The Other Side

The Other Side Read Online Free PDF

Book: The Other Side Read Online Free PDF
Author: Alfred Kubin
Tags: Fiction, Literary, General, Fantasy
wife. Women never understand us men. I was already half asleep when I heard her say, ‘Don’t you think you’re perhaps over-estimating the value of our company?’ Wisely, I refrained from replying.
    The clatter of someone alighting told me that we had arrived in Bokhara. The clear light of early dawn. From my pillow I could see turbans and astrakhan hats. Now the train seemed to be going appreciably faster. Some carriages must have been taken off, or a new engine attached. We were due to arrive in Samarkand in the afternoon.
    I stood up, bright and cheerful. The view outside was magnificent. The desert, of which I had seen more than enough, had given way to lush green pasture. Even though it was November it was only just cool. Herds of horses and camels with their skittish young brought movement to the landscape. The thought that I was close to the cradle of humanity kept going through my mind. You could see actual examples of perhaps fifty races, even if not always of the purest extraction. The great trade routes of the ancient world passed through here. Alexander the Great … But that’s enough, I’ve no intention of writing a travel book.
    The excitement brought a flush to my cheeks. Fascinated, I kept leaning out of the window, now on one side, now on the other. And, yes, there! Something was emerging in the distance. A line of buildings stretching along the horizon, minarets, churches–Samarkand! Samarkand! The green and blue glazed tiles threw back the sunlight in a glitter of colour which only intensified the closer we approached. Although I would not admit it openly, I was exhilarated, drunk almost, even if the feeling was still tinged with doubt. Where would the disappointments lie? After all, we were heading into the unknown.

    When the train reached Samarkand I began to sober up. As we alighted and looked round, a man came up to us. A cross between an Armenian and an East Prussian, I would have said.
    ‘Welcome sir–madam. Herr Gautsch advised us of your arrival.’ Accompanied by a bow. His German was fluent.
    ‘Where are we to go?’ I asked, keeping somewhat aloof.
    With another bow, and one to my wife as well, he introduced himself. ‘Kuno Eberhard Teretatian, agent. Have you something to show me?’
    I gave my instinct for race a silent pat on the back and handed the half-caste the case with Patera’s picture. I had been holding it clasped in my hand for the last half hour.
    ‘Thank you. That is sufficient. You have three hours, sir–madam. It is two o’clock now, the convoy starts at five. If I might make the suggestion, you could rest in my apartment and recover from the journey.’
    In the meantime, at a wave several porters, strong as oxen, had loaded our luggage onto a handcart and disappeared with it. We went with Herr Teretatian. He tried to usher us into a carriage, but we refused.
    ‘We’d rather go on foot. How far is it to your apartment?’
    ‘A good half hour, sir.’
    ‘Well let’s get on with it, then.’
    III
    I assume you know what oriental cities look like. Just the same as at home, only oriental. We went this way and that, along streets and across squares, and everywhere we had to push our way through scenes out of the Arabian Nights. After half an hour of this it grew quieter, we seemed to have reached the edge of the city. Our guide stopped outside a house and said, ‘Here we are.’

    He showed us into a room on the ground floor. Our luggage was already there, I could see it in the courtyard. An excellent light meal taken sitting on the thickly carpeted floor of this cheerful room inclined me to a somewhat more favourable view of our host. This second agent of Patera’s was even more polite than the first, almost obsequious.
    ‘Well then, what’s new in the Dream state, Herr Teretatian?’ I inquired good-humouredly from among the figs and grapes.
    ‘Nothing at all. Well, nothing much. The theatre, perhaps, but you’ll have already heard about that, sir, I
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