What Flowers Say. George Sand

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СКАЧАТЬ little creatures. These are the Tineidae, or clothes moths, some dressed in brown and studded with diamonds, others in white with pearls on gauze. Dispunctella has ten drops of gold on her silver dress. Here are some important people of rather imposing size—the Adelidae family with their antennae twenty times longer than their bodies. Their clothes are green-gold with red or violet highlights, which remind you of the necklaces of the most beautiful hummingbirds.

      “And now, look! Look at the crowd pushing to get in! There are more and still more coming! Elsie, you won’t know which one of these queens of the evening to admire the most for the splendor and the exquisite taste of her attire. The tiniest details of the bodice, the antennae, and feet are unbelievably delicate, and I don’t think you have ever seen such perfect creatures anywhere. Now, notice the grace of the movements, the crazy and charming haste in flight, the flexibility of their antennae, with which they talk to each other, the gentleness of their bearing. Elsie, isn’t it an incredible celebration, and aren’t all other creatures ugly, freakish, and sorry-looking in comparison?”

      “I’ll say anything to make you happy,” answered a disappointed Elsie, “but to tell the truth, I see nothing, or practically nothing of what you’re describing so enthusiastically. I can see little microscopic butterflies flying around those flowers and the lamp, but I can hardly make out bright specks and dark specks, and I’m afraid you’re drawing on your imagination for the brilliance you like to dress them in.”

      “She doesn’t see! She can’t make them out!” the Bug-Eyed Fairy cried unhappily. “Poor little thing! I knew it! I warned you that your disability would keep you from seeing the joys I relish. Fortunately, I know how to compensate for your weak vision. Here is an instrument that I, myself, never use, which I borrowed from your parents for you. Take it and look.”

      She gave Elsie a very strong magnifying glass, which caused Elsie some difficulty, since she had never used one. Finally, after a few tries, she succeeded in making out the real and surprising beauty of one of the little creatures. She focused on another and saw that Miss Barbara has not misled her: gold, purple, amethyst, garnet, orange, pearl, and pink combined to form symmetrical adornments on the coats and dresses of these almost imperceptible dignitaries. She innocently asked why so much richness and beauty were lavished on creatures who lived only a few days at the most and who flew at night, barely visible to humans.

      “There it is!” answered the Bug-Eyed Fairy, laughing. “Always the same question! My dear Elsie, grown-ups ask the same question, which means they don’t have any better idea of the laws of the universe than children. They believe everything was created for them and what they don’t see or don’t understand shouldn’t exist. But I, the Bug-Eyed Fairy, as they call me, know that what is simply beautiful is as important as what is useful to people, and I rejoice when I contemplate marvelous things or creatures that no one dreams of making use of. There are thousands and thousands of millions of my dear little moths spread over the earth. They live modestly with their families on little leaves, and no one has yet thought of harassing them.”

      “That’s true,” said Elsie. “But birds, warblers, and nightingales eat them, not to mention bats!”

      “Bats! Oh! You just reminded me! The light that attracts my poor little friends and allows me to study them also attracts bats—horrible beasts who prowl around all night long, mouths open, swallowing everything they run into. Come, the ball is over, let’s put out the lamp. I’ll light my lantern, since the moon has set, and I’ll take you back to the house.”

      As they walked down the front steps of the summerhouse, Miss Barbara added, “I warned you, Elsie. You have been disappointed in your expectations, you only imperfectly saw my little night fairies and their fantastic dance around my flowers. With a magnifying glass you can only see one object at a time, and when the object is alive, you only see it at rest. But I see my whole, dear little world at once; none of its elegance and extravagance escapes me. I showed you very little of it today. It was too cool this evening and the wind wasn’t coming from the right direction. On stormy nights, I see thousands of millions take refuge in my home, or I pay them a surprise visit in their shelters of foliage or flowers. I have told you the names of a few of them, but there are vast numbers of others, which, depending on the season, are born to a short existence of ecstasy, finery, and celebration. We don’t know all of them, even though some very patient and knowledgeable people study them carefully and have published huge volumes where they are wonderfully portrayed—and enlarged for people with weak eyes. But these books are incomplete, and every gifted and well-intentioned person can add to the scientific catalog through new discoveries and observations. As for me, I’ve found a large number that have not yet had their names or their pictures published, and I’m trying hard to make up for the ingratitude and disdain that science has shown them. It is true they are so very, very small, that few people bother to look at them.”

      “Are there any smaller than the ones you have shown me?” asked Elsie, who, seeing that Miss Barbara had stopped on the steps, leaned on the handrail.

      Even though Elsie had stayed up later than usual, she hadn’t had quite the surprise and good time that she had expected, and she had begun to feel sleepy.

      “There are infinitely small beings, which should not be treated disrespectfully,” replied Miss Barbara, who didn’t notice her pupil’s sleepiness. “There are some that can’t be seen by humans even when they are enlarged as much as possible by instruments. At least that is what I presume and believe, and I see more than most people can see. Who can say at what size, visible to us, the life of the universe stops? Who can prove that fleas don’t have fleas, which in turn nurture fleas which nurture others, and so on into infinity? As far as moths are concerned, since the smallest we can perceive are unquestionably more beautiful than the large ones, there is no reason a throng of others doesn’t exist, still more beautiful and smaller, which scientists would never suspect.”

      Miss Barbara got this far in her argument without realizing that Elsie, who had slipped down to the steps of the summerhouse, was sound asleep. Suddenly an unexpected bump knocked the little lantern from the governess’s hands, making it fall into Elsie’s lap. She woke with a start.

      “A bat! A bat!” cried Miss Barbara, beside herself as she tried to gather up the smashed, extinguished lantern.

      Elsie jumped up, not knowing where she was.

      “There! There!” screamed Miss Barbara. “On your skirt. The horrible beast fell too, I saw it fall, it’s on you!”

      Elsie wasn’t afraid of bats, but she knew that a slight impact can make them dizzy, and they have sharp little teeth to bite you if you try to touch them. Noticing a black spot on her dress, she grabbed it with her handkerchief, saying, “I’ve got it. Calm down, Miss Barbara, I’ve got it all right.”

      “Kill it! Smother it, Elsie! Squeeze very hard and smother that horrible spirit, that miserable tutor who’s plaguing me!”

      Elsie didn’t understand her governess’s hysteria. She didn’t like to kill, and she thought bats very useful, since they destroy a multitude of mosquitoes and harmful insects. She shook her handkerchief instinctively to let the poor animal escape—but what a surprise, and how frightened she was, to see Mr. Bat escape from the handkerchief and rush at Miss Barbara, as if he wanted to devour her!

      Elsie fled across the flower beds, chased by an insurmountable terror. But, after a few minutes, she had second thoughts and went back to help her unfortunate governess. Miss Barbara had disappeared and the bat was flying in circles around the summerhouse.

      “My goodness!” cried Elsie hopelessly, “that cruel beast has swallowed my poor fairy! Oh! If only I’d known, I’d have saved her life.”

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