Page:Thus Spake Zarathustra - Alexander Tille - 1896.djvu/243

 THE STILL HOUR

"What hath happened unto me, my friends? Ye see me troubled, driven away, unwillingly obedient, ready to go alas, to go away from you !

Yea, once more Zarathustra hath to go into his solitude ! But this time the bear goeth back into its pave sadly !

What hath happened unto me ? Who commandeth this ? Alas, mine angry mistress wisheth it to be thus ! She spake unto me. Did I ever mention her name unto you ?

Yester-even my stillest hour spake unto me. That is the name of my terrible mistress.

And thus it happened. (For everything must I tell you, that your heart may not harden towards him who taketh sudden leave ! )

Know ye the terror of him who falleth asleep?

Unto his very toes he is terrified by the ground giving way and the dream beginning.

This I tell you as a parable. Yesterday at the stillest hour, the ground gave way beneath me: the dream began.

The hand moved on, the clock of my life took P 209

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