METROPOLIS a hill, below us. You shall carry me and I shall know: You carry me as high as I wish...."
He stopped, closing his eyes. The shudder which ran through him was imparted, a thrill, to the silent machine. "But perhaps," he continued, without raising his voice. "perhaps you notice. you, my beloved creation. that you are no longer my only love. Nothing on earth is more vengeful than the jealousy of a machine which beHeves itself to be neglected. Yes, I know that. . . . You are imperious mistresses. ... 'Thou shalt have nODe other Gods but me." . . . Am I right? A thought apart from you-you feel it at once and become perverse. How could I keep it hidden from you
that all my thoughts are not with you. I can't help it, my creation. I was beWitched, machine. I press my forehead upon you and my forehead longs for the knees of the girl of whom I do not even know the name. .. :'
He ceased and held his breath. He raised his head and listened. Hundreds and thousands of times had he heard that same sound in the city. But hundreds and thousands of time, it seemed to him, he had not comprehended it. It was an immeasurably glorious and transporting sound. As deep and rumbling as, and more power~l than, any sound on earth. The voice of the ocean when it is angry, the voice of falling torrents, the voice of very close thunderstorms would be miserably drowned in this· Behemoth-din. Without being shrill it penetrated all walls, and, as long as it lasted, all things seemed to swing in it. It was omnipresent, coming from the heights and from the depths, being beautiful and horrible, being an irresistible command. It was high above -the town. It was the voice of the town. Metropolis raised her voice. The machines of Metropolis roared; tlley wanted to be fed. Freder pushed open the glass doors. He felt· them tremble like strings under strokes of the bow. He stepped out on to the narrow gallery which ran around this, almost the highest house of Metropolis. The roaring sound received" him, eoveloped him, never coming to an end.
17
