Beelzebubs-Tales-to-His-Grandson-by-G-I-Gurdjieff

ting so gaily and about to go to some hotel together are legally man and wife,even though each one of them may be the legal husband or wife of someoneelse." 'While these men and women are sitting here, their "legal halves" whohave remained at home in the provinces are probably imagining and telling alltheir acquaintances very positively that their "legal wife" or "legal husband"has gone to the world capital of Paris to make some important purchases forthe family, or to see somebody there, also very important for the family, orsomething else of the same sort." 'But in reality, in order to get here, these "birds of passage" have had toscheme for a whole year and cook up every kind of story to convince their"legal halves" of the need for their trip And now that they are here, in thecompany of deceivers and intriguers like themselves, they do their utmost, tothe greater glory of the nuptial hymn "Isaiah, Rejoice," aided by the fine artattained by contemporary civilization in this respect, to decorate the foreheadsof their stay-at-home legal halves with the largest possible "artistic horns."'In the European conditions of family life, if you see a man and awoman together and, during their conversation, notice certain lively tones intheir voices and smiles appearing on their faces, you can be quite sure thatvery soon, if they have not already done so, they will most effectively presenttheir "legal half" with a pair of the most magnificent horns." 'Hence any somewhat cunning man here can pass for a very honorableman and the "patriarchal father of a family. "" 'It is of no concern to those around him that this "honorable" man and"patriarchal" father of a family has at the same time—if of course his meanspermit—as many "mistresses" as he pleases on the side, on the contrary,people usually show even more respect for such a man than for one who isunable to have any mistresses at all.'Here these "honorable husbands" who can afford it