Page:Thus Spake Zarathustra - Alexander Tille - 1896.djvu/383

 THE CRY FOR HELP 349

"that is a cry for help, and the cry of a man. It may well spring from a black sea. But what doth human danger concern me ! My last sin, the sin that was kept for me, peradventure thou knowest what is its name ? "

"Pity!" answered the fortune-teller with over- flowing heart and lifted both his hands. "O Zara- thustra, I have come to seduce thee unto thy last sin ! "

And scarce had these words been uttered when the cry sounded again, and longer and more anxious than before, and also much nigher. " Hearest thou ? Hearest thou, O Zarathustra ? " the fortune-teller cried. " The cry is meant to be heard by thee ; thee it calleth. Come, come, come ! It is time, it is high time !"

Then Zarathustra was silent and confused and agitated. At last he asked like one hesitating : " And who is it who there calleth me ? "

"Thou knowest well," answered the fortune-teller hotly. "Why dost thou hide thyself? The higher man it is who calleth for thee ! "

" The higher man ? " shouted Zarathustra, horror- stricken. "What wanteth he? What wanteth he? The higher man! What wanteth he here?" And sweat brake out over his skin.

But the fortune-teller answered not the anxious cries uttered by Zarathustra, but hearkened and

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