Other Side, The by Kubin Alfred

Author:Kubin, Alfred [Kubin, Alfred]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Novel, Classics
ISBN: 9781873982693
Google: zgAtAQAAIAAJ
Publisher: Dedalus
Published: 1908-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5: The Outer Settlement

I

Elaborate, jagged gables, thatched roofs! It was a little village I was entering. Low wooden cottages of fanciful shape, tiny domed buildings, cylindrical tents. Each house was surrounded by a well-tended garden. Seen from a distance, the settlement looked like an ethnographic exhibit. Scattered around were signal masts with pennants and glass discs, countless large and small grotesque figures in stoneware, wood and metal. It was a moss-grown jumble, much of which was concealed between the low-hanging branches of ancient trees.

This was where the original inhabitants of the Dream Realm lived. It had a particular peacefulness about it. Despite their often hideous combination of outlandish shapes, the bizarre and incomprehensible figures on their strange wooden altars fitted in harmoniously with their peaceful surroundings. I had been wandering round for some time before I came across any people. Three tall, wiry figures were coming down a hill.

When I greeted them they solemnly bowed their shaven heads and continued imperturbably on their way. They were old men of distinctly Mongoloid type, swathed in robes of a dull yellowy-orange. Soon I saw others. Each was sitting outside his hut, motionless as a statue, apparently idle. One had pots of flowers in front of him, another was gazing at a sleeping dog, a third was engrossed in the contemplation of a few stones. ‘In Pearl they shake their heads at these people’, I thought. No one ever came here, they were viewed with what was almost contempt. In spite of that, the tribe was very proud, believing they were descended in a direct line from the great Genghis Khan, though, to tell the truth, there was nothing about them now that reminded one of the Asiatic despot. They were all old people living here, the few women hardly distinguishable from the rest, and all alike in bearing, dress and facial expression. Their most beautiful feature was the brilliant blue of their slightly slanting eyes. How everything here contrasted with conditions in the Dream Realm! There the haste, here the calm. But these old people must have had their struggles too, the deep furrows in their faces bore witness to that.

After my first visit I used to stroll across the bridge to the blue-eyed tribe quite often. Although no one invited me, nor did anyone ask me to leave. I became more and more aware of the sharp contrast. I came here to relax and quietly observe. Their serenity made a deep impression on me. I reflected on it and tried to integrate the results with my other experiences.

For the last six months now I had no longer been completely blind as regards Patera’s great mystery. The old professor was right about some things. The whole Dream Realm was under a spell; there was some connection between the fear and the undoubted comic element in our way of life. The Master really was behind everything and manifested himself in a mysterious way more frequently than was welcome. The idea that he

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