CHAPTER 4. LORD OF ASIA.

January 4, 1903.

“Mom, Mom, why didn't Uncle Gilbert come to us today? Maybe he forgot about us? Did something happen to him? Or maybe he doesn't want to come to us anymore?”

“No, son, Uncle Gilbert hasn't forgotten about us—he'll come to us, he'll definitely come, but a little later.”

“But why, why will he be late? He didn't tell me anything about it yesterday!”

“He told me about it, son.”

“But why, why didn't he tell me anything about it yesterday? Why did he only tell you about it, Mom? Why didn't he tell me he would be late today?”

“He won't be a moment late today, he'll come on time—you see, my boy, today he is supposed to come to us at a different time: you have to realize, Malcolm, that not every subsequent day in this sublunary world has an absolute repeatability, or, if you will, reproducibility of the previous day, or rather the events of the previous day—just as, at times, one apple pie is unlike another, so too is a freshly baked day not always, in its essence and nature, similar to the previous day.”

“But before, before Uncle Gilbert was never late... at least not the last four days!”

“Indeed, my boy, that is so. However, before, until this day, Uncle Gilbert, when visiting our little house at the appropriate time, as you know perfectly well, would always leave its limits late at night—today, with Uncle Gilbert's arrival, I will leave this house for a short time... But what, what are you drawing there so zealously? Are you not going to become an artist? Ah! If only you could become someone, my good boy! If only you could become someone... someone who, in one way or another, to one extent or another, could save us from a certain, considerable, number of problems! Look around! Look at our life! We have nothing, truly nothing, except...”

“Topsy!” the unusually inspired boy exclaimed with lightning speed and then, much more quietly, but with no less inspiration, continued, “I'm drawing Topsy, Mom! Look at him, look at him! Imagine, I beg you, imagine yourself in his place and look around, look around quickly! Look, look at the wealth that surrounds him! And he is the master of that wealth... the master of the broad-leaved forests! Look, look quickly! His keen sense of smell instantly catches the sweet aroma of bananas! The singing of these wonderful hornbills is slowly reaching his ears... look, you see!.. His trunk is raised—he lets out an extraordinarily commanding shout! He is happy! He is joyful! He feels his own power—power over the nature that completely surrounds him! Topsy is mighty—all his surroundings bow before him! Look, look, it seems that nature itself, that nature itself is thirsty, intensely thirsty, for him to be its master! Every one of its atoms, every one of its molecules, every one of its parts naturally serves as an unwavering support for his exceptional might! Topsy is the lord of beasts! Topsy is the ruler of Asia! Look, look, Mom, he is the full-fledged master of his domain: his strength is unmatched and his strength is in his... eyes! They are the personification of his life, his glory, his thought! Look, look at him! His tusks are white, and so are his thoughts! He is free, Mom! He is free and that is his strength! Look at his unusually mighty legs—no lianas, truly no lianas in this sublunary world are able to stop them! He will tear them, swiftly tear them with the slightest, even the most insignificant, movement of his leg, which is as unwavering as an ancient Greek column! Look, look at the monkeys that surround him now—they bow before his power! They surround him to pay him their most sincere and unfeigned respect! Sometimes they mock him, but what does the ruler of Asia care about an insignificant and unremarkable monkey? He doesn't pay them the slightest attention—his gaze is aimed into the distance! His gaze is insightful and deep! He is looking for... no, not food at all!.. but answers to all his questions! What are insignificant, small, continuously spewing frantic laughter, monkeys to him? No more than a beetle or an ant to a cheetah or a panther! Everyone in this world fulfills their destiny! The lot of some is laughter and laughter, the lot of others is thoughts, and accordingly, power! And look, look here! Look at the sun, Mom! Its rays are furiously trying to bow his sensible gaze! Its rays are furiously thirsty to destroy his power and freedom! Its rays are furiously thirsty to send that ruler into the world of shadows, which are involuntarily created by countless broad-leaved trees, under the influence of the very same sun! No! Such a sun can never, truly never, bow the body and never lower the gaze of that unusually mighty being—it can never burn through his extraordinarily thick hide!

“Topsy! Oh, my little boy! Are you really talking about that Topsy? Topsy is nothing more and nothing less than animal urges! Topsy is nothing more and nothing less than natural instincts! Topsy is nothing more and nothing less than a reckless will whose impulses are in no way indomitable... of course, temporarily! Topsy is by no means a master and by no means the ruler of Asia! He is only one of its parts, which, in your understanding, for some reason has risen above the other parts! He is no more than the same monkey, ant, or spider! He differs from the aforementioned only by the peculiarity of his structure, but by no means by the peculiarity of his consciousness—he, like a monkey, a spider, and an ant, is moved only by natural instincts! He, Topsy, is a warrior—a warrior when nature demands it! When nature demands that Topsy be a father, he becomes a father! He is nothing more than a victim, nothing more than a toy, nothing more than an instrument of the natural laws and fundamental principles of nature! Topsy lives not for something, but from something! His consciousness does not extend beyond the world that surrounds it! What kind of ruler of Asia is he, if he is not even the master of his own thoughts? He has no power, just as he has no might—his strength is in instinct and only with its help is he able to show it to one extent or another! Broad-leaved forests, flowering plants—all this is just scenery, among which he, for some reason... I repeat, for some reason!.. is forced to wander! Topsy's strength is nothing more than his madness! But... enough attention has been given to this, truly, nothing more and nothing less than a bulky animal—that very animal that is nothing more and nothing less than a merciless murderer!