NOW THE SERVANT’S NAME WAS MALCHUS
Reading edition
NOW THE SERVANT’S NAME WAS MALCHUS
In his father’s house are many mansions, and it is from the windows of one of them that he stands looking out upon the clockwork of the skies. With the precision that is possible only to things dead in themselves, the stars weave incessantly their interlocking measures. At intervals the blackest pockets of space give birth to a nebula, whirling in new anguish, but for the most part the sky offers only its vast stars, eased in the first gradations of their cooling, and fulfilling happily and with a faint humming sound the long loops of their appointment.
[To him comes Gabriel, secretary and soldier.]
GABRIEL
There are some unusually urgent petitions here.... There’s this Colonel on a raft in the Bengal Sea—Here again is the widow and her two daughters in Moscow. A lady in Rome.
[He lays some papers on the table.]
Besides, there is someone outside who wishes to speak to you. He says he knew you on earth. I think he has something to complain of, even here.
OUR LORD
Let him wait a moment.
[There is loud rapping at the door.]
GABRIEL
There he is again.
OUR LORD
Then let him in.
[Gabriel admits Malchus and goes out.]
MALCHUS
Please, sir, excuse me being so hasty, but I had to speak to you about something.
OUR LORD
You are displeased with Heaven?
MALCHUS
Oh no, sir—except for one thing.
OUR LORD
We will talk about it in a minute. Come by the window and look. Can you tell me which of those stars is mine?
MALCHUS
Lord, all are yours, surely.
OUR LORD
No, only one is mine, for only one bears living things upon it. And where there is no life I have no power. All the stars save one are lifeless; not even a blade of grass pushes through their powder or their flame. But one of them is so crowded with event that Heaven itself is scarcely able to attend to its needs.—But you are not interested?
MALCHUS
Oh, sir, it was so long ago that I was there that I cannot be expected to.... Even my children’s children have long since left it. I cannot be very interested. Since I am so happy here,—except for one thing. But I should like to see it again. Which is it, sir?
OUR LORD
There, see! See where it floats for a moment out of a green mist. If your ears were accustomed to it as mine are, you would hear what I hear: the sigh as it turns. Now what is it you want of me?
MALCHUS
Well, as you know I was the High Priest’s servant in the garden when you were taken. Sir, it’s hardly worth mentioning.
OUR LORD
No, no. Speak out.
MALCHUS
And one of your fellows took out his sword and cut off my ear.
OUR LORD
Yes.
MALCHUS
It’s ... it’s hardly worth mentioning. Most of the time, Lord, we’re very happy up here and nothing disturbs us at our games. But whenever someone on earth thinks about us we are aware of it, pleasantly or unpleasantly. A sort of something crosses our mind. And because I’m in your book someone is always reading about me and thinking about me for a moment, and in the middle of my games I feel it. Especially at this season when your death is celebrated, no moment goes by without this happening. And what they think is, that I’m ridiculous.
OUR LORD
I see. And you want your name to be erased from the book?
MALCHUS
[Eagerly.]
Yes, sir. I thought you could just make the pages become blank at that place.
OUR LORD
Now that you have come here everything that you wish is granted to you. You know that.
MALCHUS
Yes, sir; thank you, sir.
OUR LORD
But stay a minute. At this season, Malchus, a number of people are thinking of me, too.
MALCHUS
Yes, Lord, but as good, as great....
OUR LORD
But, Malchus, I am ridiculous too.
MALCHUS
Oh, no, no!
OUR LORD
Ridiculous because I suffered from the delusion that after my death I could be useful to men.
MALCHUS
They don’t say that!
OUR LORD
And that my mind lay under a malady that many a doctor could cure. And that I have deceived and cheated millions and millions of souls who in their extremity called on me for the aid I had promised. They did not know that I died like any other man and their prayers mounted into vain air, for I no longer exist. My promises were so vast that I am either divine or ridiculous.
[Pause.]
Malchus, will you stay and be ridiculous with me?
MALCHUS
Yes, sir, I’ll stay. I’m glad to stay. Though in a way I haven’t any right to be there. I wasn’t even the High Priest’s servant; I only held his horse every now and then. And ... and I used to steal a little,—only you’ve forgiven me that. Sure, I’m glad to stay.
OUR LORD
Thank you, Malchus.
MALCHUS
[Smiling.]
It isn’t even true in the book. It was my left ear and not my right.
OUR LORD
Yes, the book isn’t always true about me, either.
MALCHUS
Excuse my troubling you, sir. Good day.
OUR LORD
Good day, Malchus.
[Malchus goes out. Gabriel enters discreetly and lays down some more papers.]
GABRIEL
[In a low voice.]
The raft has capsized, sir, on the Bengal Sea, and the Colonel will be here at once. The woman in Moscow....