Page:Thus Spake Zarathustra - Alexander Tille - 1896.djvu/415

 THE UGLIEST MAN

And again Zarathustra's feet traversed the hills and mountains, and his eyes sought and sought, but no- where could they find him whom they longed to see, the great sufferer and crier for help. But all the way he rejoiced in his heart and was grateful. "What good things," said he, "have been given unto me by this day, to make up for it beginning so ill. What strange speech-makers I found !

Over their words I will now chew for a long time, as over good corn. Into morsels shall my tooth grind them and crush them, until they flow into my soul like milk ! "

But when the road again went round a rock, at once the landscape changed, and Zarathustra entered a kingdom of death. Here black and red cliffs faced sternly upwards. No grass, no tree, no voice of bird. For it was a valley, shunned by all animals, even by the beasts of prey. Only a kind of ugly, thick, green snakes came thither, when they grew old, in order to die. Therefore that valley was called by the herds- men " Death of Snakes."

But Zarathustra sank into dark recollections, for

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