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The Chamois Quotes

“the sportsman-fanatic—that is another matter entirely. His thoughts fixed solely on a vision of that mounted trophy”

“this man hunts his quarry through some instinct unknown even to himself”

“a desire, so I told myself, to destroy something beautiful and rare”

“all this has led to a general trampling and desecration of land once sacred to the chamois”

“He is the shyest of all creatures. He shuns human beings, and does not mix with other deer.”

“his note of warning is a curious shrill whistle; and the first hint of danger will send him headlong”

“This, according to Stephen, is the moment to catch him; this is when he falls a prey”

“follows the little herd of does and yearlings, the secretive shy mothers who have no need of him until now; and then blood answers blood, the chase begins, the wild scamper”

“For he is black in winter, the adult chamois buck: the reddish-yellow summer coat has gone”

“When Stephen talked about stalking chamois his whole expression changed. The features became more aquiline, the nose sharpened, the chin narrowed, and his eyes—steel blue—somehow took on the cold brilliance of a northern sky.”

“I am being very frank about my husband. He attracted me at those times, and he repelled me too.”

“after a few weeks in his company I shut my eyes to further judgment, because being with him gave me pleasure”

“The perfectionist, admired by other women, now sought me. Marriage was in every sense a coup. It was only afterwards that I knew myself deceived.”

“Those early days would make a book, and it may get written one day, but not now”

“I watched his back, and the powerful shoulders. He looked taller than his six feet two inches because of his build”

“wondered straight away how he could sit at peace there, of an evening, with the row of heads staring down”

“Foolishly, I had asked, “Why only chamois?”

He answered at once, “They fear Man.”

“instead he changed the subject abruptly, put on a Sibelius record, and presently made love to me, intently but without emotion”

“thought, “We are suited to one another. There will be no demands. Each of us will be self-contained”

“The communion of flesh which brought us together was in reality a chasm, and I despised the bridge we made”

“A smile should be a means of communication. It is not always, though, and it was not with Stephen”

“The smile was secretive, an answer to a question which he put to himself, but without pleasure”

“I knew he was standing there, looking up at the chamois trophies on the wall. There were twenty altogether, including three does and two kids shot in error.”

“As I said before, chamois are scarce these days. They retreat more and more to the inaccessible crags.”

“for stalking you must know your territory, and your host too, for these matters are not easily arranged”

“This was a killer’s smile, obeying an impulse deep within himself”

“I thought for a moment that he would hit me. The look of terror—and it was terror, swiftly and indecently unmasked—came and went”

“to be replaced by anger, the cold anger of a man caught off guard”

“I did the irritating, wifely thing of tidying”

“Use people, whenever you can, as a means to an end. This was one of Stephen’s maxims.”

“as we stared down on Corinth bathed in the afterglow of sunset;”

“the airport—at the time I speak of—was like a casual provincial station, with attendants in shirtsleeves smiling, handling passports”

“I liked my husband’s company when traveling. He never fussed, tickets were not mislaid, and he left me to sort impressions for myself.”

“But later, over a drink or at dinner, we would find we had usually noticed the same points of beauty or interest. This thread of appreciation was one of our few links.”

“his name was inevitably George”

“Later, when we returned from the Pindus, if we had the time, said Stephen, but meanwhile one certainty alone lay ahead of us”

“I can remember still the look of bewilderment on the face of young John Evans, an expert on Byzantine churches; and even Burns, who knew something of Stephen’s vagaries, was shocked”

“basked for the one evening allowed to me”

“This, I thought to myself, has been happening through the centuries under this same sky, in the warm air with a bite to it, the sap drink pungent as the sap running through the veins of these Greeks, witty and cynical as Aristophanes himself”

“the shadow, unmoved, inviolate, of Athene’s Parthenon”

“Let’s give it a miss until tomorrow. I want to see the Parthenon by moonlight.”

“My companions were all intelligent men, including my own husband, and they had the sense to stay mute”

“It had never happened to me before. Your sunset-weepers I despise.”

“The half-circle put me in mind of the labrys, the Cretan double-axe, and the pillars were the more ghostly in consequence”

“if he could see the ruddy glow of color, the painted eyes, the garish lips, the orange-reds and blues that were there once, and Athene herself a giantess”

“that same surge of life, that same bright air, the crowded morning streets at once urgent and indolent”

“The plains of Thessaly to me spelled armies of the past, to my husband the narrowing of distance between us and the chamois”

“Somewhere, among that misty range, snow-capped and hidden from us, would be Olympus, stronghold of the gods. Not for us, alas, that ultimate discovery.”

“Stephen’s smattering of Greek seemed to me well-laced with Italian”

“Stephen was not to be deterred. Means of transport other than a bus must be found”

“ourselves, the ticket-collector, a bearded patriarch, a young boy, the ticket-collector’s brother-in-law, who happened to be passing by—all gesturing, arguing in high excitement”

“went to a café to celebrate, and while we pledged each other in coffee dregs and ouzo the nephew’s car was driven”

“the walleye gave him confidence, making him unconscious of danger. It was his left eye, and as we started to climb it was this side of his face that was turned to the precipices.”

“the car’s chassis shakes in protest, and its engine groans as it approaches each fresh bend, and the walleyed chauffeur suddenly seizes the crucifix hanging on the dashboard and kisses it with fervor, in these circumstances climbing a mountain road brings destruction”

“Stephen, on the right side of the car, had only a bank to daunt him, but I, glancing leftwards through the window to the tumbling gorge below, was less happily placed”

“was the long sight of the distant bridge spanning a ravine over which we must in some five minutes cross”

“Our chauffeur switched on his lights. This, more than the kissing of the crucifix, seemed a measure of defeat, for they hardly broke the growing dark.”

“The road wound its way ever upward, and at no place was there a possibility of turning and going back”

“we must go on, naught else remained to do. I shut my eyes.”

“I heard Stephen say beside me, “What’s the matter? Feeling sick?” I could only conclude that, as always, my husband lacked perception.”

“a furious grinding of gears warned me that death was imminent, and, not to miss the experience, I opened my eyes”

“help me unload. We’ll leave them to the explanations.”

“One sniff of that mountain air was like a whiff of alcohol to an addict”

“if Stephen had said to me that we were to start climbing now, on foot, striking off through the trees in darkness in search of chamois, I would have followed him.”

“shaking our hands in true Greek courtesy. Indeed, it might have been every day that a fanatical Englishman in search of the mythical chamois arrived at his store”

“bowing still, he led me up the ladder to the communicating rooms above, and I saw that we must all of us, proprietor, walleyed driver, Stephen and myself, share the pile of blankets for the night”

“to a small, rat-faced man”

“rat-faced man was nodding in great excitement, and then, in fine pantomime, made a pretense of crouching, animal fashion, after which he leaped in the air, to the applause of our walleyed driver”

“the bull, that worried the dog, that killed the cat, that ate the malt… Had we come all this way to the top of the Pindus mountains only to destroy?”

“The men watched in admiration. My status was established. I knew that, without a word from me, those blankets in the room above would be redistributed before the night was older, and the best folded for me”

“The Greeks paid tribute to Gaia before the birth of Zeus”

“Last evening the quarter-moon upon the Parthenon, and now the nearby naked Pindus beeches seven thousand feet closer to the stars. No wind to stir the leaves that yet remained. The sky looked wider than it did at home.”

“I washed in the gully by the road, and once more heard the barking of a dog”

“Someone whistled. The sound was uncanny, heard there on the mountain pass”

“goats, crowded together, bedded for the night, the narrow plateau their pillow”

“dogs stood guardian, one at either end. And motionless, in the midst of his herd, hooded, leaning on his crook, stood their master, staring not at me but at the hills above.”

“I watched them a moment, the man, and the bedded goats, and the sentinel dogs, and they seemed to me remote from the little world”

“To look upon them was intrusion. They belonged elsewhere. Their very stillness put them apart and gave me a strange feeling of disquiet.”

“The change of music woke me. Radio Athens had become an accordion. I opened my eyes, and the rat-faced cook had turned into entertainer”

“His song was melancholy, wild, slav, bred in heaven knows what bald Macedonian vale”

“there was rhythm somewhere, and ferocity as well, and his thin voice like a reed was also the pipe of Pan”

“I noticed we were no longer five, but six. The goatherd from the night had come to join us.”

“They were the strangest eyes I had ever looked upon. Golden brown in color, large and widely set, they stared from his narrow face as though suddenly startled into life.”

“I saw that he was not blind, but on the contrary had a sight keener than most”

“the searching stare impossible to hold”

“An hour’s climb from here. He’ll put us up.”

From the way Stephen spoke, he might have been arranging a week-end with some obliging golfing friend.”

“The honey-colored eyes never moved from Stephen’s face, and his whole body was taut, as though he waited for us to spring”

“The goatherd moved. It was strange, he was by the door. I had not seen him shift”

“The door closed. The goatherd had gone. I had shifted my eyes for the passing of a second, and I had not seen him go.”

“Oh, he’ll wrap himself in his hood out there with the goats.”

“A crack in the planking of my cupboard gave me a view upon a narrow strand of plateau beyond the cabin. I could see a single beech tree, and a star. Beneath the tree stood the hooded figure leaning upon a crook.”

“I listened, every sense alert, for a sound I somehow knew must come. I heard it, finally, more distant than before. Not a bird’s cry, nor a shepherd’s call to his dogs, but more penetrating, more intense; the low whistle”

“He hailed me cheerfully. “Slept like a top,” he said. “How was the cupboard?”

“where the goatherd—his name is Jesus, by the way, but he answers to Zus—has his lair”

“Laughing, he pointed downwards where the road twisted like a snake to the depths beneath”

“His meaning was plain. I would do better to return with him. The thought of the descent was worse than the climb to the unknown.”

“somehow, now that morning had come, now that I could breathe the sharp air and glimpse the great sky, cloudless and blue above the yet golden beech trees, the unknown did not seem to hold much danger”

“he said, “Bang… bang… bang…” rapidly. A chorus of approval came from his fellow-passengers.”

“it was as though our last link with sanity had snapped. I looked up, and saw the goatherd emerging”

“The proprietor and the cook stood waving at the door of the store. It seemed suddenly a home, a long-known refuge”

“As we climbed the trees thinned, the air became purer, sweeter, the range of mountains opened up on either side and above and beyond us, some of them already capped with snow”

“when Stephen lifted the binoculars the goatherd followed their direction, his face impassive, but those honey-colored eyes staring wild and startled”

“It was the expression that was so unusual, so compelling”

“these eyes did not only see, but appeared to listen as well”

“That was the curious thing. Stephen and I were of no account. The goatherd, although our beast of burden, did not listen or watch for us.”

“it was all sun, all sky, and the trees were beneath us, except for one lone blasted pine, lording it over a crisp sheet of recent snow”

“above our heads, dark and formidable, circled our first eagle”

“A dog came bounding over the ridge towards us, and as we topped the rise I saw the goats, spread out and snuffing”

“a hermit-saint or an aesthete could not have picked upon a spot more apt for contemplation or for beauty”

“He was still talking in Italian, believing, by some process of thought peculiar to him, that the language meant more to the goatherd than English could”

“it was disconcerting. The voice was not harsh, as I had expected, but oddly soft, and pitched a little high”

“The dogs, for the second one had now appeared, watched us gravely”

“Frozen, though, was a new thought. Frozen, petrified.”

“The goatherd, silent as ever, waited by a cairn”

“Can you understand a word he says?” I spoke in doubt.

“Sign language is enough,” said Stephen. “Enjoy yourself.”

“I had never felt more alone. I went into the hut to fetch my camera—the panorama was too good to miss”

“The height, the solitude, the bright sun and the scent of the air, these were things I loved”

“I smoked my first cigarette of the day, and watched the eagle. The hot sun made me drowsy, and I was short of sleep.”

“the dog, watching me a few hundred yards away, growled. So did his companion. I called to them and moved towards the hut, and at this the pair of them advanced, snarling.”

“They crouched once more, and as long as I did not move they remained silent. One step, however, brought an instant snarl, and a stealthy lowering of the head”

“I did not fancy being torn to pieces. I sat down again and waited, but, knowing my husband, I was aware that it might be nightfall before he returned. Meanwhile I must remain, marked by the dogs”

“The dogs heard it too. They cocked their heads and stared. The goats rustled in the scrub, surprised, and one old patriarch, bearded to his breast, bleated his disapproval”

“At any rate, he had sighted chamois. He would not have wasted his bullet on other game.”

“Then one of the dogs whined. I saw nothing.”

“His strange eyes stared down at me. Slowly he shook his head. He raised his hand, pointing over his shoulder. He continued to shake his head gently”

“suddenly—fool that I was—I remembered that the Greek “yes,” the affirmation, is always given with this same shake”

“The child’s voice coming from the impassive face said “nei,” and this was repeated, the head still moving slowly”

“He has found them, then?” I said. “There are chamois?” and he reaffirmed his nei, which looked so much like contradiction, and went on staring at me with his great honey-colored eyes, the frozen petrified eyes, until I was seized with a kind of horror, for they did not go with the gentle childish voice”

“I shouted “Stephen!,” for the sound of my voice must carry even as the sound of the rifle shot had done”

“I had no answer.

The world in which I found myself was sparse and bare, and I could see no footprints in the snow in front of me.”

“Now from my vantage point it was as though the whole of Greece was spread beneath me, infinitely far, belonging to another age, another time, and I was indeed at the summit of my world and quite alone”

“but my husband was not with me, nor anyone at all, not even the eagle that had soared above at midday”

“Stephen!” I shouted, my voice flat and feeble against the rock.

I stood and listened. It might be that I should hear a rifle shot again.”

“Any sound would be welcome in such barren solitude. Yet when one came I was shocked out of immobility, for it was no rifle shot, but a whistle.”

“I saw his horns, his questing eyes, his satyr’s face staring down at me, suspicious, curious, and he whistled again, a hiss, a mockery”

“releasing a crumbling stone. Then he was gone—the chamois was gone, my first live chamois—he was away and lost”

“crouching below me, on a narrow lip over a precipice, clinging to the rock-face, his rifle vanished, was a white-faced man who could not speak from fear, my husband, Stephen”

“I could not reach him. That was the horror. I could not reach him.”

“In some extremity he had dropped his rifle. The thing that appalled me most was the terror on his face.”

“Keep your eyes turned to the rock,” I said softly—instinct warned me not to speak too loudly—“edge your way inch by inch. If you got yourself there you must be able to return.”

“Stephen,” I said, “you’ve got to try.”

He tried to speak, but nothing came, and as though to mock us both the lewd warning whistle of the chamois sounded once again.”

“the chamois itself was out of sight on some unattainable fastness”

“if Stephen had had his rifle with him he would not have been afraid. The loss of the rifle had unmanned him. All power, all confidence had gone”

“The man clinging to the rock face was a puppet”

“Please come,” I called gently, “my husband’s in danger.”

He disappeared. A loose stone crumbled and fell past Stephen’s head. I saw my husband’s knuckles turn white under the strain. A moment’s horror suggested that the crumbling of the stone had been intentional, that the goatherd had vanished on purpose”

“seized hold of him as an adult would seize a child, and all the six feet two of my husband’s body was thrown like a sack”

“He was going to throw Stephen into the depths below. I shrank away, my legs turned to jelly, and the next moment the goatherd was back on the track”

“Stephen was sitting hunched on the ground, his face in his hands, rocking from side to side”

“I shut my eyes and waited. It seemed a very long time before I heard Stephen rise”

“Now do you understand?” asked Stephen.

“Understand what?” I asked weakly.

“Why I must shoot chamois.”

“He stood there, defenseless without his rifle; and although he was no longer pale he was somehow shrunke”

“It’s fear, isn’t it?” I said. “Have you always had it?”

“Always,” he answered, “from the very first. It’s something I have to conquer. The chamois gives the greatest chance because he climbs the highest. The more I kill, the more I destroy fear.”

“it whistled at me instead of taking to its heels, and then the giddiness came”

“His confidence was returning; nevertheless, he allowed me to lead him like a child”

“We went into the hut and took a good swig at our flasks. Then we lighted cigarettes and smoked for a while in silence”

“You’ll never tell anyone, will you?” Stephen said suddenly”

“Of course I won’t say anything,” I replied quickly, to reassure him, and after a moment I turned away”

“The fire at the threshold of the hut threw leaping flames into the air.

“Tomorrow,” said Stephen, “I’ll go and find my rifle.”

“His face was set, the face of the man I knew, the old Stephen”

“I wondered how he proposed to get himself down there, knowing his limitations as I did now”

“A last crack at the chamois,” he said.

His fanaticism, instead of cooling, had intensified. He was staring intently into the darkness”

“saw Jesus, the goatherd and his savior, come towards us”

“Kalinykta,” said Stephen.

It was the Greek for good night. And a sign of dismissal. The goatherd paused”

“The hood was thrown further back than it had been, so that the sharp outline of his face was more revealed, and the firelight turned his skin ruddy, the staring eyes bright like live coals”

“worn with the emotion I’d been unable to express”

“I woke, and lit the candle. Stephen was sleeping still. I went to the door of the hut, and saw that the fire had died; not even the ashes glowed.”

“The dogs, the goats, the goatherd had all gone. Silhouetted on the skyline beyond the blasted pine stood a chamois buck, his sharp horns curving backward, his listening head uptilted to the moon, and grazing beneath him, silently, delicately, were the does and the yearling kids.”

“danger shared had brought Stephen and myself together”

“He must have sensed my sympathy, because he talked at breakfast, telling me of adventures in the past, of near escapes”

“could joke at fear his battle was half won”

“Splendid. It’s going to be fine, after that sharp frost. No mist about”

“The zest, the keenness had returned. And what was more, I shared it. I wanted to stalk with him.”

“High in the blue sky soared the eagle of yesterday, or perhaps his fellow”

“life seemed suddenly very good, very full. There was none of the strain that had been with us yesterday. I put it down to sleeping well, to the new bond shared”

“Stephen said, “There it is—look, the sun’s caught the barrel.”

“waved it above his head in triumph.

“I could never have gone home if I’d lost this”

“He handled the rifle with care, still smiling—it was almost a caress the way he stroked it. I watched him, indulgent for the first time in my life.”

“The black speck moved. I touched Stephen’s elbow. “There…”

“He’s there,” he whispered, “he’s there, my buck of yesterday.”

I had not thought Stephen could move so stealthily or so fast”

“seized with a curious enchantment I crawled after him”

“one second it looked like the chamois, and the next like our goatherd, yes, our goatherd. I called to Stephen.”

“Then, shrill, unmistakable, came the whistle of warning, the mocking chamois call.

“Do you still think it isn’t chamois?” said Stephen, and he put his rifle to his shoulder and fired.”

“The black speck leaped and vanished. Loose stones fell upon our heads.

“You’ve missed him,” I said.

“No,” said Stephen, “I’m going after him.”

“He climbed to the left of it, I to the right, and as we made towards the jutting ledge where we had seen the black speck leap, neck and neck on opposite sides of the gully, I knew, with sudden certainty, that we were after different quarry. Stephen was after chamois. I was after Man.”

“Both were symbolic of something abhorrent to our natures, and so held fascination and great fear. We wanted to destroy the thing that shamed us most.”

“My heart was singing as I climbed, and pounding too. It was worth having been born, having lived my span of years for this alone. There had been no other experience. Nothing else compared with the stalk”

“It was he who fled from me, not I from him”

“I could see him now, jumping from rock to rock. How Stephen could mistake him for a chamois, God alone could tell.”

“his shaggy head was like a wavecrest, thick and black. It was glorious. I had no fear of the jutting rocks, and climbed them steadily and surely, with never a slip”

“Silence no longer mattered, for he knew I was after him”

“I’ll get you,” I called, “you can’t escape. You know very well I’ve hunted you all my life.”

“Such savagery and power—I, who hated violence; intoxication, too, and wild delight”

“Lie down,” shouted Stephen, “lie down. I’m going to shoot.”

I remember laughing as the shot rang out. This time Stephen did not miss. The black form crumpled”

“As I hauled myself to the ledge I saw the honey-colored eyes glaze in death. They would never stare at me again.”

“My husband had destroyed the thing that frightened me”

“He’s smaller than I thought,” said Stephen, turning the dead buck over with his feet, “and younger too.”

“He lit a cigarette. I took it from him. Sweat was pouring from both of us. The eagle was still soaring”

“I shan’t carry him back,” said my husband. “I don’t even want his head. That’s my last chamois. Don’t ask me why—I just know it, that’s all. We’ll leave him out here in grandeur, where he belongs.”

“We left the chamois on the ledge of rock under the sky and climbed down again”

“I put out my hand to him for no reason. It was very peaceful, very still, on the quiet mountain.”

“Suddenly Stephen kissed me. Then he put his hand in his pocket, and, bending down, placed two small metal objects in the white ash of the fire.

“We’ll leave the empty cartridges for Jesus,” Stephen said.”

#okay seriously what the fuck #what is wrong with her #her MIND #quotes #the chamois