Henderson the Rain King - Saul Bellow [22]
�only a French word would do the job here), pressed upon me from all sides. The heat was great and the predominant odor was feminine. The only thing I could compare it to in temperature and closeness was a hatchery--the low ceiling also is responsible for this association. Seated by the door on a high stool, a stool that resembled an old-fashioned bookkeeper's, was a gray, heavy old woman in the amazon's vest plus a garrison cap of the sort which went out of date with the Italian army at the turn of the century. On behalf of the king she shook my hand. "How do you do?" I said. The king! His women cleared a path for me, moving slowly from my way, and I saw him at the opposite end of the room, extended on a green sofa about ten feet in length, crescent-shaped, with heavy upholstery, deeply pocketed and bulging. On this luxurious article he was fully at rest, so that his well-developed athletic body, in knee-length purple drawers of a sort of silk crepe, seemed to float, and about his neck was wrapped a white scarf embroidered in gold. Matching slippers of white satin were on his feet. For all my worry and fever I felt admiration as I sized him up. Like myself, he was a big man, six feet or better by my estimate, and sumptuously at rest. Women attended to his every need. Now and then one wiped his face with a piece of flannel, and another stroked his chest, and one kept his pipe filled and lit and puffed at it for him to keep it going. I approached or blundered forward. Before I could come too close a hand checked me and a stool was placed for me about five feet from this green sofa. I sat. Between us in a large wooden bowl lay a couple of human skulls, tilled cheek to cheek. Their foreheads shone jointly at me in the yellow way skulls have, and I was confronted by the united eye sockets and nose holes and the double rows of teeth. The king observed how warily I looked at him and appeared to smile. His lips were large and tumid, the most negroid features of his face, and he said, "Do not feel alarm. These are for employment in the ceremony of this afternoon." Some voices once heard will never stop resounding in your head, and such a voice I recognized in his from the first words. I leaned forward to get a better look. The king was much amused by my spreading my hands over my chest and belly as if to retain something, and raised himself to examine me. A woman slipped a cushion behind his head, but he knocked it to the floor and lay back again. My thought was, "I haven't run out of luck yet." For I saw that our ambush and capture and interrogation and all the business of billeting us with the dead man, could not have originated with the king. He was not that sort, and although I did not know yet precisely what sort he might be, I was already beginning to rejoice in our meeting. "Yesterday afternoon, I have receive report of your arrival. I have been so excited. I have scarcely slept last night, thinking about our meeting � Oh, ha, ha. It positively was not good for me," he said. "That's funny, I didn't get too much sleep myself," I said. "I've had to make do with only a few hours. But I am glad to meet you, King." "Oh, I am very please. Tremendous. I am sorry over your sleep. But on my own I am please. For me this is a high occasion. Most significant. I welcome you." "I bring you regards from your friend Itelo," I said. "Oh, you have encountered with the Arnewi? I see it is your idea to visit some of the remotest places. How is my very dear friend? I miss him. Did you wrestle?" "We certainly did," I said. "And who won?" "We came out about even." "Well," he said, "you seem a mos' interesting person. Especially in point of physique. Exceptional," he said. "I am not sure I have ever encountered your category. Well, he is very strong. I could not throw him, which gave him very high pleasure. Invariably did." "I'm beginning to feel my age," I said. The king said, "Oh, why, nonsense. I think you are like a monument. Believe me, I have never seen a person of your particular endowment." "I hope you and I do not have to go to the mat, Your Highness," I said. "Oh, no, no. We have not that custom. It is not local with us. I must request forgiveness from you," he said, "for not arising to a handshake. I ask my generaless, Tatu, to act for me because I am so reluctant to rise. In principle." "Is that so? Is that so?" I said. "The less motion I expend, and the more I repose myself, the easier it is for me to attend to my duties. All my duties. Including also the prerogatives of these many wives. You may not think so on first glance, but it is a most complex existence requiring that I husband myself. Sir, tell me frankly--" "Henderson is the name," I said. Because of the way he lolled, and the way he drew on his pipe, I somehow felt that I was being particularly tested. "Mr. Henderson. Yes, I should have asked you. I am very sorry for neglecting the civility. But I could hardly contain myself that you were here, sir, a chance for conversation in English. Many things since my return I have felt lacking which I would not have suspected while at school. You are my first civilized visitor." "Not many people come here?" "It is by our preference. We have preferred a seclusion, for many generations now, and we are beautifully well hidden in these mountains. You are surprised that I speak English? I assume no. Our friend Itelo must have told you. I adore that man's character. We were steadfastly together through many experiences. It is an intense disappointment to me not to have surprise you more," he said. "Don't worry, I'm plenty surprised. Prince Itelo told me all about that school that he and you attended in Malindi." As I have emphasized, I was in a peculiar condition, I had an anxious fever, and I was perplexed by the events of last night. But there was something about this man that gave me the conviction that we could approach ultimates together. I went only by his appearance and the tone of his voice, for thus far it seemed to me that there was a touch of frivolousness in his attitude, and that he was trying me out. As for the remoteness of the Wariri, this morning, owing to the peculiarity of my mental condition, the world was not itself; it took on the aspect of an organism, a mental thing, amid whose cells I had been wandering. From mind the impetus came and through mind my course was set, and therefore nothing on earth could really surprise me, utterly. "Mr. Henderson, I would appreciate if you would return a candid answer to the question I am about to put. None of these women can understand, therefore no hesitancy is required. Do you envy me?" This was not the moment to tell lies. "Do you mean would I change places with you? Well, hell, Your Highness--no disrespect intended--you seem to me to be in a very attractive position. But then, I couldn't be at more of a disadvantage," I said. "Almost anyone would win a comparison with me." His black face had a cocked nose, but it was not lacking in bridge. The reddened darkness of his eyes must have been a family trait, as I had observed it also in his Uncle Horko. But in the king there was a higher quality or degree of light. And now he wanted to know, pursuing the same line of inquiry, "Is it because of all these women?" "Well, I have known quite a few myself, Your Highness," I said, "though not all at the same time. That seems to be your case. But at present I happen to be very happily married. My wife's a grand person, and we have a very spiritual union. I am not blind to her faults; I sometimes tell her she is the altar of my ego. She is a good woman, but something of a blackmailer. There is such a thing as scolding nature too much. Ha, ha." I have told you I was feeling a little displaced in my mind. And now I said, "Why do I envy you? You are in the bosom of your people. They need you. Look how they stick around and attend to your every need. It's obvious how much they value you." "While I am in possession of my original youthfulness and strength," he said, "but have you any conception of what will take place when I weaken?" "What will