, who gave me a very generous welcome. Then he asked me a great many questions about matters concerning me personally, about my homeland, and, principally, the knowledge I had acquired—which occasioned his astonishment, manifested by exclamations of enthusiasm. Then he spoke to me about the night’s events, the disturbance of his capital, which had been so beautiful and had now lost its beauty in the confusion—a misfortune that caused him a great deal of chagrin.
“Your Majesty can be reassured,” I told him. “The evil is not without remedy.”
“What!” said the King, excitedly. “You believe that the damage is not irreparable?”
“I do believe that, Sire, and if Your Majesty will give me the means, I hope to be able to return his capital to him, not merely as beautiful, but more beautiful than it was before.”
“More beautiful!” cried the King, at the peak of astonishment. “You have the power to do that, my friend?”
“Yes, Sire; but my power is nothing but the intelligence and the experience I have acquired by my studies, my observations and my imagination.”
The King appeared to be enchanted; his handsome features expressed the happiness that he was experiencing internally. He took my hands, shook them, and lavished the most affectionate names and expressions upon me.
“But how will you achieve this miracle, my friend?” he asked me.
“There will be no miracle, Sire, for the power to work miracles is the attribute of the Divinity. I shall only employ my intelligence, which I owe to God and to profound studies. I shall begin by drawing a plan of the new Mirabilis, which I shall submit to Your Majesty’s examination. If he accepts it, then I shall put my best foot forward to carry it out. To accomplish that task, Your Majesty must put at my disposal the men who will be necessary to the operation, such as carpenters, locksmiths, blacksmiths, rope-makers and ditch-diggers—in sum, all the workmen I need—with the injunction of obey my orders.”
“That is just and indispensable,” the King said, “and I beg you to accept the title of Director General of Works in Mirabilis.”
“I accept it, Sire, because I hope to merit it to your entire satisfaction.”
“I don’t doubt it, my good friend. You’ve rendered me very happy, and as I want everyone to know the high esteem in which I hold you, and the amity that you have inspired in me, come to dinner with me today.”
I accepted his invitation; I was announced by the usher under the title that the King had given me, which surprised all the people who were present. The King received me with distinction and introduced me to the Queen, who gave me the most gracious welcome. All eyes were fixed upon me. Even the governor, who was present, seemed astonished by the great favor that I enjoyed with the King, because he did not know the reason for it. At dessert, however, the King addressed his guests and made the following speech:
“Sires, the extraordinary man that you know by the title of Director General of Works in Mirabilis seems to us to have been sent by the heavens in order to repair the upheavals that occurred last night in our beautiful city. I therefore call upon your collaboration to procure him everything that he will need to cry out this vast and useful enterprise, which is for the good and the wellbeing of all.”
The dignitaries stood up and held out their hands as a sign of acquiescence. After dinner they came to congratulate me, shake my hand and offer me their services and their amity.
The next day I made the plan of the new Mirabilis, which I went to present to the King the day after. I left it with him so that he could examine it at his leisure. I had made a duplicate of the plan, which I kept for myself. I was busy studying it when the governor came to see me, in the apartment that I occupied in his palace.
“My friend,” he said to me, “the King has asked to tell you that he is impatient to see you to give him an explanation of the plan you handed to him, which he does not understand very well. He desires to know the significance of all the lines you have traced.”
“Excellency, I am under the King’s orders, and we shall go to see him whenever you think it appropriate.”
“The let’s go right away. The King will dine more cheerfully, and will be glad to understand your projects, which interest him so keenly.”
We immediately went to the King’s residence. He seemed delighted to see me. He took me into his study, where I saw the plan that I had drawn displayed on his table.
“I thank you,” the King said, “for having come to my aid; for without you, it would have been impossible for me to understand what all these lines signify.”
“Your Majesty will understand it very soon. I beg him to follow me in the explanation that I shall have the honor of giving him. The circle that you see in the center of these lines is the location where Your Majesty’s palace will be; the double circle represents the space left free between the palace and the city. All the lines that end at the circle that surrounds the palace are the streets of the city; the small circles in the lines of the streets are for squares or for monuments that Your Majesty might like to erect there. In accordance with his plan, Your Majesty will be able, without leaving his palace, to see all the principal streets of the city.”
“Oh, what an excellent idea you have had, my friend! Will you consent to my showing your plan to my engineers? I believe that kind of deference will dispose them to assist you in all your operations, and I think their collaboration will be useful to you, in furnishing you with all that you will need to carry out your great and noble design.”
“Your Majesty thinks wisely, for there will be no offended self-esteem, and I gladly renounce the title of author of the project in order to avoid any species of jealousy. The most difficult thing now if the execution of the gigantic project; that is my concern, but the cooperation of engineers will be very useful to me and accelerate my execution, in that they will furnish me, more easily than I could achieve, with all the necessary and indispensable things that I have already listed for Your Majesty; they can procure me the carpenters, smiths, rope-makers and ditch-diggers they know, and I can have the machines that I need for the execution built by those artisans. When the operation is finished, I plan to make all the houses safe from a further upheaval.”
“What?” said the King. “You can neutralize the terrible effects of the wind, and storms?”
“Yes, Sire.”
“But, my friend, you are acquiring new rights to my gratitude every day.”
“You do not owe me any, Sire; I am acquitting, as best I can, the generosity that Your Majesty has shown to me, and which I hope to retain.”
“It is acquired in advance; you have my royal word on that.”
The King summoned the engineers to a room in the palace, and presented my plan to them. They thought it perfect, but did not understand the means of execution. Then the King proposed to put them in communication with me, which they accepted unanimously and promptly. The King arranged our meeting for the following day, in the hall of public sessions, in order that no one would be unaware that I was the author of the plan and the project of execution. I thus found myself at that session, presided over by the king, the next day.
The hall was filled with the notable people of the city; the engineers were gathered around the King. When I entered the hall they came to meet me, and we went to the King together. He was seated at a table on which my plan was displayed. After having examined it, the engineers complimented me, but they did not understand the means that I would employ in its execution.
“It is for that execution, Gentlemen,” I replied, “that I need your cooperation, to give me the workers that I need to construct the machines whose designs I shall supply to them, and of which, if necessary, I shall make a small model. When all the machines are ready, I shall indicate their employment to each of you, and in a matter of days, Mirabilis will be rebuilt on unshakeable bases.”
Unanimous applause greeted my last words.
The next day, the engineers brought me the artisans that I needed to build my machines and carry out other tasks. From the carpenters I ordered horizontal and vertical capstans, all with their hand-spikes. From the blacksmiths I ordered large iron rings and pitons, hooks of different shapes and strong chains of different lengths. From the rope-makers I ordered ropes and cords, from the mechanics, jacks.
I explained to all the artisans, not only in words but also by drawings and small models in wood and clay, all the machines that I needed, and gave them the dimensions that they had to have. I supervised their work, and four days afterwards, I was able to bring together the large fraction of my machinery. Only the mechanics did not succeed, but I had the means of substituting for the jacks by means of a scaffold that I set up, pulleys that I had attached to it, ropes, capstans and levers.
On the sixth day I assembled the engineers to trace the double circle for the placement of the royal palace, and the points at which all the city streets were to terminate. That work was completed in a day.
On the seventh day, all the artisans succeeded in bring the machines that I had ordered into the double circle, and I had them placed at the locations they were to occupy, facing and by the sides of the palace.
On the eighth day, I asked the engineers to furnish me with two hundred men and fifty horses.
On the ninth day, everything I needed was ready. I went to inform the king, and told him that my operation would commence the following morning. The King, intoxicated by joy, shook my hands and embraced me, lavishing the most flattering and affectionate expressions upon me.
On the morning of the tenth day, an unusual stir reigned all over the city; the news that I had conveyed to the King was soon known to all the inhabitants, whose joy reached a peak. They were all mounted on their houses—if I might be forgiven the wordplay—impatient to enjoy the success of my operations.
It was a curious spectacle to see all those houses, covered by their inhabitants, who were manifesting their joy with animated gestures, songs and the sounds of various musical instruments; it was a general joy caused by the imminent re-edification of their city, once so lovely, which they would soon see more beautiful still, by virtue of its regularity. Soon, the labyrinth would disappear; chaos would give way to a new creation.
I was at the palace at the hour that I had indicated; I saw the engineers arrive; we shook hands. We were all in perfect accord, all animated by the finest spirit; they were all ready to carry out my orders. We went into the enclosure traced by the double circle, where I had had the artisans place my machines. I explained the properties of each one to the engineers. I had the iron rings attached to the facades and the sides of the palace. I put ten men in service at each capstan, explaining to them the use of the hand-spikes, and five men at each of the iron rings on the façade and sides of the palace; the horses were placed behind the capstans, in order to have them all to hand in case of need.
Everything was ready, and I sent one of the engineers to inform the King that I was about to commence my operation.
The King appeared on his balcony with the Queen, and we saluted them with cries of “Long live the King!” and “Long live the Queen!” They waved their hands.
Then I shouted, loudly: “Pay attention!” I checked that everyone was at his post and shouted to the engineer I had placed at the capstans: “Start up the facing capstans!”
The palace advanced majestically as far as the line, and I shouted: “Halt!”
The same maneuver was carried out at the sides of the palace, which was positioned regularly on the base that I had had the diggers and the masons prepare for it.
The King and the Queen seemed very emotional, and testified to their joy and happiness with the salutes and hand-kisses that they sent to us. The same testimonies and acclamations came to us from the ladies and the dignitaries who were occupying all the windows of the palace. But my work was not finished; it still remained for me to anchor the palace to the position that it now occupied. Everything was prepared for that operation. I had chains fixed to the iron rings that I had attached to the framework of the underside of the palace, and the other ends of the chains were sealed in massive blocks of stone that I had prepared. The masons and the blacksmiths did their work, and the palace was secured against the blasts of the wind.
The engineers and I then occupied ourselves with the task of future days, with would consist of organizing the streets of the city. That was now the engineers’ affair; they had my plan and the machines that I had set up, and they could operate them as they had seen me do for the palace. However, I did not abandon my post as Director General, and on the eleventh day I was one of the first there; I intended the most beautiful houses to be placed on the circle, facing the palace or at the ends of the city streets, and the other house to be relegated to more distant positions. The important thing, for the moment, was to clear the quarter neighboring the palace, in order to be able to begin tracing out the streets.
