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A short story by Elizabeth Rundle Charles |
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The Three Dreams |
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Title: The Three Dreams Author: Elizabeth Rundle Charles [More Titles by Charles] I had once three dreams in close succession, which I will relate to you. In the first, I saw a magnificent palace, a little world of gardens and buildings, a city in itself. All was enclosed within a high wall, so that from outside you could see nothing of it except the fairy white minarets pencilled delicately against the blue sky, some lofty battlemented watch-towers, and several graceful campaniles, with the tops of a few of the highest trees. But a delicious blending of the fragrance of a thousand flowers came thence in summer evenings; and every night, bell-tower, watch-tower, spire, and dome, and minaret were illuminated with innumerable starry lamps, as if every day within the palace were a festival. Around the palace were the lanes and alleys of the city--scenes of poverty and squalor--which contrasted strangely with it; and wretched, half-starved-looking creatures, with tattered garments and faces worn with deep marks of want and woe, lingered round the gates. Outside the gates!--and this was one strange incongruity of my dream, for on the gates were emblazoned in golden letters, which were illuminated into transparencies at night, the words-- "KNOCK, AND IT SHALL BE OPENED UNTO YOU."The gates were solid, and enormously massive, like blocks of black marble. No violence could have forced them. There was no crevice at which any one could get a glimpse of what was within. But the golden knocker, underneath those golden words, was so low as to be within reach of the youngest children. Indeed, I noticed that none tried it so often as little children; and whenever any one knocked with the very feeblest sound, in time, and often immediately, the stately portals opened from within, turning on their massive hinges with a sound like the music of many choirs, and the applicant was quietly drawn inside. Then I saw that the inside of the gates was of translucent pearl. A stream of light and fragrance for a moment came through, and induced others afterwards to knock. But immediately the gates were closed, and stood a wall of impenetrable marble as before. I awoke, and whilst meditating on my dream fell asleep again. In my second dream, I saw the same palace as in my first, but the massive doors were gone, and in their place stood the form of One whom, although I had never seen Him, I had heard so often described, and so faithfully, by those who had seen Him, that I knew Him at once. The same wretched beings were cowering round; but the massive barriers were gone, and in their place He stood, and said, in tones that every one could hear--"I am the Door. By Me if any man enter he shall be saved." One wretched and woe-worn woman gave a trembling glance at His face, and then listening again to those tones, not welcoming merely, but pleading and persuasively tender, she ventured close to Him, and fell on her knees to kiss the hem of His garment. But He stooped, and stretched out His hand, and took her hand, and led her in. Then I understood what His words had meant;--that by saying, "I am the door," He must have meant that there was no barrier, no impenetrable gate, but that in the doorway, where the door had been, He stood, and, instead of the lifeless knocker, stretched out His living hands to aid and welcome all who came. And I awoke from my second dream. * * * * * Before long I fell asleep again, and then again I saw the same palace, with the massive portals flung open wide, but that gracious princely form stood in them no more. Among the most wretched of that crowd He went--among the maimed, the halt, and the blind. They thronged around Him, yet many of them scarcely seemed to heed, they were so intent on their own sordid pursuits. Some were crowding with sharp, eager faces round a rag merchant, bargaining with the most absorbing passion for his wretched wares, and then separating to quarrel and fight over their purchases, or bartering their rags again as eagerly for a draught of the intoxicating drinks which had made so many of them the lost creatures they were. Not a rag or a burning drop was to be had except for money, and often for a price which to them was life itself. And He came to them from the palace, and offered them the palace freely; yet few listened! But with that strange absence of the sense of incongruity and the emotion of surprise characteristic of dreams, I did not wonder. Patiently He went in and out among them, pleading with one and another, often encountering rough words and blows; yet still His words were--"I come to seek and save that which was lost." And some even of the most wretched listened, and returned with Him, and were welcomed inside. As if "Knock, and it shall be opened!" were not free enough, the gates were thrown open wide, and He stood there, the outstretched hand, instead of the door; the living friend, instead of the written words of welcome. And as if that were not enough, instead of saying, "Come to Me!" He came Himself--He "came to seek and to save that which was lost."
THE FOLD. There is a Fold, once dearly bought, Far up among the sunny hills, There some have seen a Shepherd stand I know the feeblest that have e'er But I have wandered far astray, The silence with a Voice is fraught! "I am the Door," those words begin--
There is a Palace vast and bright, The guests who are invited there They say none ever knocked in vain; Again that Voice my spirit thrills, The golden portals softly melt, He pleads for me, He pleads with me, [The end] GO TO TOP OF SCREEN |