E-text prepared by Al Haines

THE ETERNAL MAIDEN

A Novel

by

T. EVERETT HARRÉ

Published by
Mitchell Kennerley
New York

Press of J. J. Little & Ives Company
East Twenty-fourth Street
New York

1913

TO

EDGAR WILSON RIDDELL

JANUARY 31, 1892—JULY 2, 1912

IN MEMORY OF

A LIFE'S SUPREME FRIENDSHIP

THE ETERNAL MAIDEN

PRELUDE

Long ages ago, darkness brooded over the frozen world and held in itsthrall the unreleased waters of the glacial seas. There was no animallife upon the land, and in the depth of the waters no living thingstirred. Kokoyah, the water god, breathed not; Tornahhuchsuah, theearth spirit, who rules above the spirits of the wind and air, wasveiled in slumber. Men had risen like willows from the frozen earth;but, although they lived, they were as the dead. They spake not,neither did they hunt, nor eat, nor did they die. Then the GreatSpirit, whose name is not known, placed upon earth a man, in his armsthe strength to kill, in his heart the primal urge of love. And inthat flowerless arctic Eden, out of its bounteous compassion, the GreatSpirit placed also a maiden, her face beautiful with the youngvirginity of the world, in her bosom implanted a yearning, not unmixedwith fear, for love. Gazing upon her, the youth's heart stirred, withdesire, the maiden's with virginal terror. The maiden fled, the youthfollowed. Over the desolate icy mountains the fleet feet of the youthsped with the swiftness of the wind gods, over the silent white seasthe maiden with the elusiveness of the air spirits. In the heart ofthe youth throbbed the passion of love, indomitable, eternal, which theblasting breath of time should never kill. In the maiden's bosomquaked a reasonless shame, an unconquerable terror. Surrounded by herwhirling cloud of hair, the maiden sprang, untiring, across the wildwhite world. His strength failing, the youth pantingly followed.Thousands of years passed; the breathless pursuit continued; themaiden's nebulous hair became shot with streaks of golden fire, fromher eyes beams of light streamed across the expanses over which sheexultantly, fearfully bounded; the tremulous faltering youth's facepaled until it shone silvery in the darkness, and the beads ofperspiration on his forehead glowed with a strange lustre. Reaching,in their mad race, the very edge of the earth, the maiden leaped,fiery, into space, and her hair becoming suddenly molten, she becamethe sun—the eternal maiden Sukh-eh-nukh, the beautiful, theall-desired. Utterly exhausted, his wan arms yearningly outstretched,the youth swooned after her into the heavens, and was transformed intothe moon—the ever-desiring, ever-sorrowing moon. In the smile ofSukh-eh-nukh the seas melted. Walrus and narwhals, seals and whalescame into being on the bosom of Kokoyah; on the earth the snowsdisappeared, and the brow of Tornahhuchsuah was crowned with greengrasses and starry flowers. Men hunted game, women laughed for joy;they beat drums, they danced, they sang. By the eternal, unrequitedpassion of the lovers in the skies, happiness and plenty came upon theearth. But, with Light, came also Death. Jealous of men's happiness,Perdlugssuaq, the Great Evil, brought sickness; he struck men on thehunt, on the seas, in the mountains. He was ever feared. He made theGreat Dark terrible. But when the night became bright with thelove-lorn glamour of the moon, Perdlugssuaq