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The Autobiography of Judas Iscariot

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The Autobiography of Judas Iscariot TH E AU TO BIOG RA PH Y O F j U D A S I S C A R I O T A LF RED T RESI DD E R SHE PPARD LONDON ! GEORGE ALLEN 69° NWI N LTD U , . R S KI N HO S 0 M S M STR ET W C I U U E , 4 U E U E , . THE A U TOBIOG RA PHY O F J U DA S ISCA RIOT WE came to Joppa on the m or ning of a blue Moon ool and gold day ; but , entering the p in early evening , found ourselves shrouded by mist and overhung by tenebrous cloud . On a bale of of sesame , I sat and watched the sights deck Lo - . w and shore , rock bound coast , the surf white and high against it ; broken and battered r of walls ; at the ext emity a tiny cape , the of white town sandhills and beyond , groves blossoming fruit , white , and pink , and yellow . The quay was clamorous and crowded . Wheat , of sesame ; olives , golden piles oranges , great of stacks timber from the Lebanon forests , or s lay disembarked to be embarked ; Jew , -t nicians Arabs , Greeks , Syro , here and there a Roman soldier , haughty and erect , of Italians , natives the Gentile Islands , negroes , of o f made a medley colour , a Babel sound , 5 4 7 9 5 " 7 6 . £ AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF a str nge enough to my ears , which for so long had heard but the swish and rattle and hiss of - of seas , and the monotonous ship talk my companions . In the little harbour , the packed boats heaved and jostled . My eyes , restless ever for food , sought the our - u nearer sights . Wealth here in heaped p cargo wealth in the trappings of this Roman ffi - o cer , broad and squat and lemon faced , s with his retinue . Wealth and colour on e a and shore ; though the pall of the thunder cloud hung heavily above it all . Ah , goodly and pleasant land , this of my birth to which I come after long exile ! Flowing with milk and honey ; rich with fruit and ! corn and sweet waters Big with thought , my mind travelled the years of sordid and on splendid banishment . That I was found sea the , they say another Moses , borne on his to . ark fortune What of my father , Simon C b or ea ? my mother , y Memory shows dim faces through the mist ; one loving , anxious , pleading I fancy I just remember her croon ing to me in my infant slumbers . And my — father him I scarcely recall ; a rugged , - battered man , red haired and bearded ; his kno e d his tt . hands gnarled and , voice rough But father and mother to me alike were those JUDAS ISCARIOT 7 peasant folk who drew me from the sea. Our hovel was by the shore ; all the long , drowsy days I played among the boats and nets , the rocks and weed and grew bronzed and hale and l ios was Ani a clean of limb . my friend and my companion . One day we were together on the beach ; I had two great shells which a sailor from Tyre had given me . They were pink and yellow and silver ; how beautiful the colours ! And when I put them to my ears the murmur of the sea was in them . one ! Oh , give me of your shells , Judas il ios cried An a . ou Why should I give y my shell P I said . What will you exchange for it P ni old . He had but a broken k fe , and rusty . was No , I said And a whim took me I a proud boy . Kneel and worship me , I said ; hail me as your king ! And the shell shall ” be yours . on He rewddened and flung himself his knees . as But he haughty also , and quick of temper ; repenting instantly , he struck a great blow at me as I stooped graciously towards him . Worship a Jew bastard he cried . With s my fist will I worship thee , scum that the e a flung to ou r threshold ! Taking that which 8 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF my parents earn and should earn for me and o n their wkin . Bastard Bastard I am no bastard I am the child of a great ” lord and a great lady , I tried to cry ; but my breath went from me ; I lay gasping ! my o pain was terrible t bear . on He crouched the sand , watching with cruel and glittering eyes . Just so I have watched a sea - bird that has flung itself against our ou t door , and has lain gasping its life . Would it live ? Would it die ? How felt it —and where went the spirit when the wings that had flown so far hung at last limp and motionless P Just so he watched me . And my anger rose . I was smaller and weaker than he . I rose at last , and went sullenly apart . There was a rocky cave’near at hand it was used to store fish er a men s creels ; the floor was of soft s nd , and ou r in we often used it in play . I went , flung myself down on the sand , and wept . By and by he came to the entrance and mimicked me . Judas Judas he cried . Can you breathe again ? I have come to worship my - hoo - king . Boo , boo hoo , baby bastard How funnily you breathed Like the bird that P m a - d’ied . erhaps you y die to night . ho w twas a shrewd blow I gave you Ho , ho , JUDAS ISCARIOT 9 —so so— the way your gills moved , and made me laugh And he held both his sides at my anger and my misery . But under me I had kept a great boulder , and stealthily I drew it forth and hurled it . His is face and h yellow hair grew all bloody . It was like the swift turning o f a picture this side o ne . minute , this the next He fell , and I stood , laughing , and then jumped round and round of sur mai ek him . One his red morocco y had off fallen , and the girdle had somehow come unloosed from his kuf tan the blood streamed down over his brown , naked chest . How odd he looked ! His bare legs began to shudder and to draw up and down . He l howled like a jacka . Your king wills you to die , I said . Your king wills you to die I was still laughing when a hand like iron caught my throat . I was shaken as rats are - shaken it was Charpa , my foster mother and his mother . Get you hence , little dog cufli n she cried , g me , you shall lick no more i ” our . platters in home You have k lled my boy . Anilaios Ahe , ahe , whined ; yes , he has killed me , mother the Jew bastard has killed ” . how me Oh , I wished he lay there dead , and too on her , the woman laying filthy hands me I O THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF She drove me from the cave ; night was sea falling , and a great wind churned the into foaming waves that flung themse lves on the n land and leapt , hissi g , back . It grew quite r dark . Unce tain of foot , sobbing and hungry , r l — —I driven fo th like Ishmae but al’one , ala Bab Allah wandered , towards God s Gate , as these Arabs say when they know not whither they go moving listlessly on towards whatever fate the darkness held . My feet sunk deep into sand once I stepped into a mess of some soft , sticky rock , which held me , and I had much ado to tear myself away . But the salt i w nd cheered me I love the wind , the dark ness , loneliness , even though they frighten me . saw And , in an hour , I a prick of light through the pitch darkness it grew , and turned to ruddy of flame from a fire dried weed and wreckage . in Around the fire were men , lean and savage , ‘ w a ‘ T ’ tattered blué b Ianket fi Tfiéy had bTws and arrows and spears . I drew near them . There were a score or so about the fire the red flames of brought fierce faces men , pretty faces of h young , unveiled women , ideous faces of old l hags , tooth ess , and with pendulous thin breasts , in and out of darkness . I drew near them . Two or three sprang up . In a moment I was in their grasp ; they had torn from me my JUDAS I SCARIOT u clothes and clad me in an old and filthy sheep skin . For many weeks I lived with these outlaws , who got their living by wreckage and by robbery . We wandered along the coast , living in caverns ; by wandering lights , some times fastened to the horns of oxen , they lured rich argosies ashore . They drove with them a few asses , goats , and cows . Al y es Sughir was their chief a man wit h a of of long flowing beard grey . I ’had heard of a —he Eleazer D mascus , Abraham s servant a who was so great th t when Abraham chid him , nd of a frightened him that he trembled , one ’ his awm adE him double teeth , falling from his J , Al Su ir l an ivory bed . y es gh was a man a most of like stature , and so strong that I have seen him hurl a slave who disobeyed him full fif teen on to to feet a great rock , which dashed him pieces .
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