456 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, IV
wonder! What had he then to look at with his own eyes !
" All of them have become pious again, they pray, they are insane ! " he said and was extremely aston- ished. And, verily, all these higher men, the two kings, the pope off duty, the evil wizard, the voluntary beggar, the wanderer and shadow, the old fortune- teller, the conscientious one of the spirit, and the ugliest man they were all, like children and faith- ful old women, down on their knees adoring the ass. And that very moment the ugliest man began to gargle and snort, as if something unutterable was about to come forth from him. But when he had actually reached the point of speaking, behold, it was a pious, strange litany in praise of the adored and incense-sprinkled ass. And this litany sounded thus :
" Amen ! And praise and honour and wisdom and thanks and glory and strength be given unto our God, from everlasting unto everlasting ! "
But the ass cried Hee-haw !
" He carrieth our burden, he hath taken the form of a slave, he is patient in his heart, and never saith Nay. And he who loveth his God, chastiseth him."
But the ass cried Hee-haw!
" He speaketh not, unless it be that he for ever saith ' Yea ' unto the world he created. Thus he praiseth his world. His policy it is not to speak. Thus he is rarely declared to be wrong."
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