
[1434] perio [place = overwritten] lous too but sweet to him who knows it, who can open to it like the
flower to the sun, who himself is night, day and night.
[1435] No [place = inline] , there is not
much to be said for the night either, but compared to the day there is
much to be saie [place = overwritten] d for it, and notably compared to the morning there is
everything to be said for it.
[1436] For the night purge is in the hands of
technicians, for the most part.
[1437] They do nothing else, the bulk of the
population have no part in it, preferring their warm beds, all things
considered.
[1438] Day is the time for lynching, for sleep is sacred, and
esc [place = overwritten] pecially the morning, between breakfast and lunch.
[1439] My first care
then, after a few miles in the desert dawn, was to look for a place
to sleep, for sleep too is a kind of protection, strange as it may seem.
[1440] For sleep, if it excites the lust to capture, seems to appease the lust
to kill, there and then and bloodily, any hunter will tell you that.
[1441] For the monster on the move, or on the watch, lurking in his lair, there
is no mercy, whereas he taken unawares, in his sleep, may sometimes get
the bn [place = overwritten] enefit of blander [place = supralinear] [⁁]milder feelings, which deflect the barrel, sheathe the
kris.
[1442] For the hunter is weak at heart and sentimental, overflowing with
repressed treasures of mildness [place = supralinear] [⁁]gentleness and compassion.
[1443] And it is thanks to this
sweet sleep of terror or exhaustion that many a foul beast, and worthy
of extermination, can live on till he dies in the peace and quiet of our
zoological gardens, broken only by the innocent laughter, the experienced [place = supralinear] knowing
laughter, of children and their parents [place = supralinear] [⁁]elders, on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
[1444] And I for my part have always preferred slavery to death, I mean being
put to death.
[1445] For death is a condition I have never been able to
conceive to my satisfaction and which therefore cannot go down in the
ledger of good [place = supralinear] [⁁]weal and ill [place = supralinear] [⁁]woe.
[1446] Whereas my notions on putting [place = supralinear] [⁁]being put to death inspired
me with confidence, rightly or wrongly, and I felt I was entitled to act
on them, in certain emergencies.
[1447] Oh they weren't notions like yours,
they were notions like mine, nothing but [place = supralinear] [⁁]all spasm, sweat and trembling,
- Segments
Molloy © 2016 Samuel Beckett Digital Manuscript Project.
Editors: Magessa O'Reilly, Dirk Van Hulle, Pim Verhulst and Vincent Neyt