The Sleeper Awakes

wrong in that. A

the dim first stirrings of the soul, the growth and synthesis of the unconscious to the subconscious, the subconscious to dawning consciousness, until at last we recognise ourselves again. And as it happens to most

s, strange scenery, as if from another planet. There was a distinct impression, too, of a momentous conversation, of a name--he could not tell what name--that was subsequently to recur, of some q

is eyes were open and rega

the top of his eyes. He tried to think where he might be. Did it matter, seeing he was so wretched? The colour of his thoughts was a dark depress

the place in the valley--but he could not recall that white edge. He must have slept. He remembered now that he had wan

tch from the chair whereon it was his habit to place it, and touched some smooth hard surface like glass. This was so unexpected that it startled him extremely. Quite

he observed with a sense of insecurity, and below it was a mirror reflecting him greyly. About his arm--and he saw with a shock that his skin was strangely dry and yellow--was bound a curious apparatus of rubber, bound so cunningly that it seemed to pass into his skin above and below. And this bed was placed in

ce, and with a very large and simple white archway facing him. Close to the walls of the cage were articles of furniture, a table covered with a silvery cloth, silvery like the

d and put his hand against the glass like pane before him to steady himself. For a moment it resisted his hand, bending outward like a distended bladder, then it broke with a slight report and vanished--a pricked bubbl

-a colourless liquid it was, but not water, with a pleasing faint aroma and taste and a

nward without the intermediation of a door, to a spacious transverse passage. This passage ran between polished pillars of some white-veined substance of deep ultramarine, and

him for covering, saw a long black robe thrown on one of the chairs

s sleep. But where? And who were those people, the distant crowd beyond the deep blue pil

partment, unstained by ornament, and saw that the roof was broken in one place by a circular shaft full of light, and, as he looked, a steady, sweeping shad

rtain steps of a drunkard, made his way towards the archway. He staggered down the steps, tripped on the cor

and clear, and on the balcony and with their backs to him, gesticulating and apparently in animated conversation, were three figures, richly dressed in loose and easy garments of bright soft colourings. The noise of a great multitude of people poured up over the balcony, and once it seemed the top o

haired man in a short purple robe

anged, became rigid. The other two turned swiftly at his exclamation and stood motionless.

is arm against the pillar collapsed limply,