"Otis Adelbert Kline - Man from the Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kline Otis Adelbert)

тАУ and was picketing the horses. Suddenly we heard After puffing in meditative silence for a few
him sing out: minutes, he said:
тАЬWell, look whoтАЩs here! Hello, Charlie. You тАЬAs I have thanksgiving devotions to perform,
wantee come along washee dishee, gettee all same my time is limited. I will therefore, as briefly as
plenty much chow?тАЭ possible, explain the reason for my visit, and
Looking up in surprise, I saw the tall, ragged convey to you the communication of the great one,
Oriental who had disappeared so mysteriously a whose humble messenger I am.
few moments before, coming toward us. He was тАЬTwenty years ago I was a Buddhist priest in
still leaning on his long staff, but minus the poles TтАЩainfu. It was expected of every member of our
he had previously carried, order that at least once during his lifetime he
should make a pilgrimage to a certain monastery in

T HE professor and I both leaped to our feet Tibet, there to perform mystic rites in a secret
from places beside the fire. sanctuary, where a sacred stone of immemorable
The Chinaman paused and looked at antiquity was kept. I made the pilgrimage, fully
Alamo in evident bewilderment. expecting to return to TтАЩainfu, as my brother
тАЬI beg a thousand pardons,тАЭ he said in priests had done and take up the duties of my
excellent English, тАЬbut your speech is quite humdrum existence there for the term of my
unintelligible to me.тАЭ natural life.

4
Otis Adelbert Kline Man from the Moon Amazing Stories, October, 1930

тАЬThere are things which I may tell you, and exactly fitted the description. It took me a year
things which I may not disclose, so let me explain, more to find you and to receive the sign.тАЭ
briefly, that the whole course of my life was тАЬMay I ask what sign you refer to?тАЭ inquired
changed when first I viewed the sacred stone. It the professor.
was graven with mystic characters, similar to, yet тАЬMy illustrious ancestor, who charged me
unlike Chinese writing. According to tradition, with the task of conveying his message to you, said
none but a living Buddha could decipher this in the writing that his spirit would be watching me
sacred writing, which might not be transmitted to from Magong. He prophesied that you would
any of his followers, however great or wise. appear at this place, and when you did, he would
тАЬNow I had, from the days of my youth, made flash a brilliant signal to me from his Celestial
a study of our ancient writings, and had learned the abode.тАЭ
meanings of many characters since wholly тАЬAnd you have seen the signal?тАЭ
obsolete, as well as the former meanings of those тАЬI have and do, for it is still visible. Look!тАЭ
whose significance had been entirely changed. I He pointed toward the full moon.
firmly believed, with my fellow priests, that none The professor looked, then raised his
but the living Buddha might translate the writings binoculars to his eyes and focused them.
on the stone. You may judge, therefore, of my тАЬBy Jove!тАЭ he exclaimed. тАЬYou have
surprise, when I found myself able to translate unusually sharp eyes. There is a brilliant, star-like
several of the ideographs graven on its sacred light in the crater, Aristarchus. A rare occurrence,
surface. I instantly believed myself the true too.тАЭ
possessor of the karma of Buddha, and that the тАЬI have studied Magong for many years,тАЭ
living Buddha of my order was an impostor. On replied our guest, тАЬand have trained my eyes to see
attempting to translate other characters, I found the things hidden from the sight of ordinary mortals. I
majority of them unintelligible to me. could have used a telescope or binoculars, but for
тАЬOne of the requirements of my pilgrimage my purpose I have no need of them.тАЭ
was that I was to spend four hours a day for a тАЬRemarkable!тАЭ commented the professor.
period of seven days alone on my knees before the тАЬAnd this light fulfills the prophecy?тАЭ