Empire unusual suggested

14 PASSPORT TO MAGONIA
the second, who was fairer and of shorter stature, by three. Thus in
all there were seven. He left no record as to whether their heads
were covered. They were about forty years of age, but they did not
appear to be above thirty. When asked who they were, they said
that they were men composed, as it were, of air, and subject to birth
and death. It was true that their lives were much longer than ours,
and might even reach to three hundred years' duration. Questioned
on the immortality of our soul, they affirmed that nothing survives
which is peculiar to the individual.., . When my father asked them
why they did not reveal treasures to men if they knew where they
were, they answered that it was forbidden by a peculiar law under
the heaviest penalties for anyone to communicate this knowledge
to men. They remained with my father for over three hours. But
when he questioned them as to the cause of the universe they were
not agreed. The tallest of them denied that God had made the
world from eternity. On the contrary, the other added that God
created it from moment to moment, so that should He desist for an
instant the world would perish.... Be this fact or fable, so it stands. 10
Nearly three centuries later, in September, 1768, a young man
of sixteen was traveling to the University of Leipzig, with two
passengers from Frankfurt. Most of the journey was accomplished
in the rain, and the coach sometimes had trouble moving uphill.
On one occasion when the passengers had left their seats to walk
behind the horses, the young man noticed a strange luminous
object at ground level:
All at once, in a ravine on the right-hand side of the way, I saw a
sort of amphitheatre, wonderfully illuminated. In a funnel-shaped
space there were innumerable little lights gleaming, ranged stepfashion
over one another; and they shone so brilliantly that the eye
was dazzled. But what still more confused the sight was that they
did not keep still, but jumped about here and there, as well downwards
from above as vice versa, and in every direction. The greater
part of them, however, remained stationary, and beamed on. It was
only with the greatest reluctance that I suffered myself to be called
away from the spectacle, which I could have wished to examine
more closely. The postilion, when questioned, said that he knew
nothing about such a phenomenon, but that there was in the
neighborhood an old stone-quarry, the excavation of which was
filled with water. Now, whether this was a pandemonium of willo'the-wisps,
or a company of luminous creatures, I will not decide.
The young man in question was Goethe. You will find this
VISIONS OF A PARALLEL WORLD 15
sighting in the sixth book of his Autobiography, according to
Kenneth Anger, to whom I am indebted for this very interesting
discovery. Would the German poet and scientist have had occasion
to learn more about the "luminous creatures" had he lived in
the twentieth century? If Paracelsus came back, would he find
new material for his theories on the nature of the strange and
fugitive races of beings from the sky? We can safely hypothesize
that their attention would be immediately directed to the files of
UFO landings.
In the next paragraphs, we shall examine some of the recent
cases they might have found of interest.
What do they prove? Nothing. They only indicate that, if
there ever was a time for scientists to bow their heads with awe
before the variety and power of natural phenomena and human
imagination, it is to be found in our own age of technology and
rational thought, not in the confusion of medieval philosophies.
RETURN OF THE HUMANOIDS
One night in January, 1958, a lady whose name I am not
authorized to publish was driving along the New York State
Thruway in the vicinity of Niagara Falls, in the midst of a violent
snowstorm. The exact time was 1:30 A.M. The lady was
going to visit her son, then in the Army, and she was driving very
carefully, trying to find an exit, for she believed the Thruway
was closed ahead of her. Visibility was extremely bad. Hence she
had no chance to think when she suddenly saw what seemed to
be an airplane wreck on the center parkway:
A large shape was visible, and a slim rod at least fifty feet high
was illuminated and getting shorter as though it were sinking into
the ground. My motor slowed down and as I came closer my car
stopped completely. I became panicky and tried desperately to start
it as I had no lights.
My first thought was to get out and see what was happening but
I suddenly saw two shapes rising around that slim pole which was
still growing shorter. They were suspended but moving about it.
'Ilicy seemed to be like animals with four legs and a tail but two
front feelers under the head, like arms. Then, before I could even
i',r.|> !hc tilings disappeared and the shape rose and I then realized