poor toiler, or his children, to pursue any study whatever. By this
method, in the course of a few hundred years, the valley dwellers lapsed
into ignorant slaves, not knowing, except by tradition, that there were
other people in other parts of Mars. Thus the rich continued to
flourish on all the highlands, for they had extended this same policy
until the toilers of the whole planet were practically galley slaves,
each consigned to his own narrow canon.
After witnessing the wide extent of this slavery system, I appeared in
visible form to a rich dignitary on one of the most refined highlands.
He was alone and, upon raising his eyes and seeing me before him, he was
greatly amazed. To see a little man with a hairy face and with the kind
of clothing I wore, was all too odd for him to take in at once. He acted
as if I were some unheard-of animal, but when I addressed him in his own
tongue and manifested a becomingly meek disposition, he accepted me as a
deformed creature afflicted with a mild form of lunacy. Then he
proceeded to examine my clothing and especially my knees, trying to
solve by what freak of nature I was cursed since I had no lower arms
such as he had. My small face, smooth forehead, and the short straight
hair on my head aroused in him no little wonder and merriment, so that,
all in all, I was the oddest freak he had ever seen. He soon showed by
his manner how thankful he was that gracious nature had formed him so
much more kindly than me.
His questions soon poured out upon me and I answered as briefly and
intelligently as I could. He pressed me so hard as to the place of my
birth that I finally informed him that I came from another world,
whereat he was assured of my insanity and proceeded to fasten me by
force until he might summon certain of his friends. Knowing that all the
people of Mars could do me no ultimate harm and wishing to see what
might be their intentions, I offered very feeble resistance to his
course.
In a very short time there was grouped around me a curious set of
people, all of whom seemed to me so horribly ugly that I felt well
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