Sudanenka - Part Seven

SUDANENKA


VII

THE BLIND MAN

The storm did cease, and light was once again at the hand of darkness. And there came a man upon the road, dressed in rags, for he had been travelling many centuries through the driving rain. He was not so very old, yet he was not so very young, and he walked with a limp and carried a staff. He was blind, and as he came upon Sudanenka, the holy man spoke:

'Sit ye down brother, for I can see thou art weary of the road; rest a while, thy journey is almost at an end'.

And the blind man sat beside Sudanenka, thanking him, for he had not heard the sound of another's voice in over eight-hundred years, and it was greatly welcomed. And so the blind man told Sudanenka of his travels upon the road and all the misfortunes that befell him and how every step was a tearing of his flesh.

'Then thou art of the Light?' questioned Sudanenka.

'The Light', said the blind man, 'has been my every thought upon the road; it has been my truth and my strength'.

The Light is the Light of Love', the holy man said, 'yet it is also the Light of Death. But there is fire, and in the flames lie purity!'

And the blind man put his hands to his face and wept. And tearfully, he sang:

Onimhaalooodhaaa, Bramhemnieuuuuu
Soltzamhanaaaartzaaa aa aa
Chandhoooo Chandhoooooo.

Heeliannndhooonieuuuuu
Ooramnoxcoph Seeliarhnooooo
Khooramnanbeher Archtair

Chandhoooo Chandhoooooo
Chaaaandhoooooo oooo ooo oooo.

Kohbaaa Denuda Seluda Kohbaaa
Aramatheelee Bodhihoood
Wasaarnaaah Sempulmatulaaah

Chandhoooo Chandhoooooo.

Anasaieeaaah oo aaah ee aaah
Charieemzaaah niaah nieuuuuu...'

And sadness like a thick mist was drawn within the circle.

Sudanenka, being the living light of the tree, penetrated the mist and saw that each new fallen apple within the circle had become black and rotten. He looked, and he could see the light about the blind man's body, yet it was not the light, for it was as a shield of flames. In the centre of the circle, the fiery mass seemed to be gathering. Sudanenka reached for the pyramid box, taking a gold coin from it and handing it to the blind man, saying:

'What the left hand concealeth, the right hand revealeth!' and at its touch the blind man's skin fell from him in heaps of rotten flesh that stank of pestilence, for he was that of which it is unlawful to speak: the abomination of abominations, whose touch is death. And the blind man became as dust himself and was blown into the four corners of the abyss. And the circle was pure once again.