After that, the fairy never appeared
except when he was at school: but long after, when I was looking in
a lumber-room with my brother for some mislaid toys, I found in a
box the mask of Abracadabra and the horn. I put it hurriedly on,
and blew a blast on the horn, which seemed to be of tortoise-shell
with metal fittings. To my amazement, he turned perfectly white,
covered his face with his hands, and burst out with the most
dreadful moans. I thought at first that he was making believe to be
frightened, but I saw in a minute or two that he had quite lost
control of himself, and the things were hurriedly put away. At the
time I thought it a silly kind of affectation. But I perceive now
that he had had a real shock the first time he had seen the mask;
and though he was then a big schoolboy, the terror was indelible.
Who can say of what old inheritance of fear that horror of the
great ape-like countenance was the sign? He had no associations of
fear with apes, but it must have been, I think, some dim old
primeval terror, dating from some ancestral encounter with a forest
monster.
Pages:
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48