knew the Soul had passed beyond the illusion of Time and Space and of
Things. By this I knew that I was free. I saw thee lying in thy cot,
and I saw thee falling downhill under the idolater--at one time, in one
place, in my Soul, which, as I say, had touched the Great Soul. Also I
saw the stupid body of Teshoo Lama lying down, and the hakim from Dacca
kneeled beside, shouting in its ear. Then my Soul was all alone, and I
saw nothing, for I was all things, having reached the Great Soul. And
I meditated a thousand thousand years, passionless, well aware of the
Causes of all Things. Then a voice cried: "What shall come to the boy
if thou art dead?" and I was shaken back and forth in myself with pity
for thee; and I said: "I will return to my chela, lest he miss the
Way." Upon this my Soul, which is the Soul of Teshoo Lama, withdrew
itself from the Great Soul with strivings and yearnings and retchings
and agonies not to be told. As the egg from the fish, as the fish from
the water, as the water from the cloud, as the cloud from the thick
air, so put forth, so leaped out, so drew away, so fumed up the Soul of
Teshoo Lama from the Great Soul. Then a voice cried: "The River! Take
heed to the River!" and I looked down upon all the world, which was as
I had seen it before--one in time, one in place--and I saw plainly the
River of the Arrow at my feet. At that hour my Soul was hampered by
some evil or other whereof I was not wholly cleansed, and it lay upon
my arms and coiled round my waist; but I put it aside, and I cast forth
as an eagle in my flight for the very place of the River. I pushed
aside world upon world for thy sake. I saw the River below me--the
River of the Arrow--and, descending, the waters of it closed over me;
and behold I was again in the body of Teshoo Lama, but free from sin,
and the hakim from Decca bore up my head in the waters of the River.
It is here! It is behind the mango-tope here--even here!'
'Allah kerim! Oh, well that the Babu was by! Wast thou very wet?'
'Why should I regard? I remember the hakim was concerned for the body
of Teshoo Lama. He haled it out of the holy water in his hands, and
there came afterwards thy horse-seller from the North with a cot and
men, and they put the body on the cot and bore it up to the Sahiba's
house.'
'What said the Sahiba?'
'I was meditating in that body, and did not hear. So thus the Search
is ended. For the merit that I have acquired, the River of the Arrow
is here. It broke forth at our feet, as I have said. I have found it.
Son of my Soul, I have wrenched my Soul back from the Threshold of
Freedom to free thee from all sin--as I am free, and sinless! Just is
the Wheel! Certain is our deliverance! Come!'
He crossed his hands on his lap and smiled, as a man may who has won
salvation for himself and his beloved.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Kim, by Rudyard Kipling
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KIM ***
***** This file should be named 2226.txt or 2226.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/2/2226/
Produced by Patricia Franks, Karyl Basmajian, Nancy K.
Smith, Dave Bruchie.
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.
*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
http://gutenberg.net/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement