The Manuscript Found in Saragossa (25 page)
Read The Manuscript Found in Saragossa Online
Authors: Jan Potocki
âI clearly foresaw,' she said, âthat your discretion would be disastrous for us. You refused to tell us what happened to you so, like you, I have fallen victim to those accursed vampires. I can hardly bring myself to believe the horrors of last night. I shall, however, try to recall them and relate them to you, but you will not be able to understand them fully unless I start my story from an earlier point in my life.'
Rebecca pondered for a few moments and then began as follows:
   REBECCA'S STORY   In telling you his story my brother has also told you part of mine. My father had intended him to be the husband of the Queen of Sheba's two daughters and he wanted me to marry the two spirits who preside over the constellation of the Gemini. My brother was flattered by his promised marriage and became much keener to acquire the science of the cabbala, but of me the opposite was true: to marry two genii at the same time seemed to me to be a very
frightening prospect. Simply thinking about it upset me so much that I could not bring myself to compose two lines of cabbala. Every day I postponed my task to the next until in the end I had forgotten that art which is as difficult as it is dangerous.
It was not long before my brother noticed my neglect of the cabbala and bitterly reproached me for it. I promised to be better but did nothing about it. In the end he threatened to complain to my father about me. I begged him to spare me this. He promised to wait until the following Saturday. But as I had still done nothing by then he came into my room at midnight, woke me up and told me that he was going to invoke the shade of my father, the terrible Mamoun. I fell to my knees, I begged him to show pity, but he was inexorable. I then heard him utter the terrible formula invented long ago by the Witch of Endor. At once my father appeared, seated on an ivory throne. In his terrible glance was the threat of death. I was afraid that I would not survive the first word which came forth from his lips. Yet he spoke the name of the God of Abraham and Jacob. He dared to utter that awesome invocation.
At this point the young Jewess covered her face with her hand and seemed to tremble at the mere thought of that cruel scene. After a while she pulled herself together and continued as follows:
I did not hear the end of what my father said. I had fainted before he had finished speaking. When I regained consciousness I saw my brother holding out the book of Sephiroth to me. I thought I would faint again but I had to bow to his will. My brother, who rightly suspected that I would have to go back to first principles, had the patience to remind me of them one by one. I started with the composition of syllables, then went on to words and formulae. In the end I became devoted to that sublime science and would spend my nights in the study that had been my father's observatory; I would go to bed only when first light interrupted my exercises. By then I was dropping off to sleep. Zulica, my mulatto maidservant, would undress me almost without my noticing. I would sleep for several hours and then return to the pursuits which were not meant for me, as you will see.
You know Zulica and you have been able to judge her charms for
yourself. She is very beautiful, her eyes are full of tenderness, her mouth has the most pretty smile and her figure is perfectly shaped. One morning, on returning from the observatory, I summoned her to undress me. She did not hear me. I went into her room, which is next to mine, and saw her leaning, half-undressed, out of the window, making signs across the valley and blowing kisses from her hand that seemed to carry her whole heart with them. I had no idea what love was. For the first time I saw this emotion expressed before my eyes. I was so disturbed and shocked that I remained motionless like a statue. Zulica turned round and a deep pink blush suffused the dusky skin of her breast and spread to her whole body. I blushed too, then went pale and seemed on the point of fainting. Zulica caught me in her arms and her heart, which I could feel beating against mine, transmitted to me the turmoil of her senses.
Zulica hurriedly undressed me, and when I was in bed she seemed glad to withdraw and gladder still to close the door behind her. Soon after, I heard the footsteps of someone going into her room. I was drawn by an impulse as swift as it was involuntary to run to her door and put my eye to the keyhole. I saw Tanzai, the young mulatto servant. He walked towards Zulica, carrying a basket of flowers which he had just gathered in the fields. Zulica ran towards him, took bunches of flowers in her hands and pressed them to her breast. Tanzai drew closer to smell their scent, which mingled with his mistress's sighs. I clearly saw a deep shiver run through Zulica's whole being. I seemed to feel it with her. She fell into Tanzai's arms. I returned to my bed, there to hide my shame and weakness.
My bed was wet with my tears, sobs choked me and in my great distress I cried out, âOh my one hundred and twelve times great-grandmother, whose name I bear, sweet and tender wife of Isaac, if from the bosom of your father-in-law you can see the state I am in, appease the shade of Mamoun and tell him that his daughter is not worthy of the honour for which he has destined her.'
My cries had awoken my brother. He came into my bedroom, and believing me to be ill, made me take a sedative. He returned at midday and, finding my pulse was racing, offered himself to continue my cabbalistic exercises for me. I was glad to accept his suggestion for I was in no fit state to work on them. I fell asleep towards evening and
my dreams were very different from those I had had until then. The next day I dreamed while fully awake, or at least I was so absent-minded that I might well have given that impression.
One night my brother came into my bedroom. He had the book of Sephiroth under his arm and a star-spangled scarf in his hand, on which were written the seventy-two names which Zoroaster gave to the constellation of the Gemini.
âRebecca, Rebecca,' he said to me, âshake off this state of mind which dishonours you. It is time for you to try your powers on elemental beings and on infernal spirits. This bandeau with its stars will protect you from their mischief. Choose a spot in the nearby mountains that you think the most suitable for your exercises. Do not forget that your fate depends on the outcome.'
With these words my brother dragged me out of the castle gates and shut them behind me.
Left to myself, I summoned up my courage. It was a dark night. I was in my nightgown, barefoot, with my hair loose and my book in my hand. I made for the mountain that seemed to me to be nearest. A shepherd tried to lay hands on my person, but I pushed him away with the hand in which I held the book and he fell dead at my feet. This will not surprise you once you learn that the cover of my book was made of the wood of the ark and that it had the property of killing anything that touched it.
The sun was just rising when I reached the mountain top which I had chosen for my operations. I could not begin them until midnight on the following day, so I took shelter in a cave, in which I found a she-bear with her cubs. She hurled herself at me but the cover of my book did its work: she fell dead at my feet. Her swollen teats reminded me that I was dying of hunger and I still did not have a single genie at my command, not even the humblest will-o'-the-wisp. So I decided to lie down beside the bear and suck her milk. The she-bear was still warm and this made my meal less revolting, but I had to fight off the bear-cubs. Just imagine, Alphonse, a sixteen-year-old-girl, who had never left the walls within which she had been born, in such a dreadful situation. I had fearsome weapons at my disposal but I had never used them and the least lapse of concentration could turn them against me.
Meanwhile I saw the grass wither, the air fill with a fiery vapour and birds falling dead in mid-flight. I inferred that the demons, forewarned, were gathering. A tree spontaneously burst into flames; from it emerged swirls of smoke which did not rise but surrounded my cave and plunged me into darkness. The she-bear lying at my feet seemed to come back to life again. Her eyes sparkled with fire which momentarily dispelled the darkness. An evil spirit emerged from her mouth in the shape of a winged serpent. It was Nemrael, a demon of the lowest order, who had been chosen to serve me. Soon after, I heard words uttered in the language of the Grigori, the most famous of the fallen angels, and I realized that they were honouring me by their presence at my induction into the world of intermediary beings. Their language is also found in the first book of Enoch, a work of which I have made a special study.
Eventually Semiamas, Prince of the Grigori, came and told me that it was time to begin. I emerged from my cave and formed my star-spangled scarf into a circle, opened my book and spoke aloud the terrible formulae which I had until then only dared read silently to myself. As you will appreciate, Señor Alphonse, I cannot tell you what happened next. In any case, you would not understand. All I will tell you is that I acquired some considerable power over spirits and that I was taught how to contact the heavenly twins. At about the same time my brother succeeded in seeing the tips of the feet of Solomon's daughters. I waited for the sun to enter the sign of Gemini and performed my operations in turn. On that day, or rather night, I worked prodigiously hard and in the end was overcome by sleep and forced to give in to it.
The next morning Zulica brought my mirror and in it I caught sight of two human forms which seemed to be behind me. I turned round and saw nothing. I looked back in the mirror and saw them again. I should add that this apparition was in no way frightening. I saw two young men who were slightly taller than human beings. Their shoulders were a little broader and were rounded in the way women's shoulders are. Their torso was also feminine in form but they did not have breasts. Their arms, plump and perfectly shaped, were resting at their sides in the posture that Egyptian statues have. The heavy curls of their blue and gold hair fell down to their
shoulders. I will not describe their faces to you. You can well imagine how handsome demi-gods are for these were indeed the heavenly twins. I recognized them by the little flames which burned above their heads.
âHow were these demi-gods dressed?' I asked Rebecca.
âThey wore nothing at all,' she replied. âEach one had four wings, two lying on their shoulders and two folded and crossed around their waists. These wings were actually as transparent as those of a fly, but woven through with gold and blue veins which hid from sight anything which might have shocked my modesty.'
âSo here they are,' I said to myself, âthe heavenly spouses to whom I am promised.' I could not help privately comparing them to the young mulatto who adored Zulica. But I was ashamed of the thought. I looked in the mirror and thought that I saw two demi-gods looking severely at me, as though they had been able to read my mind and had taken offence at the involuntary comparison I had made.
For several days I did not raise my eyes to the mirror, but at last I ventured to do so. The divine twins had their arms crossed on their chests and dispelled my shyness by their gentle air. Yet I did not know what to say to them. To escape my predicament, I fetched a volume of the works of Edris, whom you call Atlas.
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It is the most beautiful poetry that we have. The harmony of Edris's verse imitates that of the heavenly bodies. I was not familiar with the poet's language and, fearing that I had not read it well, I surreptitiously looked into the mirror to see what effect I was having on my audience. I had every reason to be pleased. The Thamim were looking at each other as though they approved of what I was doing, and from, time to time they shot glances into the mirror that I could not meet without feeling disturbed.
My brother came in at that moment and the vision disappeared. He told me about Solomon's daughters, the tips of whose feet he had seen. He was exhilarated, and I shared his joy. I felt myself at that
moment imbued with an emotion which until then I had not known. The private thrill which usually accompanied cabbalistic exercises imperceptibly gave way to an indescribable, sweet abandon, the like of which I had not known before.
My brother had the castle gates opened. They had been shut since my excursion into the mountains. We enjoyed the pleasures of a walk together. The countryside seemed to me to be painted with the most vivid colours. I could see my brother's eyes burning with a sort of fire, different from the passion for knowledge. We made our way deep into an orange grove. I went off to muse by myself. He went his own way. We were still occupied by our reveries on our return.
In preparing me for bed, Zulica brought me a mirror. I saw that I was not alone. I had the mirror taken away, thinking like an ostrich that I would not be seen if I could not see. I lay down and fell asleep, but some strange dreams took hold of my imagination. I thought I saw in the vast abyss of the heavens two brilliant stars travelling majestically across the zodiac. They suddenly left it and then reappeared, bearing with them the nebula from the belt of Andromeda.
These three heavenly bodies continued together on their ethereal course. They then stopped and took on the appearance of a fiery meteor. Next they appeared to me in the form of three luminous rings which, having spun round for a certain time, settled around the same centre. After that they changed into a sort of halo or aureola around a sapphire throne. I saw the twins holding out their arms to me and pointing me to the place I should occupy between them. I tried to rise up to them, but it seemed to me at that moment as though Tanzai the mulatto was stopping me by gripping me round the waist. I was indeed very gripped by all this and as a result woke up with a start.
It was dark in my bedroom but I saw through the chink in the door that there was a light in Zulica's room. I heard her moan and thought that she was ill. I should have called to her but I did not. I cannot say what guilty, rash impulse led me to resort again to the keyhole. I saw Tanzai the mulatto taking liberties with Zulica's person that froze me with horror. My eyes closed and I fell down in a faint.
When I came round, my brother and Zulica were standing beside my bed. I gave her a withering look and told her never to appear
again in my presence. My brother asked me what had caused me to be so severe. I blushingly told him what had happened to me. He replied that he had married them the previous evening and that he was very upset at not having foreseen what would happen. It was true that only my sight had been profaned, but the extreme sensitivity of the Thamim made him uneasy. As for me, the only emotion I felt was shame. I would have died rather than look in the mirror.
My brother did not know the nature of my relations with the Thamim but he knew that I was no longer a stranger to them, and, seeing me sinking into a sort of melancholy, he feared that I would neglect the exercises I had begun. When the sun was on the point of leaving the sign of Gemini he thought it was his duty to warn me. I woke as from a dream. I trembled at the thought of not seeing my gods again, of being separated from them for eleven months without even knowing what they thought of me or whether I had made myself wholly unworthy of their attention.
I decided to go to a high-ceilinged room in the castle where there was a ten-foot-high Venetian mirror. So as not to lose countenance, I took with me a volume of the works of Edris, which included his poem on the creation of the world. I sat down a very long way from the mirror and began to read aloud.
Then I broke off my reading and, raising my voice, ventured to ask the Thamim whether they had witnessed these marvels. At that the Venetian mirror left the wall to which it was attached and positioned itself in front of me. I saw the Gemini smile at me with an air of satisfaction, and both nodded to indicate to me that they had indeed been present at the creation of the world and that it had all happened just as Edris had described it.
I then grew bolder. I shut my book, and looked into the eyes of my divine lovers. This moment of abandonment nearly cost me dear. I was still too close to common humanity to be able to endure such intimate communication. The heavenly flame which shone in their eyes threatened to consume me. I lowered my gaze and, when I had recovered a little, continued to read aloud. But I happened to turn to the second canto in which this poet of poets describes the loves of the sons of Elohim for the daughters of mortals. Today it is impossible to imagine the ways of love in the first age of the earth. The exaggerated
descriptions which I scarcely understood made me hesitate again and again. At those moments my eyes were instinctively drawn to the mirror and I thought that I could see the Thamim taking an increasingly great pleasure from the reading. They stretched out their arms to me and came close to my chair. I saw the shining wings at their shoulders unfold and even detected a slight fluttering in those which girded them. I thought that they were going to spread these too and covered up my eyes with my hand. Just then I felt a kiss on that hand and on the other, which held the book. Also at the same instant I heard the mirror shatter into a thousand pieces. I realized that the sun had left the sign of Gemini and that they had taken their leave of me in this way.
The next day I noticed in another mirror something like two shadows, or rather a faint outline of my divine lovers' forms. The day after, I saw nothing. To while away the tedium caused by their absence I spent my nights in the observatory where, with my eyes glued to the telescope, I followed my lovers until they set. Even when they had dropped below the horizon I still thought I could see them. When finally the tail of Cancer disappeared from sight I retired to bed myself, and my bed was often wet with involuntary tears which I shed for no reason. Meanwhile, filled with love and hope, my brother devoted himself more than ever to the study of the occult sciences. One day he came to me and said that from certain signs he had seen in the heavens he had learned that a famous adept, who for two hundred years had been living in the pyramid of Soufi, had left for America and that he would pass through Córdoba on the twenty-third day of our month Thybi
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at 7.42 precisely.
I went that evening to the observatory and found him to be right. But my calculations produced a slightly different result. My brother insisted that his own were right and, as he is very confident in his opinions, he decided to go himself to Córdoba to prove to me that he was right and I was wrong. My brother could have made the journey in as little time as I take in relating it to you. But he wanted to enjoy the pleasures of the excursion and followed the contours of the hills,
having chosen a route with the most attractive views to afford him delight as he went along. He reached the Venta Quemada by this route. For company he had taken Nemrael with him, that evil spirit who appeared to me in the cave. He told him to bring him supper. Nemrael stole the meal of a Benedictine prior and brought it to the
venta
. Then my brother sent Nemrael back to me, having no more need of him. At that moment I was in the observatory and saw signs in the heavens which made me tremble for my brother. I ordered Nemrael to return to the inn and not to leave his master's side. He set off, but came back a moment later to tell me that he had been prevented from entering the inn by a power greater than his own. My anxiety reached new heights, but at last I saw you arrive with my brother.
I detected in your features an assurance and a serenity which proved to me that you were not a cabbalist. My father had predicted that I would suffer greatly at the hands of a mortal. I feared that you were that mortal, but soon other worries occupied my mind. My brother told me what had happened to Pacheco and what had befallen him. But he added, to my great surprise, that he did not know with what sort of demons he had been dealing. We waited for nightfall with great impatience. When night came we uttered the most fearsome spells, but in vain. We were not able to determine the nature of these two beings nor whether my brother had lost his right to immortality through them. I thought that we might be able to obtain some enlightenment from you but you refused to say anything, bound by some promise or other.
Then, in order to help my brother and to calm his anxieties, I decided myself to spend the night at the Venta Quemada. I set out yesterday and didn't reach the entrance to the valley until long after nightfall. I brought together some swirls of vapour which I formed into a will-o'-the-wisp and I ordered it to guide me. This is a secret which has been kept in our family. Using similar means Moses, the blood-brother of my seventy-third times great-grandfather, produced the pillar of fire which led the Israelites through the desert.
My will-o'-the-wisp grew very bright and moved ahead of me to guide me, but it did not take the shortest route. I noticed this act of disobedience but did not pay enough attention to it.
It was midnight when I reached the
venta
. As I came into the courtyard I saw light in the middle room and heard melodious music. I sat on a stone seat and performed some cabbalistic exercises, which had no effect whatsoever. It is true that the music charmed and delighted me to such a degree that as I speak to you now I do not know whether my exercises were correctly performed, and I suppose that I must have left out some essential element. But I believed then I had performed them correctly. Deducing that there were neither demons nor spirits in the inn, I reached the conclusion that there were only men there and gave myself over to the pleasure of hearing them sing. There were two voices accompanied by a stringed instrument. They were so perfectly in tune and so harmonious an ensemble that no earthly music could compare with theirs.
The airs sung by these voices inspired a tenderness so alluring that I cannot describe it. For a long time I remained on my seat, listening to them. But in the end I had to go in, having come for that sole purpose. I went up the stairs. In the middle room I found two young gentlemen, both tall and handsome, sitting at table, eating, drinking and singing lustily. Their dress was oriental: they wore turbans, their chests and arms were bare, and they had costly weapons in their belts.
The two strangers, whom I took to be Turks, rose, drew up a chair for me, filled my plate and then my glass and started singing again to the accompaniment of a theorbo, which they took it in turns to play.
Their easy manner was infectious. They did not stand on ceremony, so neither did I. I was hungry, so I ate. There was no water, so I drank wine. Then the fancy took me to sing with the young Turks, who seemed to listen to me with delight. I sang a Spanish
seguidilla
. They replied, using the same rhythm and the same theme.
I asked them where they had learnt Spanish.
One of them replied, âWe were born in Morea and are sailors by profession. We have found it easy to learn the language of the ports we visit. But enough of
seguidillas
. Listen to the songs of our native land.'
What can I say, Alphonse? Their songs had tunes which drew from the soul every nuance of feeling. Just when they had moved you almost to extremes of tenderness, an unexpected twist in the music would restore you to the most wanton merriment.
I was not fooled by this performance. On inspecting these bogus sailors closely it struck me that they were remarkably like each other and remarkably like my own divine twins.
âSo you are Turks born in Morea?' I said to them.
âNot at all,' replied the one who had as yet not spoken. âWe are Greeks born in Sparta of the same egg.'
âOf the same egg?'
âAh, divine Rebecca,' said the other. âHow can you fail to recognize us? I am Pollux and this is my brother.'
I jumped up from my chair and fled to a corner of the room. The supposed twins took on the form in which they appeared in the mirror and spread their wings. I felt myself borne aloft, but by a happy inspiration I uttered a sacred name which only my brother and I of all cabbalists know. At the same instant I was thrown back to earth. My fall made me lose consciousness. Your kind offices restored it to me. An intuition that I trust tells me that I have not lost what it was most important for me to preserve intact. But I have grown tired of such marvels. Oh divine twins, I am not worthy of you, I feel it! I was born to remain a mere mortal!