Ivan Yefremov - The Land of Foam

Somebody had been there! There must be people living amongst those ruins! With bated breath ‘the youth made his way to the exit, a portico overgrown with grass.

The portico, consisting of two square white and two round red columns, stood on the edge of a low cliff that rose just above the dense foliage of the trees. A dusty, well-trodden path led down the cliffside. Descending into the valley, Pandion came to a smooth, metalled road. He made his way eastwards, striving to step silently on the hot stones. The wide leaves of the plane-trees on the right-hand side of the road, scarcely stirring in the hot air, cast a line of shadow. Pandion sighed with relief as he sought refuge from the blazing sun. He had long wanted to drink but in his own country, where water was scarce, he had been taught abstinence. After walking along for some two stadia he saw a long low building at the foot of a hill where the road turned to the north. A number of small rooms, like a row of similar boxes, were open on the side that faced the road and were quite empty. Pandion recognized the building as an old travellers’ rest-house; he had seen many of them in the northern part of the island and hurried into the main entrance, brightly painted and divided into two by a single column. The faint murmur of running water called to the youth, exhausted as he was by the heat and the long journey. Pandion entered the bathhouse where the water ran from a spring, the ground around which was paved with heavy slabs of stone, poured through a wide pipe and then through the rims of three successive basins into a big funnel built into the wall.

Pandion threw off his clothes and sandals, washed himself in the pure cold water, drank his fill and lay down on a stone bench to rest. The, babbling of the running water, the gentle whispering of the leaves had a soothing effect on him and eyes inflamed from the sun and wind in the mountain passes refused to keep open — Pandion slept.

He did — not sleep long; when he awoke the shadow from the column, intersecting the sunlit floor, had scarcely changed its position. He jumped up and hurriedly donned his simple clothing. He felt fresh and rested. He ate some dried cheese, took another drink and made for the doorway; there he came to a sudden halt — from the distance came the sound of voices. He went out on to the road to look round. There could be no doubt about it, from the dense growth of bushes to one side of the road came laughter, snatches of an unknown language and the sounds of stringed instruments.

Pandion’s sensations were mingled joy and fear, his muscles tensed and he involuntarily grasped the hilt of his father’s sword. With a few whispered words of prayer to his patron and ancestor Hyperion, the youth plunged into the thicket, making straight for the voices. It was stifling in the thicket and the strong scents made it difficult for him to breathe.

With the greatest care he made his way round tall bushes with long thorns, slipped between the trunks of the strawberry-trees with their thin, smooth, light grey bark and found his way barred by a grove of myrtles that stood before him in a solid wall.

Bunches of white flowers hung ‘down from the dense foliage. For a second Pandion thought of Thessa — in his country the myrtle-tree was sacred to youthful virginity. The voices now sounded quite close to him — the people were talking in hushed voices for some reason or another and Pandion realized that he had misjudged the distance. The decisive moment had come. Bending low, Pandion dived under the nether branches, carefully pushing them aside with his hands; on a glade covered with young grass an unusual sight met his eyes.

In the centre of the glade lay a snow-white bull with long horns. Little black patches were sprinkled on the beast’s well-groomed flanks and face.

Some distance away in the shade stood a group of youths, girls and elderly people. A tall, straight-backed man with a wavy beard and a gold band on his head, wearing a short tunic encircled by a bronze belt, stepped forward and made a sign. A young girl dressed in a long, heavy mantle immediately left the group. She raised both arms above her head; the movement caused the mantle to fall to the ground, leaving her standing in a loincloth held in place by a wide white belt ornamented with a fluffy black cord. Her blue-black hair hung loose about her shoulders and on both arms she wore narrow gold bangles above the elbow.

With light, rapid steps, almost dancing, she approached the bull, then stopped suddenly and emitted a guttural cry. The bull’s sleepy eyes opened wide and flashed fire, he bent his forelegs under him and began to raise his heavy head. Like an arrow the girl darted forward and pressed herself against the bull. For a second or two the girl and the bull were motionless. A cold shiver ran down Pandion’s back.

The bull straightened his forelegs while his hind-legs still lay on the ground, and lifted his head high. The beast formed a sort of heavy pyramid of menacing muscle. The girl’s swarthy body, pressed close to the steep slope of the animal’s back, formed a sharp contrast to its white skin. With one hand she clung to a horn and the other arm encircled the bull’s tremendous neck. One of the girl’s strong legs was stretched along the back of the monster and the upper part of her body was sprung forward like a drawn bow.

The contrast between the lines of the bull, beautiful but monstrous in their strength and weight, and the graceful human body held Pandion spellbound.

For the fraction of a second he saw the austere face of the girl with its tightly pressed lips. With a dull roar the bull rose to its feet and leaped with a facility astonishing in such a tremendous body. The girl was thrown into the air, pressed her hands into the bull’s mighty withers, threw her legs up and turned a somersault between the high horns. She landed on her feet some three paces from the bull’s head. Stretching out her arms the gir-1 clapped her hands and again emitted a short, sharp cry. The infuriated bull lowered its horns and rushed at her. Pandion was horrified: it seemed that that beautiful and courageous girl must certainly be killed. Throwing all caution to the winds the youth seized his sword and was about to dash on to the glade when the girl, with amazing agility, again sprang towards the bull, escaped the lowered, death-dealing horns, and was once more on the bull’s back. In its fury the beast raced round the glade tearing up the earth with its hoofs and roaring threateningly. The young bullfighter sat calmly on the enraged animal’s back, her knees pressed tightly into its wide flanks, now working like bellows from the animal’s rapid breathing. The bull flew towards the group of people who greeted it with cries of joy. There was a loud handclap as the girl somersaulted backwards and landed on the ground behind the bull. Breathing rapidly in joyous excitement she rejoined the crowd of onlookers.

The bull made a straight run to the edge of the glade, then turned and raced towards the people. Five of them immediately stepped forward, three youths and two girls, and the game began again with even greater speed. The gasping bull turned towards the young people who were calling him on with cries and handclapping and they jumped over him, sprang on to his back, pressed close against his sides for a moment, avoiding the terrible horns with great agility. One of the girls managed to sit directly on the bull’s neck, immediately in front of the hump of his withers. The bull’s eyes popped out of their sockets and foam came from his mouth. With his head lowered, his muzzle almost touching the ground, the bull did his utmost to throw the fearless girl from his back. She leaned backwards, her two hands grasping the withers behind her back and her feet propped firmly against the base of the animal’s ears. She kept her position for a few seconds and then sprang lightly to the ground.