An edition of Somnium
(1634)
Somnium
by Johannes Kepler
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Table of Contents
Content
SOMNIUM
The demon of Levania
The Privolvian hemisphere
The Subvolvian hemisphere
SOMNIUM
In the year 1608 there was a vehement dispute between the Emperor Rudolf and the Archduke Matthias, his brother, whose actions reminded, in the opinion of many, old precedents in the history of Bohemia. Excited by the wide interest in the public, I devoted my attention to reading about Bohemia and I came across the story of heroin Libusa, known for her magical abilities. One night, after observing the stars and the Moon, I went to bed and fell into a deep sleep. In it, it seemed that I was reading a book of the Fair1, whose content was as follows:
“My name is Duracotus and my country Iceland, called Thule by the ancients. My mother’s name was Fiolxhilde and her recent death has freed me for writing, as I had always desired. While my mother lived she worked diligently to stop me from it. According to her, the arts are filled with phonies who maliciously vitiate what their minds are unable to understand and so build pernicious laws for humanity. There are many who, condemned by these laws, have perished in the abysses of the Hekla2. My mother never mentioned the name of my father, but she told me that he was a fisherman who died at the ripe old age of 150 years (when I was three), and they were on the seventieth year of their marriage.
In the days of my early childhood, my mother used to take me by the hand, and sometimes over her shoulders, to the slopes of Mount Hekla. These trips took place especially around Saint John’s day, when the Sun is visible for 24 hours and there is no night. After picking up some herbs and practicing her rites, she used to cook them at home. Then she filled small bags of goatskin and transported them to a nearby port to sell them to the captains of the ships. Thus she earned her living and mine.
On one occasion, out of pure curiosity, I cut a bag to see its insides. My mother was about to sell it, unsuspecting, when the herbs and some fabrics embroidered with various symbols fell from within. As I had deprived her of our source of income, rather than the bag I myself became the property of the marine and so she kept her money. The next day he sailed by surprise and with favorable wind turned to Bergen in Norway. Within a few days, the North wind rose and the captain directed the boat towards Denmark, sailing between Norway and England, since he should deliver a letter from an Icelandic Bishop to the Dane Tycho Brahe, who lived on the island of Hven. The swaying of the ship and the unusual warmth in the air made me sick, since I was just a fourteen year old lad. When the ship made landfall, the Captain put me and the letter in the hands of a fisherman from the island and, after expressing his desire to return, he set sail again.
As soon as I gave Brahe the letter, he became very happy and started posing me various questions, which I didn’t understand since I did not know their language, with the exception of some words. Accordingly, he instructed his students, who he sustained in large numbers, to mingle with me. Thus, thanks to the generosity of Brahe and a few weeks of practice, I began to speak Danish tolerably well. I was prepared to speak no less than they were to ask, since I wondered about many unusual things and they questioned me about the news that I told them about my country.
Finally, the marine returned to pick me up, but Brahe did not allow him, which made me extremely happy.
At that time I indulged in astronomical exercises in an extraordinary degree. At night Brahe and his students were engaged in the study of the Moon and the stars using wonderful instruments. This practice brought me my mother back, at least in my mind, since she also used to discuss with the Moon. By this stream of events, although I was considered close to a barbarian because of my place of birth and destitute circumstances, I came to the knowledge of the most divine of the sciences, a fact which paved the way for my greatest achievements.
After several years of living on this island of Hveen, I finally desired to return to my native land. Because of the science that I had acquired, I assumed that it would not be difficult for me to get some degree of honor in my own nation of unskilled men. I asked and got permission from my patron to leave, I said goodbye to him and arrived at Copenhagen. My fellow travelers freely took me under their protection due to my familiarity with their language and country. I had returned home, five years later.
The first source of joy was to find that my mother was still alive and carrying on with the same occupations as before. Seeing me alive and important put an end to her continuous greeving for having abandoned her son in a fit of anger. Autumn was approaching, followed by those long nights of ours, since during the month of the birth of Christ the Sun appears just a bit at noon, only to immediately hide again from our view. My mother was always with me now that she was free of work and would not ever leave me, no matter where I went. Due to the letters of recommendation I was bearing, I was questioned on the lands I had visited and even on issues relating to the heavens. My mother took pleasure in comparing the degree of knowledge that I had accumulated with what she herself had discovered as true and said that she could now die, since she was leaving behind a heir to all that science which was everything she had.
I had, by nature, a real thirst to learn new things. So I questioned my mother about her art and which teachers in the country stood out above the rest. Then, on a certain day, when she finally desired to talk, she let me know everything she knew, from the beginning:
“Duracotus, my child, knowledge is available not only in those regions where you traveled to but also in our own homeland. You made me understand the charm of other regions. But even if cold, darkness and other discomforts I now feel that oppress us, in our country there are still many people with talent. Among us there are spirits who reject the greater light of other regions and the noisy chatter of their men and who seek among our shaded areas for chatting intimately with us. Of these spirits, nine were the most outstanding. Particularly one of these, of the most gentle and innocent kind, was known to me. This spirit was evoked by 21 characters. Often, in a fraction of a second, I was sent by his power to other shores that I selected. If I was kept away from certain places due to the distance, I made up for this by questioning him about those places as if we were there. Many of the things you saw with your own eyes or hear say or absorbed from your books, he told them to me as you yourself have done. I wish to take you, in particular, to visit a region about which he has spoken to meso often, one filled with very notable things”. The name my mother mentioned was “Levania”.
I hastily agreed that she should summon her great teacher. I sat down, ready to listen to both the travel plan and the description of the region. Spring had already reached our region. The Crescent began to shine as soon as the Sun hid under the horizon, joining the planet Saturn in the sign of Taurus. My mother went away from me to the nearest crossroad and screamed, uttering a few words and setting her request. Later, she completed the ceremony, returned and demanded silence with the palm of her right hand extended, and sat close to me. Hardly had we tucked our heads under a cloth (as it was customary) when a raspy and unrecognizable voice arose, which immediately began to speak in this way in the Icelandic language.
The demon of Levania
“50,000 German miles up in the ether lies the island of Levania. The passage to this island from our land, and vice versa, is rarely open, but when it is accessible, it is easy for our kind. However, the transport of men is difficult and dangerous for their lifes. We do not accept men who are sedentary, corpulent or whimsical in our expeditions. Rather, we prefer those who dedicate their time to ride a fast horse with persistence or those who frequently sail to the Indies, who are accustomed to survive two times a day only by means of bread, garlic, dried fish and other unpleasant dishes. There are lean elderly women who are particularly suited for our purpose. The reason for this is well known: from early childhood they are used to ride male goats, tridents, and to travel through the vast extension of the land. Although Germans are not suitable, we do not reject the firm bodies of the Spaniards.
The tour, though it may be far away, is completed in only four hours. We are always very busy and agree not to leave until the Moon starts its eclipse in its easternmost sector. If the Moon becomes full while we’re still on track, our journey back becomes impossible. Since the time is so short, we only take a few humans and only those who are most devoted to us. We choose a few of these men, and after forming a group with them, we push them up toward the heights. The initial shock is the worst part for them, since they are launched upward as if by a gunpowder explosion and they fly over mountains and seas. Therefore, they must be drugged with narcotics and opioids before the flight. In addition, their limbs must be carefully protected so that the trunk is not separated from the buttocks, or the head from the body, thus ensuring that the recoil expands equally through each limb. Then new challenges arise: the intense cold and the deterioration of the breathing. The cold is relieved thanks to a natural power in us; breathing is by placing soaked sponges in their nostrils. Once the first section of the crossing has been completed, our trip becomes easier. We expose them freely to the air and remove our hands. All of them wrapped around themselves, as spiders, form balls that we almost entirely guide by our own will, so that their masses move freely towards their place of arrival. But this movement is of little use to us, since it is too late. This is why we speed up by gravity and go ahead of the bodies of men, lest by a very strong impact on the Moon they could suffer some damage. When the humans awake, they usually complain that all of their limbs suffer an ineffable lassitude, which, however, goes away completely when the effect of the drugs disappears and they can thus return to walking.
Many other difficulties arise during the trip, which would take too long to list. On the other hand, nothing bad happens to us. Since as a group we live in the shadows of the Earth, no matter how long they be, when these men arrive at Levania, here we are, as if we disembarked from a ship to Earth. After that, we retire quickly to caves and shady places so that the Sun does not expire while we are on open spaces and obliges us to follow the shadows on its withdrawal. That grants us time for our leisure and to follow our inclinations. We consulted the demons of the province, and formed a League. Whenever there is a space with shade, we unite our ranks and go there. And if shadow strikes Earth with its sharp tip, which often happens, we drag our feet on that land along with our colleagues. This is permitted to us only when men are witnesses of a solar eclipse. This shows that eclipses of the Sun are to be feared.
I have already said enough about the trip to Levania. I will now speak about the form of the Province itself, beginning, as geographers usually do, with their vision of the sky.
The fixed stars look the same in Levania as on Earth. But the movements and sizes of the planets are very different from those we see from it, so all their astronomy is diverse.
Much like geographers divide the globe into five zones, according to the celestial phenomena, Levania is divided into two hemispheres. One of them, the Subvolvian, always enjoys their Volva, which for them is like our Moon. Another, the Privolvian, is completely deprived from any view of the Volva. The circle that divides both hemispheres, comparable to the colure of the solstices, passes through the celestial Poles and is called the Splitter.
I will first explain what is common to both hemispheres.
All Levania is subject to the same succession of day and night, like the Earth, but it lacks other changes during the year. Throughout Levania days are almost equal to nights, except for the fact that for the Privolvian hemisphere day is shorter than night, while in the Subvolvian day is longer. What is altered in an eight-year cycle will be mentioned later. In order to produce the same nights at both Poles, the Sun is hidden during half of the time, while during the other half it shines, on its trip in a circle around the mountains. Levania appears still to its inhabitants, no less than our land seems to us. One of our months equals one of their nights and one day. When the Sun is going to rise, early in the morning, a new zodiac sign appears. For us, the Sun turns 365 times in a year and the orbits of the fixed stars 336 times; or more precisely, in four years the Sun turns 1461 times and the orbits of the fixed stars 1465. For them, in a year the Sun rotates around them 12 times and the sphere of the fixed stars 13; or more precisely, in 8 years the Sun completes 99 laps and the fixed stars 107 orbits. But they are more familiar with a cycle of 19 years, for in this amount of years, the Sun rises 235 times and the fixed stars 254 times.
The Sun rises in the inner and central parts of the Subvolva when the last quarter of the Moon is visible for us; then, in the middle parts of the Privolva when the first quarter is visible for us. What I say about the middle parts must be understood by applying semicircles through the Poles, with the Center at right angles with the Splitter. We can call them the Medivolvian semicircles.
The intermediate circle between the Poles, which produces the same effect as the Equator of the Earth, will be called by the same name. It cuts the Splitter in equal parts and the Medivolva at opposite points. The Sun passes above some places in the Equator in two opposite days of the year, precisely at noon. For all those who live on both sides of the Equator, the Sun deviates from the zenith at noon.
On Levania there is some variation between summer and winter, but one should not compare them with the Earth´s, nor do they always occur in the same place at the same time. Over a period of ten years their summer changes from one part of the sideral year to the opposite side. The reason is that in a cycle of 19 stellar years and 235 days, summer and winter occur 20 times near the Poles and 40 at the Equator. Each year has 6 summer days and 6 winter days, as our months. This alternation is barely felt around the Equator because the Sun does not deviate to the sides more than 5 degrees. On the other hand, it is much more felt at the Poles and in those places that enjoy or miss the Sun alternately at intervals of six months, as some places do on Earth. The globe of Levania is also divided into five areas corresponding, to some extent, to our Earth´s areas, with the exception that the torrid and frigid zones encompass just 10 degrees each. The remainder is equivalent to our temperate zone. The tropical zone goes through the center of each hemisphere, half of its length through the Subvolva and the other half through the Privolva.
The intersection of Equatorial and zodiacal circles creates four corners, as our equinoxes and solstices. These sections give birth to the zodiacal circle. But, from the beginning, the movement of the fixed stars is very fast, twenty tropical years (defined as a summer and a winter). For us, the fixed stars go through the full Zodiac every 26,000 years. So far, this is what concerns the first movement.
The theory of secondary movements is no less diferent for them than it is for us, while it is much more intricate. The reason is that in addition to the many irregularities shown by the six planets (Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, the Sun, Venus and Mercury), they witness three more. Two of them are in length; one daily, the second in a period of 8 and 1/2 years, the third of latitude in a 19 year cycle. For the middle Privolvians see the Sun larger at noon than when it rises, while the Subvolvians see it smaller than upon rising. Both believe that the Sun inclines towards the Subvolva for a few minutes, back and forth from the ecliptic and then among the fixed stars. These oscillations, as I have already said, go back to the starting point in a period of 19 years. Even so, this variation takes more time in the Privolva and somewhat less in the Subvolva. And although it is assumed that the Sun and the fixed stars advance evenly around Levania in its first movement, the Sun hardly moves in relation to the stars for the Privolva at noon while it appears very fast for the Subvolva, while the opposite is true for midnight. As a result, the Sun seems to give daily jumps among the stars.
The same is true in the case of Venus, Mercury and Mars; these phenomena are almost imperceptible for Jupiter and Saturn.
In addition, the daily movement is not uniform every day at similar hours. On the contrary, it is sometimes slower not only for the Sun but also for the fixed stars and it becomes faster in the opposite part of the year at the same time. Moreover, this delay changes during the year, in such a manner that it now takes place on a summer’s day and then on a winter´s, completing the cycle in a period of less than nine years. Hence, the day becomes sometimes longer than the night (because of a natural slowness, not - as it is the case on Earth - by an uneven section of the orbit on a calendar day) and sometimes the night becomes longer.
But if the delay lies above the Privolva during the night, its excess on the day is increased; If, on the other hand, it happens during the day, then night and day are more evenly matched, something that only happens completely once every 9 years. And the opposite is true for the Subvolva.
So far for the common characteristics to both hemispheres.
The Privolvian hemisphere
With regard to each hemisphere separately there is a great contrast between them. By its presence or absence, the Volva gives rise to very dissimilar spectacles. And not only that, but rather common phenomena differ greatly here and there in their effects. As a result, one could perhaps more correctly call the Privolvian hemisphere intemperate and the Subvolvian temperate. The night of the Privolvians lasts for 15 or 16 of our days, terrible for its endless shadows, just like our nights with no Moon. Not even the rays of the Volva cast their light upon them. For this reason everything becomes rigid ice, spray and is subject to the most powerful and fearsome winds. Then follows the day, long as 14 of our days, or a little less. During this time the Sun appears quite large and moves slowly with respect to the fixed stars. There are no winds. As a result, the heat becomes unbearable. Thus, for the space of one of our months or a day of Levania, one same place is exposed to a heat 15 times higher than that of Africa and a cold more unbearable than that of the Quivira3.
It should especially be noted that the planet Mars is sometimes seen as almost twice as large of what we see it; this happens for those who live in the central parts of the Privolva at midnight and for the rest at the beginning of their own night.
The Subvolvian hemisphere
As we move onto this hemisphere, I will start with their frontiermen, those who inhabit the dividing circle. Particular to them is the fact that the observed digressions of Venus and Mercury with respect to the Sun seem to them much greater than to us. Venus appears to them at certain times as double or greater than our vision of it, especially to those who live near the North Pole.
But the most pleasant of all the visions in Levania is the contemplation of the Volva. They enjoy the view of the Volva instead of our Moon, of which both the Privolvians and themselves completely lack. Due to the perennial presence of the Volva, this region is called Subvolva, as the other one is called Privolva because it has been deprived of its view of the same.
When our Moon rises full and travels over houses and distant mountains, the inhabitants of the Earth see it as the circle of a large wooden barrel. When it rises to the middle of the sky, it brings to mind something resembling the shape of a human face. But for the Subvolvians their Volva, when it occupies the middle of the sky (the Volva takes this position for those who live in the center of this hemisphere) acquires a diameter slightly less than four times more that of our Moon, so if we make a comparison between these discs, the surface of the Volva is fifteen times greater than our Moon. For those for whom the Volva continually rubs the horizon, it appears in the form of a distant burning mountain.
Just as we tell apart our regions by means of their higher or lower elevations in relation to the Pole, although we do not necessarily see the Pole with our own eyes, so the altitude of this ever-present Volva meets the same need for them, since it is always visible and varies in altitude in different places.
While, as I said, the Volva hangs directly over the head of certain of them, everywhere else it seems to have been sucked down, close to the circle of the horizon, and for the remaining regions its altitude differs between the zenith and horizon and always remains constant.
Even so, the Subvolvians have their own Poles that are not among the fixed stars, where we have the Poles in our world, but around other fixed stars which to us point to the Poles of the ecliptics. In 19 lunar years these Poles cross small circles around the Poles of the ecliptic in the constellation of Draco and their opposites, Xiphias [Golden] and Paser [Piscis Austrinus] and the Great Nebula. Since these Poles are approximately to a quadrant of the Volva, their regions can be classified according to the Poles and in relation to the Volva, resulting in an obvious advantage for them over us in this respect. For they indicate places in relation to their stationary Volva and latitude both by their Volva and the Poles. This is different for us because there is no way to get our lengths except by the servile tilting of a hardly distinguishable magnetic needle.
The Volva of the Subvolvians remains stationary as if united with a nail to the heavens. Above it, other celestial bodies and the Sun itself cross from East to West. There is no night in which none of the fixed stars in the Zodiac will not hide behind this Volva and once again emerge in the opposite region. Although not the same fixed stars do it every night, all those stars who are at a distance of 6 or 7 degrees from the ecliptic also take turns in this task. In 19 years, the entire circuit is completed and each one of them is brought back to its original position.
The Volva also doesn´t increase more or less than our Moon. The same cause exists for both cases: the presence of the Sun or its departure. Its duration is also the same according to nature, but the Subvolvians and we measure it by different methods. The Subvolvians consider that a day and a night is the span of time during which all increases and decreases of the Volva are completed. We call this space of time a month. The Volva is rarely hidden from the Subvolvians even in new Volva because of its size and brightness, and even more so in the case of the polar inhabitants lacking the Sun at that time. For them, the Volva rotates its horns upwards at noon, in the Intervolvian period. In general, for those who live between the Volva and the Poles below the Medivolvian circle, the new Volva is the signal of noon, the first quarter of night, the full Volva of midnight and the last quarter brings the Sun back. Those who observe the Volva and the Poles located on the horizon live at the intersection of the Equator with the Splitter, and their morning and evening come with full Volva and their noon or midnight with the quarters. From these observations we can draw conclusions about those who live among these places described above.
The Subvolvians distinguish the hours of the day by means of these and other phases of the Volva so, for example, the closer they are to the Sun and the Volva, the nearest noon is for the Medivolvians and night or Sunset for those who live close to the Equator. The Subvolvians are much better equipped than we are to measure periods of night, which regularly lasts 14 hours, since in addition to that sequence of phases of the Volva, whose full Volva marks the middle of the night for the Medivolva, the Volva itself serves them to distinguish the hours. Although the Volva seems in no way to change of place, contrary to our Moon it rotates and shows a surprising amount of marks and points that are constantly changing from East to West. When one of these marks returns after one of these revolutions, the Subvolvians consider that they spent an hour, equivalent to a little more than one of our days and nights. This is the only uniform measure of time since, as we have indicated previously, the Sun and the stars rotate daily around these lunar inhabitants in an irregular manner. This lack of uniformity is clearly revealed by the rotation of the Volva when compared with the distances of the stars to the Moon.
The upper section of the North Volva seems to have two halves; that is, one that is rather hidden, as if it were covered with continuous marks and the other somewhat more clear, interpenetrated by a bright belt up North that serves as a dividing line of the two. The dark half is hard to explain, however in its easternmost section we perceive something as the front of a human head cut off by the shoulders, bending to kiss a girl dressed in a long robe while the arm is extended backwards to try to capture a jumping cat. The wider and larger part is projected to the West without a recognizable form. In the other half of the Volva, brightness extends more widely than the mark itself. It could be described as the image of a bell hanging from a rope and swaying towards the West. The upper and lower parts cannot be compared to anything.
Besides distinguishing the hours of the day of the Subvolvians in this way, the Volva gives them clear indications of the seasons of the year if proper attention is paid, or if recognition of the fixed stars is unknown to the observer. Even when the Sun passes through Cancer, the Volva clearly indicates the North Pole of its rotation. There is a small dark spot above the image of the girl, above the bright area. From the highest and most remote part of the Volva this point will move to the East; and from there, as it descends on the disc, it moves westward. The marks withdraw once again from the last position towards the East, towards the top of the Volva and thus always remain visible. But when the Sun enters Capricorn, this place cannot be seen since the entire circle with its Pole is hidden behind the body of the Volva. During these two periods of the year the points move linearly to the West. During intermediate periods of Aries or Libra these points sink across or climb in a crooked line. This fact shows us that while the center of the Volva remains at rest, the Poles of this rotation evolve in an Arctic circle around the Poles of the Lunar inhabitants once a year.
The most diligent observers are also aware that the Volva is not always the same size. During the hours of the day in which the heavenly bodies move quickly, the diameter of the Volva is much bigger, clearly four times larger than our Moon.
What can I say now about the eclipses of the Sun and the Volva? Levania´s eclipses occur at the same time that eclipses of the Sun and the Moon are seen here on Earth, but obviously for opposite reasons. When we see a total eclipse of the Sun, their Volva is overshadowed and in the same time, when our Moon is eclipsed, the Sun is eclipsed for them. Even so, this correspondence is not absolute. They often see partial Sun eclipses when a part of the Moon is hidden to us. And on the contrary, they are often exempt from eclipses of the Volva when we have partial eclipses of the Sun. They have eclipses of the Volva in full Volva as well as we have our Moon eclipses in full Moon; they have new Volva eclipses of Sun as we have ours in new Moon. Since they have long days and nights, they experience more frequent eclipses of both celestial bodies. And as well as a large number of our eclipses occur in our antipodes, their antipodes, since they are Privolvians, are not witness to any of them, while the Subvolvians see them all.
The Subvolvians never see a total eclipse of the Volva, but a small point, reddish-brown in its outline and dark in the center, crosses over them through the body of the Volva. This small spot makes its entrance in the eastern section of the Volva and disappears through the western edge, just as the natural points of the Volva, but surpassing them in haste. Its duration is extended to one-sixth of their hours or four of ours.
The cause of their solar eclipses is the Volva, as our Moon is the cause of ours. This phenomenon is inevitable, taking into account that the Volva measures four times more than the Sun. While the Sun crosses from East through the South beyond the Volva, on its journey to the West, it often remains hidden behind the body of the Volva. Although such disappearance is frequent, it is equally remarkable that it lasts several hours and both the Sun and the Volva are among the shadows at the same time. This is a great spectacle for the Subvolvians, whose usual nights are not much darker than their days, due to the brightness and magnitude of their omnipresent Volva, while during the eclipse of the Sun both celestial bodies, the Sun and the Volva, remain hidden.
Even so, their eclipses of the Sun have the following peculiar feature. It frequently occurs that as soon as the Volva is hidden behind the Sun, a brightness rises on the opposite side, as if the Sun had expanded and embraced the whole body of the Volva when, at other times, the Sun seems much less voluminous than she. Therefore, complete darkness does not always ensue, until the centers of the bodies coincide closely and the condition of the half-transparent medium is adequate. Nor, on the other hand, does the Volva disappear suddenly so that it can not be discerned at all, although the Sun sets completely behind it; the only exception occurs at the intermediate time of a total eclipse. At the beginning of such an eclipse, however, the Volva continues to be white in some sections of the Splitter, as if it were a coal once the flame has been extinguished. After this whiteness disappears, the midpoint of the total eclipse has been reached (since it only disappears completely during this type of eclipse). When the whiteness of the Volva returns (in opposite places of the Splitter of the circle), the Sun is closer to be seen. Thus, both bodies disappear in the middle of the total eclipse.
So far the phenomena that happen in the two hemispheres of Levania: the Subvolvian and the Privolvian. From these considerations it is not difficult to give an opinion, without my saying anything, on how the Subvolvians and the Privolvians differ in many respects.
A Subvolvian night, even if it lasts 14 of our nights, lights up the surface and protects it from the cold by the presence of the Volva. A large mass like that, with so much glitter, cannot but keep the surface hot.
And on the other hand, although the Subvolvian has the annoying presence of the Sun along 15 or 16 of our days and nights, their Sun is smaller and does not have as much strength. The united luminaries attract all the water to this hemisphere until the surface has been completely covered, so very little of it stands out. On the contrary, when the water has been removed from the Privolvian hemisphere, it becomes dry and cold. However, when the night begins for the Subvolvians and the day for the Privolvians, the celestial bodies are divided between both hemispheres, and thus water is divided; the Subvolvian fields dry up while water brings some rest from the heat for the Privolvians.
The whole of Levania extends no more than 1,400 German miles in circumference, a quarter of our Earth. It has very high mountains, very deep and wide valleys and consequently it is not comparable to our Earth for its perfect roundness. The entire surface is porous, as if bored through hollow caverns and caves, especially frequent throughout the Privolvian hemisphere. These hollow places are the main way for Privolvians to protect themselves against the heat and cold.
Everything that springs from their land or treads on it is of a monstrous size. Increases in size are very fast. Life is short because all living things are huge body masses. The Privolvians have no fixed dwelling or home. In the space of a single day, they go across all of their world in hordes, following their receding waters using their legs, which are longer than a camel´s, or by means of wings or boats. Should a delay of several days be necessary, they creep through the caves depending on the nature of each of them. Most of them are divers and they all breathe very slowly. They can take refuge in the bottom of the deep waters, combining nature with art. It is said that those who are in the depths of the water stand the cold, while the surface waves are steaming by the action of the Sun. Those that remain on the surface are boiled by the midday Sun and serve as food for the hordes of errant settlers. In general, the Subvolvian hemisphere can be compared to our cantons, towns and gardens while the Privolvian is similar to our fields, forests and deserts. Those for whom breathing is essential take refuge in caves whose water supply is guaranteed by narrow chanels that allow water to be cooled gradually during its long-distance voyage, and they use it for drinking; but when night comes, they go out for food. The bark of the trees, the skin of living beings, or anything else which takes its place, occupy most of their corporeal mass and it is porous and spongy. If any being is surprised by the heat of day, its skin becomes hard and scorched and falls during the night. Everything that springs out from the soil, on the mountain tops, grows and dies on the same day, making daily space for it to be replaced by new beings.
In general, a serpentine nature is predominant. In a wonderful way they expose themselves to the Sun at noon, but always near the mouths of their caves, so that they can retreat quickly and safely.
For some, the courage they have exhausted and the life that they have lost by the heat of the day comes back again in the evening, in an opposite pattern to that which flies show here on Earth. Here and there are scattered masses in the shape of pine cones. Their barks are fried by the Sun during the day, but at night, when, so to say, they unfold their secrets, a multitude of living things come out of the hiding place they provide.
In the Subvolvian hemisphere, the clouds and storms are a special form of relief from the heat that often take over half or more of the region”.
When I got to this part of my dream, the wind rose with a noisy rain that disrupted my rest and, in the same time, deleted the end of one of the last books that I brought from Frankfurt. Therefore, leaving behind the Demon, the speaker, and Duracotus, the son, with his mother Fiolxhilda, the listeners, at the point in which their heads had been covered, I returned to my senses, only to find that my head was on a pad and my body wrapped in a blanket.
(Endnotes)
1 Frankfurt´s book fair.
2 Iceland´s biggest volcano.
3 Central Kansas
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| December 15, 2022 | Created by unbanboooks | Added new book. |