The crystal egg

There was some time ago in London a very little and dirty-looking antique shop. In its windows one could see many interesting things that had been brought from different countries. There was also, at the moment the story begins, a crystal egg, well polished. And at that two people, who stood at the shop-window, were looking. One of them was a tall Englishman and the other a black-bearded young man of Eastern origin.

While they were there, Mr. Cave, the owner, came back into the shop after his lunch. When he saw these men and the object they were looking at, he became very sad and softly shut the door. He was a little man, with a pale face and watery blue eyes; his hair was dirty and gray and he wore an old blue coat and an old silk hat. He was watching the two men as they talked. The Englishman put his hand into his trouser pocket and took out some money. Then they came into the shop.

The Englishman asked the price of the crystal egg. Mr. Cave looked nervously around and said five pounds. The Englishman said that the price was high. And it was very much more than Mr. Cave was going to ask.

The dark-skinned young man, who had been silent, now spoke. “Give him five pounds,” he said. At these words Mr. Cave’s face went white. “No, no,” he said. “The crystal is not for sale. I have promised it to another man.” A long talk followed in which Mr. Cave’s wife also took part. She wanted very much to sell the crystal egg, but Mr. Cave did not agree with her.

At last it was decided that the two men would come again in two days, but on the following day the crystal egg disappeared from the shop and no one could find it anywhere.

When the two men came again to ask about the crystal egg, they were told about its disappearance and Mr. Cave seemed very sad and gloomy.

But he knew very well where the crystal egg was because he had taken it himself to his friend, Mr. Jeremy Wace, who worked at a hospital.

Mr. Cave had promised to explain to Mr. Wace why he did not want to part with the crystal. He came in the evening and told the following story.

He had got the crystal together with some other things at a sale at half a pound and had put it in the shop-window, but no one bought it for some months and he wanted to make the price lower when suddenly he made a discovery.

It must be said that Mr. Cave was a married man, he had a wife, a stepdaughter and a stepson. His wife was much younger than he, she liked to dress and always needed money. They all treated Mr. Cave very badly and he was very unhappy and in bad health.

One night he could not sleep in his room which was behind the stop. He got up and went into the stop. It was quite dark but in one place he saw a strange light. When he came up to it he saw the crystal egg standing on the corner of the counter near the window closed by a shutter. The light came through a crack in the shutter and fell upon the crystal, it seemed that the egg was full if light. Mr. Cave came nearer to the crystal egg and looked at it with attention. He was surprised to see the light in the egg moving.

Walking around the egg he suddenly found that he had come between it and the ray of light, but the crystal was still full of light. Greatly astonished, he took it out of the light and carried it to the darkest part of the shop. It remained bright for some four or five minutes, then it slowly went out. He placed it in the ray of light and again it seemed full of light.

When the morning came and it was lighter in the shop, the crystal egg lost its light.

From that day Mr. Cave often looked into the crystal egg. He kept it a secret from his family and no one knew about the strange light of the crystal.

One night, turning the crystal in his hands, he saw something. It came and went very quickly, but it seemed to him for a moment that he had seen a wide strange country. Turning the crystal he saw the picture again from the side of the ray.

The picture, as Mr. Cave described it, was every time of a big plain, and he looked at it from a very high tower or a house. To the east and to the west the plain was covered by tall red cliffs, which ran north and south. He could tell the points of the compass by the stars which were seen in the sky. When he first saw this picture the sun was rising over the cliffs. In the sun-light he could see a group of flying forms that looked like birds. Down on the plain stood many buildings. It looked like a city. There were also trees, strange in form and in colouring – a deep green and gray, near a wide and shining canal. The first time Mr. Cave saw the picture his hands shook, his head moved, the picture came and went and grew not clear. At first it was very difficult to find the picture again after he had lost it.

His next clear picture which came about a week after the first, showed him the view down the plain. He was looking at this strange world from a different side. He saw a very large platform and in the middle of it at intervals stood large but very beautiful masts with small shining balls at the top which reflected the setting sun. Under the platform were some trees and a wide grassy lawn and a large basin of water that looked like a river. The air was full of great birds flying about. Across the river there were very many tall buildings of different colours. And suddenly across the picture a face appeared with very large eyes. This face came very near to the face of Mr. Cave and seemed to be on the other side of the crystal. Mr. Cave was so surprised that he looked behind the crystal, but of course there was no one there. His shop was dark and empty.

After the two men came to the shop to buy the crystal, Mr. Cave understood that he did not want to part with his treasure, that is why he brought it to his friend, Mr. Wace. After Mr. Wace had heard this strange story he also wanted to see the wonderful picture. Together the two men made the room dark and putting the blinds on the window in such a way that a ray of light from the street fell on the crystal, they looked attentively at it. Soon the crystal egg was full of light and the two friends saw the same picture, Mr. Wace who studied science made notes of what he could see.

Mr. Wace saw now that the flying forms lived in the buildings, they came down on the ground, put down their wings and entered the houses.

The next thing that he noticed and that was of great interest to both men were the shining balls, which were placed on tops of the masts. Looking upon them Mr. Wace saw that they were also crystals exactly like the one into which he was looking. From time to time one or several of the flying forms sat on the mast and looked into the crystals and that was how Mr. Cave saw the face and eyes of one of them so near.

After thinking long about this strange matter the two men came to the conclusion that they were seeing some other world in the universe. But which world was it? Looking again into the crystal Mr. Wace saw two small moons in the sky; they were like our moon but smaller. One of them moved so quickly, that its movement was clearly seen. This gave Mr. Wace the idea that the world he was looking at was the planet Mars.

All this took place in November and by that time Mr. Cave began to think that no one remembered about his crystal and nobody would come to buy it. He decided to take it back home to his little shop.

In December Mr. Wace had very much work to do at the hospital and for some ten or twelve days he saw nothing of Mr. Cave. Then, when he had some free time, he went to Mr. Cave’s shop.

The door was opened by Mrs. Cave, who was dressed in black. She told the young man that her husband was dead and already buried. Here she began to cry, but could give some details. Her husband was found dead in the little shop one early morning and the crystal egg was in his hand.

When the young man wanted to see the crystal the woman said that it was sold to a tall dark man in gray. Mr. Wace wanted to find this man but nobody knew anything about him, they did not even know which way this person had gone after leaving the shop.

And the crystal egg was lost and nobody ever heard about it since that time.

1. Answer the following questions:

1. Who wanted to buy the crystal?

2. What place did Mr. Cave take the crystal to?

3. What attracted Mr. Cave’s attention one night?

4. Was the sight Mr. Cave saw one night surprising?

5. Did Mr. Wace notice anything unusual in the pictures of the strange world?

6. What conclusion did the two men come to?

7. Why did Mr. Cave take the crystal home?

8. How did Mr. Wace happen not to come to see Mr. Cave for ten days?

9. Whom did he meet when he came to see Mr. Cave?

10. What happened to Mr. Cave?

2. Give a brief summary of the text.