monsters, cut off from all the world; but on that account we shall be more
attached to one another. Our lives will not be happy, but they will be
harmless and free from the misery I now feel. Oh! My creator, make me
happy; let me feel gratitude towards you for one benefit! Let me see that I
excite the sympathy of some existing thing; do not deny me my
request!
I was moved. I shuddered when I thought of the possible consequences
of my consent, but I felt that there was some justice in his argument.
His tale and the feelings he now expressed proved him to be a creature
of fine sensations, and did I not as his maker owe him all the portion
of happiness that it was in my power to bestow? He saw my change of
feeling and continued,
If you consent, neither you nor any other human being shall ever see
us again; I will go to the vast wilds of South America. My food is not
that of man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid to glut my appetite;
acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment. My companion will
be of the same nature as myself and will be content with the same fare.
We shall make our bed of dried leaves; the sun will shine on us as on
man and will ripen our food. The picture I present to you is peaceful
and human, and you must feel that you could deny it only in the
wantonness of power and cruelty. Pitiless as you have been towards me,
I now see compassion in your eyes; let me seize the favourable moment
and persuade you to promise what I so ardently desire.
You propose, replied I, to fly from the habitations of
man, to dwell in those wilds where the beasts of the field will be your
only companions. How can you, who long for the love and sympathy of man,
persevere in this exile? You will return and again seek their kindness, and
you will meet with their detestation; your evil passions will be renewed,
and you will then have a companion to aid you in the task of destruction.
This may not be; cease to argue the point, for I cannot consent.
How inconstant are your feelings! But a moment ago you were moved by
my representations, and why do you again harden yourself to my complaints?
I swear to you, by the earth which I inhabit, and by you that made me, that
with the companion you bestow, I will quit the neighbourhood of man and
dwell, as it may chance, in the most savage of places. My evil passions
will have fled, for I shall meet with sympathy! My life will flow quietly
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