Fantasy fiction; Utopian fiction; Utopias -- Fiction
“Yes,” I answered, “but you cannot profit by our experiences, while we
of the earth are in a condition where we need all the help and advice
you have for us. If we ever return to our home we want to tell all about
your advanced civilization and how you have overcome the evils that vex
our race. But I wonder why the doctor doesn’t come. I think I will go
and see, but I promise not to interfere with his liberty of action.” I
soon returned with my friend, and we all went to breakfast. The doctor
said he would not eat much, as he felt somewhat indisposed. Here was
something new in the life of this household, and each one began to
express sympathy and ask what could be done. The doctor was amused, and
I said I thought a good, hearty breakfast would make him all right. But
Thorwald insisted that something unusual should be done, although his
inexperience was so great that nothing feasible suggested itself at
first. Zenith was in favor of all repairing to the library, hunting
up the histories of the days when people were ill, and finding out
the proper remedy for his ailment. This would have been a logical
proceeding, but I thought to myself that they did not understand the
value of time in such cases and that the doctor would probably either
recover or die while they were at work.
As I did not appear to be any more alarmed than my companion was, the
excitement soon subsided. But Thorwald was not satisfied yet, and after
some further thought his face brightened and he asked me if a glass of
good wine would not be the thing for the doctor. When I replied that it
would probably not hurt him, Thorwald told his son to go and bring up a
bottle of the oldest wine in the cellar, and soon not only the patient
but the members of the family and myself were all partaking. No more was
heard after this of the doctor’s indisposition, and Thorwald no doubt
felicitated himself that he had effected a cure. The situation was
rather suggestive to me, and while we were drinking, and eating our
breakfast, I could not refrain from saying:
“If some of our friends on the earth could see us now, Thorwald,
we would be discredited in all that we might say about your higher
condition. It would do no good to expatiate on your ripe character
and on your attainments in knowledge and virtue. I fear they would not
believe much of it if they knew that you not only drank wine yourselves,
but encouraged its use by giving it to your guests.”
“Why,” said Thorwald, “you could tell them the wine was brought out to
be used as a medicine, and that the rest of us drank to keep the doctor
company. But when you see your friends you had better tell them the
truth at once, that while we all take wine here frequently this is the
only instance where I have ever known it to be used medicinally.”
“They would tell us,” said the doctor, “that you have made one mistake
at least, and that it is a dangerous thing to have wine in the house,
and especially to give it to children.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account