Chapter 15 Dance With The Devil By Gunther Schwab Written in 1963.
STIFF'S
DEPARTURE WAS FOLLOWED BY A LEADEN SILENCE.
The
certainty of a hideous but irrevocable end seemed like some inert substance
that laid itself
with
deadening effect over heart, mind and spirit. Rolande sat with staring eyes,
the
very image of despair.
Sten
turned to her. "Tired?" he asked softly.
She
nodded. "Tired and sad," she said.
Groot
tried to strike a bold note. "No need for that," he said,
"what's inevitable must be accepted."
"Inevitable?"
queried Sten. "We have brought everything on ourselves."
"What
of it? There's nothing we can do about it now. Nothing makes life as precious
as
does the threat of death, so let's live while life remains. What do we care
what comes after-wards?"
The
poet looked at him. "Have you no feeling of guilt?" he asked.
"Oh,
don't talk so much ! " said Groot.
He
turned to Harding.
"Too
much thinking is unhealthy."
"That
doesn't stop me thinking."
It
was Rolande who spoke.
A
footman offered refreshments. Groot and Harding helped themselves liberally,
Sten
and Rolande refused.
The
Devil smiled.
"Have
I managed to convince you?" he asked.
"Completely,"
said Groot, and Harding nodded.
"We
are convinced," added Rolande in a low voice.
"I
hope your demonstration's over now."
"Not
quite."
"I've
had enough," said Rolande with a slight shake of her shoulders.
"Surely
we've heard everything now. If not, we can form a pretty good idea of it.
The
world is the Devil's and we are lost. What more is there to say?"
The
Devil adopted his smoothest tone.
"It
isn't a matter of indifference how a man – or a woman – spends the last lap of
his life.
It
matters a lot whether he has excitement, glory, respect and riches,
or
spends the time as my enemy, poor, hunted and despised.
Think
it over.
Think
it over carefully.
But
you have still to listen to Number One, the head of the most important
department of all.
Number
One will really take you to the bottom of things.
He
will really show you what I might call the activating motor of ruin,
the
prime source of all the powers of destruction."
"We
just can't wait to meet him," said Groot.
The
Devil switched on the inter-corm "I want Turduk," he said.
"He
isn't here yet." It was Do's voice.
"Tell
him to hurry," said the Devil with a grunt.
Even
Sten and Rolande now showed a glimmer of interest on their faces.
"What
is the name of Number One Department?" asked Groot.
"The
Flood."
Sten
asked, "Does that mean that a new flood —?"
"Indeed
it does. Last time it was water. The new flood will consist of human
beings."
"I
don't understand," said Groot.
The
Devil: "The population bomb ! – something even more dangerous than the
atom bomb.
It's
always possible that the atom bomb might be condemned and abolished
– assuming that my enemies proved strong
enough
–
but the human bomb will detonate as surely as I sit here."
Groot:
"You're speaking in riddles."
The
Devil: "Man was just clever enough to nullify the restrictive forces of
Nature,
but
his brain wasn't sufficiently developed for him to realize that the natural
control which
he
had overcome had to be replaced by a moral control. He turned aside from facing
up to morality
–
and so from life. Since then, he's multiplying beyond all natural and permissible
limits and
although
his great numbers make it for the moment appear as if he'd won a victory over
Nature,
yet
those very numbers will bring him to destruction. Just watch the screen.
Here is Turduk's last report, made some
thirty years ago."
They
saw the Devil's office, in which they themselves were now sitting. Murduscatu,
the
Terrible One, was with Turduk, the Head of Department No. 1.
He
was a devil of impressive appearance; tall, well groomed and beautifully
dressed.
You
would have taken him for a University professor, or for a leading doctor.
The
screen showed the discussion in full progress.
The
Devil was saying: "And what will happen to Europe?"
To
which Turduk replied: "The Asians will tread it under-foot,
but
they won't benefit very much from what they acquire.
They've
already begun to poison themselves through contact with a civilization which
they didn't produce.
This
will destroy them, as the Red Indians were destroyed by becoming familiar with
alcohol.
Soon
they'll have grown soft and become de-generate.
They'll
break their ties with the soil and will refuse to work on the land."
"Who
will do it for them?"
"The
yellow races."
"And
what then?"
"The
people that work the fields sooner or later take possession of them;
that's
a matter of historical experience. T
he
yellow races will take the lead."
"For
how long?"
"For
two hundred years."
"And
then?"
"Then
the dragon's teeth, which have been sewn in Africa by our noble pioneers,
our
great civilizers, our lion-shooters and medicine men, will begin to bear fruit.
The
black wave will rise up and flood the yellow men.
The
black men will triumph in the end."
"Meanwhile,
what will happen in America?"
"The
white man will be extinguished in America, even before this happens in
Europe."
"Who
will extinguish him?"
"In
the north the Asiatics, in the south the brown races from the South American
jungle."
"They
seem to me too primitive and too frightened of the world."
"They
are today; but the trail is laid. Mr. Holloway is at work.
He
and his clever wife go about in a motor-boat, visit the natives, present them
with cinema and radio.
They
build health centres, hold the good death in check by means of injections and
pills,
and
consider themselves the benefactors of humanity.
There
are many others doing much the same thing; these people are,
of
course, traitors to their race and to their own lives.
The
bomb in the jungle has been fused;
it
will explode when the time comes for that explosion and the brown flood,
which
the white man has called into being, will engulf the Continent."
At
this moment Turduk himself entered the room, and the Devil switched off the
television screen.
Turduk
bowed at the door, then advanced with quick, springing steps to his master's
desk and bowed again.
"Long
time no see, Turduk," said the Devil.
It
was the first time that he got up to greet one of his assistants. They shook
hands. T
hen,
with exquisite grace, Turduk greeted the others.
"Since
you kept us waiting," the Devil began, "I played over your last
report to our guests."
"Superseded,
Boss," cried Turduk, eagerly.
"Completely
out-of-date! I've pushed matters along at such a headlong pace that the picture
today
is
an infinitely more promising one than it was even thirty years ago."
"I'm
glad to hear it."
Turduk
turned to the guests. "I assume," he said, "that a number of
other Department Heads
have
already spoken to you?"
"Nearly
all of them," said the Devil.
Turduk
went on: "Whatever you've heard, it all can be traced back to the same
cause
–
the mass multiplication of man. It was my task to remove all the inhibiting
factors from human fertility."
"Mankind
needed 500,000 years to attain the billion mark; that was in 1850;
since
then it's more than doubled.
From
1800 to 1914, the population in Germany increased from 24 to 70 millions.
For
this steady hypertrophy of human numbers, all the other Departments in this
Ministry of ours
could
neither function nor would they be necessary.
Man
believes that he's no longer subject to the forces of Nature.
Actually,
he has only temporarily held in check the executive powers of creation.
They've
been pushed back to the edges of the world and wait for their hour to come.
"Scientists
prophesy for the year 2000, a population of 4.5 billion, and for 2160, one of
18.5 billion."
"Excellent,
Turduk, but it's too long to wait. Can't we speed up the increase?"
"Since
man multiplies by geometrical progression, we can really reckon with higher figures
of
growth than the ones I've just quoted. But I'm not replying on the progression
alone.
I've
done everything in order to accelerate the advent of the catastrophe."
"What,
for instance?"
"I've
called a number of organizations into being which aim at introducing hygiene
and
so-called health all over the world. Among many nations of Asia my public
health measures
are
only now getting into their stride.
More
than 350 million people live in India; till now in that sub-continent the good
death
has
put limits on the ruinous fertility of man by means of plagues, poisonous
snakes,
tigers
and famines.
Now,
my health and nutrition programmes are being developed there.
The
death-rate is falling; the birth-rate is rising. People are battling with infant
mortality,
tuberculosis,
malaria and hunger.
Here,
too, the population figures will soon be mounting sky-high.
If
you want to see the superb results of these health programmes, please look at
the screen.
That
is San Juan – on the isle of Puerto Rico – which means `rich harbour'.
That
was what it once was, centuries ago.
Certainly,
it was the harbour of an island that was rich and flourishing;
today
it is in the grip of the most hideous misery that we could wish for.
In
1898, the island was taken over by the U.S.A.
At
that time Puerto Rico had a million inhabitants.
Our
agents started our health programme and the results thereof were most
gratifying.
By
1950 the number of inhabitants had increased by 2.2 millions.
Now
250 people inhabit every square kilometre.
Each
Peurto Rican can reckon on 800 square metres for his food, though a man,
in order to be adequately fed, needs a
minimum surface of 10,000 square metres.
On
the screen you see one of the most wretched slums of San Juan;
it
came into being as a direct result of our health programme.
You
see that these dwellings have been built on piles over the sea,
because
there's no longer any room on the land.
Each
of these tiny huts is inhabited by between twenty and forty souls.
In
the stinking and foul waters under this township on piles you can see refuse
floating alongside
the
corpses of animals and even of newborn children.
Nobody
seems to think anything of it when despairing parents simply throw their
newborn children
into
the water. A monument has been erected to the man who invented
this
Health Programme for Puerto Rico. He was a Mr. Cowborrow, one of my most
trusted agents.
It
is most gratifying to reflect that Mr. Cowborrow has found imitators all over
the world.
People
who believe in brotherly love and mercy are for our not inconsiderable
benefit
preparing the most terrible catastrophe that has ever afflicted mankind."
"But
– that's a crime ! " cried Sten.
"You're
wrong," said Turduk. "Men call it humanity."
The
Devil: "Don't get hysterical, Mr. Poet."
"Yes,
but these people act from motives of humanity," said Rolande, with a
restless gesture.
"They are idealists, pioneers, full of
goodwill, and of the most honourable intentions —"
Turduk:
"Of course they are ! That's what they believe and that's what the world
believes,
and
their noble deeds cause thousands to try and imitate them.
All
this suits my programme wonderfully well."
The
Devil interrupted: "And that wouldn't be the first time that these
so-called idealists
– we call them fools !
–
were serving our purposes and sacrificing themselves for us."
He
laughed. "That's the really devilish thing about it.
They
believe they're doing good and, nevertheless,
they
execute the judgement which we devils have devilishly passed on mankind.
They
pray, and are nevertheless accursed.
They
are pioneers, yes, but pioneers of ruin."
Rolande:
"Some brake can be put on fertility."
Turduk:
"You mean, birth-control? Excellent! But it merely postpones what must
ultimately come;
it
is no solution to the problem and, since it's against Nature, it only leads us
nearer to the abyss.
And
who is it that takes precautions?
The
people who know something, who have a sense of responsibility, the valuable
ones, in fact.
And
who refrains from taking precautions?
The
great mass of the mediocre.
Where
does that lead to?"
"Sensible
legislation would not leave the matter open to the individual.
It
would put compulsion equally on all."
"Very
good! And what would in such cases be prevented?
Good
progeny would remain unborn along with bad.
Birth-control
is only another way to disease and to spiritual proletarianism.
If
there's no selection, life becomes sick."
"Then
what could be done to prevent this enormous multiplication of human
lives?" asked Sten.
"Nothing.
We've every reason to hope that by the year 2050,
the
human population of the earth will, in all, total 36,800 million."
"Can
the world feed as many as that?" asked Groot.
Turduk:
"Today, in Germany, there are 200 people to the square kilometre.
If
what I anticipate comes true, there would, in the world as a whole,
be
four thousand people per square kilometre.
The
world would be as densely populated as Manhattan is today.
The
area for growing food would then have shrunk to 250 square metres for each
individual."
"Good
! What else?"
"It's
not a matter of indifference what kind of man and woman make up the majority
and
whether they are wise or foolish, and I may fairly claim to have done not a
little
to
ensure that fools preponderate. Thus, as men multiply, so will intellectual
decay proceed."
The
Devil laughed. "If that's true, Turduk, I can see the opening up of really
lovely horizons."
"But
surely it can't be quite true?" Groot ventured to interject.
"Everybody
nowadays tries to get a better education and better professional
qualifications."
The
Boss was almost rude in his tone.
"You're
an obstinate fellow, Mr. Groot.
Haven't
you understood from what you've heard so far that stupidity and intellectual
culture
get
on very well together and that from intellectuality to wisdom is a long road
that few people travel?
But
you can't deny that nobody wants to be stupid – or insignificant – and that's
what matters," he said.
Turduk:
"Yes, indeed. Nobody wants to be insignificant;
they
strive for higher education, not for the sake of that education,
hut
because they want to count for more; because they want to have a more
comfortable and a better life.
They
only obey those urges which we've implanted in them, the urge to appear important
and
the desire for sensual satisfaction. Mr. Groot is quite right.
The
number of those who seek a so-called education is very large.
That
development has been guided by myself and is proceeding according to plan.
Most
of these people remain hal f-educated, but since they believe themselves to be
educated
their
minds are even more closed to truth than they would otherwise be.
Some
really do achieve education – and a few actual wisdom.
However,
that doesn't really matter very much; what matters is something else.
"The
more they learn, the fewer children they have.
Among
2,700,000 women in the U.S.A. those with grade school education have on an
average 4.33 children.
If
they pass through eight grades, they only have 2.78 children.
If
they attended a high school, the number of children fell to 1.75.
If
they went to college, it fell to 1.25.
This
means that the training of the mind impairs fertility;
the
largest numbers of children are to be found among poor people who have little
intelligence
and
little schooling, they are to be found among the great mass of allegedly
under-developed peoples
and
not among the inhabitants of the continents of a super civilization.
"Intelligence
wins academic rank.
The
industrious and efficient achieve the possession of houses, bank accounts and
stomach ulcers.
The
poor, the ones that lack a higher intellectual potential, get children.
Thus
a very important trend is set in motion.
The
nearer mankind approaches to the final catastrophe,
the
more should all the powers of the mind be concentrated and enhanced in order to
meet it;
yet
what in fact happens is that, as the catastrophe approaches,
the
intelligent tend to become relatively fewer, and the great, uncritical mass
becomes ever larger.
The
great uncritical mass is as incapable of wisdom as it is of grasping a theory
or understanding
a
political programme. It is therefore incapable of being intelligently led.
"Here
then, Boss, I venture to say, without presumption, is our final victory
–
our victory over man. It doesn't matter to us now whether a few people who
really think
try desperately to resist our plans.
They're
hopelessly encircled by a stark mass of poor, untalented, hopeless men and
women,
who
are multiplying at compound interest."
The
Devil, with an expression of keenest satisfaction, rubbed his fat chin.
Turduk
addressed Harding and Groot.
"Well,
gentlemen, what do you think will happen when the illiterate peoples of Asia
make
up the greater part of mankind?
And
remember – I repeat this – my great health programmes have only just
started."
The
Devils laughed.
Rolande
pressed both hands to her mouth.
"What
will happen next?" she asked.
"Everywhere
man, who's been raging against life,
will
reap the reward that his so-called progress has earned.
The
End will be that mankind will consist of a herd of many billions of ignorant,
weak,
sick and lunatic people who can no longer exist without the help of others.
Misery,
sickness, pain and hunger is the fruit of this so-called humanity."
The
Boss himself now took up the thread.
"Then
the hour of the creative powers will have come.
For
thousands of years, pressed back by men, they've waited at the edge of life.
Like
Huns, they'll fall upon man, who will be without his medical bodyguard;
they'll
seize him where they can.
Oh,
those humans will die like flies!" He laughed a hoarse, demoniac laugh.
"Spoiled
beyond redemption by their machines and contrivances,
which
will now suddenly refuse to serve them, weakened and rotted by their poisons,
they
will crawl through the streets, help-less, lost and accursed.
That
will be my day, my zero hour, the day of triumph – and it isn't far away !
"
Turduk
had listened patiently to his master's outburst.
When
it was concluded, he said:
"We'll
make their lives so wretched and so terrible that they'll no longer wish to
live;
they'll
no longer have children and, if they do, they'll murder them at birth to spare
them
the
misery of being alive.
Millions
will kill themselves; millions will kill their neighbour as an act of kindness.
Thus,
they'll escape and will help others to escape from the hell which they
themselves have created.
Then
the great madness will begin."
He
paused for a moment and looked triumphantly from one face to another;
all
were distorted by horror.
"Go
on," said Rolande, for whom the tension had become unbearable.
"First,"
said Turduk, "they'll pull down the monuments." "Which
ones?"
"Many
of them.
Very
many.
Perhaps
all.
Perhaps
they'll begin with Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch, Rudolf Virchow and Joseph Lister
—
perhaps with that of Einstein. Or, possibly, with the men who conquered Yellow
Fever,
the
inventors of DDT, penicillin, and sulphonamide.
There's
a large number to choose from."
"And
then?"
"Then
they'll kill anybody whose expression seems to suggest that he's capable of
independent thought.
They'll
kill these people and hope that in doing so, they'll be killing some inventor,
some
chemist or doctor, or some scientist of some kind and that they will thus be
contributing
to
the saving of man.
They'll
kill anybody against whom they can make the imputation of progress."
Groot
was deeply disturbed. "How will it end?" he cried.
Turduk
smiled. In a quiet, friendly voice, he said: "The end will be the battle
of all against all.
All
will kill and all will be killed. He who strikes first will survive — till the
next time.
Friend
will kill friend; parents will kill children and children their parents.
Brothers
will kill their sisters.
The
flesh of those thus murdered will quench the hunger of the survivors."
The
Fertility Devil was silent.
The
Boss laughed silently. His eyes were glittering with enthusiasm.
For
a time the anxious breathing of the humans was the only sound to be heard.
Rolande
was the first to pull herself together. Her voice was hoarse as she spoke.
"Have
human beings deserved this terrible fate?
Surely
only a very few of them have deliberately worked for this end?"
Turduk
replied: "Whether they've done so deliberately or no, they've acted
contrary to the law.
They've
endeavoured to do away with the good death."
"I've
heard this expression several times," she said. "What is meant by
`the good death' ?"
"There
are two kinds of death.
The
`good' death poisons them.
The
`good' death causes the tree of life to bear blossoms and fruit, the `bad'
death lets it decay.
The
`good' death has the function of maintaining life within the world; it kills
suffering and strengthens life.
"You've
not understood the wisdom of the eternal ordering of the world.
You've
fought against the `good' death, and you thought you had conquered death
himself.
That
was your triumph. A pitiful triumph, for you have made life sick.
You've
done away with selection and so caused a lowering of the quality of man
and
the drying up of the sources of truth.
You've
conjured up the bad death billion fold, and there's now no escape.
You've
conjured up a death against which no little powders or pills will help you,
that
will destroy life itself, and cause men to perish in unspeakable suffering and
misery."
"I
like the picture you draw," said the Boss. "A truly devilish piece of
work."
Turduk
replied, "A work that's a work of justice.
A
work that will make mankind poor and humble."
"It's
difficult to believe that the Devil is concerned with humility," said
Rolande.
"The
riches of the earth will be exhausted," Turduk said, "and the work of
man destroyed.
What
is left of mankind will begin to dig the earth with their bare hands in order
to
force from it a new fertility.
They'll
learn reverence once more before a handful of earth,
before
a blade of grass that may, perhaps, bring them an infinitesimal trifle of
nourishment;
and
in their wretched state, they'll learn that they're as nothing before the
Almighty Power.
Once
more they will learn to pray.
Then
the natural measure of things will have been re-established, both within man
and outside him."
"Strange,"
whispered Sten, "a Devil who seeks to teach us to pray."
"Go
on ! " said the Boss.
"From
the last corners of the mountains and of the deserts those remnants of the
animal
and
vegetable world which had been suppressed by man will once more take possession
of the earth,
the
earth from which this presumptuous and insatiable creature has wrongfully
extruded them.
A
new Paradise will come into being on the ruins of a world which Man has
destroyed."
"Shall
we live to see this?" asked the girl.
"No!
Your portion is horror and ruin. You yourselves have called them into
being."
"And
will it last – this new Paradise?" asked Groot.
"It
will last for as long as man lives in poverty and reverence." "What
will happen then to the Devil?"
"Then
my task on earth will have been completed," said the Boss.
"Perhaps
I'll be called back to undertake some new one on another star."
Sten
asked, "Will your task there also be to restore a Paradise?"
"Yes.
To restore harmony and justice."
"But
that's anything but a task for a DeviI."
"How
long will this new world last?" asked Groot.
"This
world which is reverent and good, this world of Paradise!" "Until man
plucks the apple."
"Then
Paradise will be lost?"
"Yes.
And again I shall be given a task upon earth." "What task?"
"To
hunt into a new Hell those who have fallen away."
"So
the Devil in this our modern world stands for a moral principle?"
"Mankind
is blind and stupid," said the Devil. "You shall know the Devil by
his fruits."
* *
* * * *