The Mysterious Stranger, and Other StoriesTwain, Mark
General
The Mysterious Stranger, and Other Stories
Twain, Mark
Humorous stories, American; Short stories; United States -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
So they found her guilty, and she was excommunicated and cut off from
the joys of heaven and doomed to the fires of hell; then she was clothed
in a coarse robe and delivered to the secular arm, and conducted to the
market-place, the bell solemnly tolling the while. We saw her chained to
the stake, and saw the first film of blue smoke rise on the still air.
Then her hard face softened, and she looked upon the packed crowd in
front of her and said, with gentleness:
“We played together once, in long-agone days when we were innocent
little creatures. For the sake of that, I forgive you.”
We went away then, and did not see the fires consume her, but we heard
the shrieks, although we put our fingers in our ears. When they ceased
we knew she was in heaven, notwithstanding the excommunication; and we
were glad of her death and not sorry that we had brought it about.
One day, a little while after this, Satan appeared again. We were always
watching out for him, for life was never very stagnant when he was by.
He came upon us at that place in the woods where we had first met him.
Being boys, we wanted to be entertained; we asked him to do a show for
us.
“Very well,” he said; “would you like to see a history of the progress
of the human race?--its development of that product which it calls
civilization?”
We said we should.
So, with a thought, he turned the place into the Garden of Eden, and we
saw Abel praying by his altar; then Cain came walking toward him with
his club, and did not seem to see us, and would have stepped on my foot
if I had not drawn it in. He spoke to his brother in a language which
we did not understand; then he grew violent and threatening, and we knew
what was going to happen, and turned away our heads for the moment; but
we heard the crash of the blows and heard the shrieks and the groans;
then there was silence, and we saw Abel lying in his blood and gasping
out his life, and Cain standing over him and looking down at him,
vengeful and unrepentant.
Then the vision vanished, and was followed by a long series of unknown
wars, murders, and massacres. Next we had the Flood, and the Ark tossing
around in the stormy waters, with lofty mountains in the distance
showing veiled and dim through the rain. Satan said:
“The progress of your race was not satisfactory. It is to have another
chance now.”
The scene changed, and we saw Noah overcome with wine.
Next, we had Sodom and Gomorrah, and “the attempt to discover two or
three respectable persons there,” as Satan described it. Next, Lot and
his daughters in the cave.
Next came the Hebraic wars, and we saw the victors massacre the
survivors and their cattle, and save the young girls alive and
distribute them around.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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