- Project Runeberg -  The Miracles of Antichrist /
308

(1899) [MARC] Author: Selma Lagerlöf Translator: Selma Ahlström Trotz
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308 228 . the miracles of antichrist

Then his feats had grown profusely as the orange
trees surrounding Etna’s foot. As he had come
higher, his feats had become more scarce, but those
he had accomplished had been mighty as the oaks
and chestnuts on the rising mountain. Now that
he was at the height of greatness, he disdained to
act. His life was as bald as the mountain-top. He
was content to see the world at his feet. But then,
one ought to understand that if he now undertook
something, nothing could withstand him. He was
formidable as the fire-spitting height.

Falco goes before and talks; Passafiore and Biagio
follow him in silent consternation. Dimly they see
Mongibello’s mighty slope, with cities and fields and
forests spread out before them. And Falco
considers himself to be just as great as all!

As they struggle upwards, increasing ghastliness
enwraps them. It is the ground’s yawning rents;
it is the sulphur-smoke from the crater, which
billows down the mountain, too heavy to rise
directly in the air; it is the shaking in the
mountain ; it is the constant dull rumbling thunder; it is
the slippery, rough, ice-field through which streams
are gushing ; it is the excessive cold, it is the biting
wind, which makes the traveling so horrible. And
Falco says that this is like him ! How is it, then, in
his soul ? Prevails there a cold and a ghastliness
that are comparable to Etna’s?

They stumble over pieces of ice, and they work
their way through snow that at times lies two feet
deep. The mountain wind almost knocks them
down. They must wade through slush and water,
for on the previous day the sun has melted a large

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