Cry of the Lynx

A couple of Canada lynxes have some sort of a conversation. I don't speak lynx, but I'd guess they're complaining about gastric distress. (Thanks to Dan for the tip.)



Maybe this is a good time to rerun our video of Edgar Allan Poe's bizarre story "Silence," which culminates with a lynx. 













Silence: A Fable

 

by Edgar Allan Poe








The mountain pinnacles slumber; valleys, crags and caves are
silent.




"Listen to me," said the
Demon as he placed his hand upon my head. "The region of which I speak is
a dreary region in Libya,
by the borders of the river Zaire.
And there is no quiet there, nor silence.




"The waters of the river have
a saffron and sickly hue; and they flow not onwards to the sea, but palpitate
forever and forever beneath the red eye of the sun with a tumultuous and
convulsive motion. For many miles on either side of the river's oozy bed is a
pale desert of gigantic water-lilies. They sigh one unto the other in that
solitude, and stretch towards the heaven their long and ghastly necks, and nod
to and fro their everlasting heads. And there is an indistinct murmur which
cometh out from among them like the rushing of subterrene water. And they sigh
one unto the other.




"But there is a boundary to
their realm--the boundary of the dark, horrible, lofty forest. There, like the
waves about the Hebrides, the low underwood is
agitated continually. But there is no wind throughout the heaven. And the tall
primeval trees rock eternally hither and thither with a crashing and mighty
sound. And from their high summits, one by one, drop everlasting dews. And at
the roots strange poisonous flowers lie writhing in perturbed slumber. And
overhead, with a rustling and loud noise, the gray clouds rush westwardly
forever, until they roll, a cataract, over the fiery wall of the horizon. But
there is no wind throughout the heaven. And by the shores of the river Zaire there is
neither quiet nor silence.




"It was night, and the rain
fell; and falling, it was rain, but, having fallen, it was blood. And I stood
in the morass among the tall and the rain fell upon my head --and the lilies
sighed one unto the other in the solemnity of their desolation.




"And, all at once, the moon
arose through the thin ghastly mist, and was crimson in color. And mine eyes
fell upon a huge gray rock which stood by the shore of the river, and was
lighted by the light of the moon. And the rock was gray, and ghastly, and tall,
--and the rock was gray. Upon its front were characters engraven in the stone;
and I walked through the morass of water-lilies, until I came close unto the
shore, that I might read the characters upon the stone. But I could not
decypher them. And I was going back into the morass, when the moon shone with a
fuller red, and I turned and looked again upon the rock, and upon the
characters;--and the characters were DESOLATION.




"And I looked upwards, and
there stood a man upon the summit of the rock; and I hid myself among the
water-lilies that I might discover the actions of the man. And the man was tall
and stately in form, and was wrapped up from his shoulders to his feet in the
toga of old Rome.
And the outlines of his figure were indistinct--but his features were the
features of a deity; for the mantle of the night, and of the mist, and of the
moon, and of the dew, had left uncovered the features of his face. And his brow
was lofty with thought, and his eye wild with care; and, in the few furrows
upon his cheek I read the fables of sorrow, and weariness, and disgust with
mankind, and a longing after solitude.




"And the man sat upon the
rock, and leaned his head upon his hand, and looked out upon the desolation. He
looked down into the low unquiet shrubbery, and up into the tall primeval
trees, and up higher at the rustling heaven, and into the crimson moon. And I
lay close within shelter of the lilies, and observed the actions of the man.
And the man trembled in the solitude; --but the night waned, and he sat upon
the rock.




"And the man turned his
attention from the heaven, and looked out upon the dreary river Zaire, and upon
the yellow ghastly waters, and upon the pale legions of the water-lilies. And
the man listened to the sighs of the water-lilies, and to the murmur that came
up from among them. And I lay close within my covert and observed the actions
of the man. And the man trembled in the solitude; --but the night waned and he
sat upon the rock.




"Then I went down into the
recesses of the morass, and waded afar in among the wilderness of the lilies,
and called unto the hippopotami which dwelt among the fens in the recesses of
the morass. And the hippopotami heard my call, and came, with the behemoth,
unto the foot of the rock, and roared loudly and fearfully beneath the moon.
And I lay close within my covert and observed the actions of the man. And the
man trembled in the solitude; --but the night waned and he sat upon the rock.




"Then I cursed the elements
with the curse of tumult; and a frightful tempest gathered in the heaven where,
before, there had been no wind. And the heaven became livid with the violence
of the tempest --and the rain beat upon the head of the man --and the floods of
the river came down --and the river was tormented into foam --and the
water-lilies shrieked within their beds --and the forest crumbled before the
wind --and the thunder rolled --and the lightning fell --and the rock rocked to
its foundation. And I lay close within my covert and observed the actions of
the man. And the man trembled in the solitude; --but the night waned and he sat
upon the rock.




"Then I grew angry and cursed,
with the curse of silence, the river, and the lilies, and the wind, and the
forest, and the heaven, and the thunder, and the sighs of the water-lilies. And
they became accursed, and were still. And the moon ceased to totter up its
pathway to heaven --and the thunder died away --and the lightning did not flash
--and the clouds hung motionless --and the waters sunk to their level and
remained --and the trees ceased to rock --and the water-lilies sighed no more
--and the murmur was heard no longer from among them, nor any shadow of sound
throughout the vast illimitable desert. And I looked upon the characters of the
rock, and they were changed; --and the characters were SILENCE.




"And mine eyes fell upon the
countenance of the man, and his countenance was wan with terror. And,
hurriedly, he raised his head from his hand, and stood forth upon the rock and
listened. But there was no voice throughout the vast illimitable desert, and
the characters upon the rock were SILENCE. And the man shuddered, and turned
his face away, and fled afar off, in haste, so that I beheld him no more."




Now there are fine tales in the
volumes of the Magi --in the iron-bound, melancholy volumes of the Magi.
Therein, I say, are glorious histories of the Heaven, and of the Earth, and of
the mighty sea --and of the Genii that over-ruled the sea, and the earth, and
the lofty heaven. There was much lore too in the sayings which were said by the
Sybils; and holy, holy things were heard of old by the dim leaves that trembled
around Dodona --but, as Allah liveth, that fable which the Demon told me as he
sat by my side in the shadow of the tomb, I hold to be the most wonderful of
all! And as the Demon made an end of his story, he fell back within the cavity
of the tomb and laughed. And I could not laugh with the Demon, and he cursed me
because I could not laugh. And the lynx which dwelleth forever in the tomb,
came out therefrom, and lay down at the feet of the Demon, and looked at him
steadily in the face.