Chapter I: Front Matter

THE SILVER STALLION

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BOOKS _by_ MR. CABELL

_Biography_:

BEYOND LIFE
FIGURES OF EARTH
THE SILVER STALLION
DOMNEI
CHIVALRY
JURGEN
THE LINE OF LOVE
THE HIGH PLACE
GALLANTRY
THE CERTAIN HOUR
THE CORDS OF VANITY
FROM THE HIDDEN WAY
THE RIVET IN GRANDFATHER’S NECK
THE EAGLE’S SHADOW
THE CREAM OF THE JEST
STRAWS AND PRAYER-BOOKS

_Scholia_:

THE LINEAGE OF LICHFIELD
TABOO
THE JEWEL MERCHANTS

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JURGEN AND THE LAW
(_Edited by Guy Holt_)

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The Silver Stallion

_A Comedy of Redemption_

by

JAMES BRANCH CABELL

“_Now, the redemption which we as yet
await (continued Imlac), will be that of
Kalki, who will come as a Silver Stallion:
all evils and every sort of folly will perish at
the coming of this Kalki: true righteousness
will be restored, and the minds of men will
be made clear as crystal._”

_Robert M. McBride & Company_
NEW YORK MCMXXVI

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COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY JAMES BRANCH CABELL

FIRST PUBLISHED, 1926

_First Printing, April, 1926_
_Second Printing, April, 1926_
_Third Printing, May, 1926_
_Fourth Printing, May, 1926_

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. BY
QUINN & BODEN COMPANY, INC.
RAHWAY, N.J.

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TO

CARL VAN DOREN

Could but one luring dream rest dead forever
As dreamers rest at last, with all dreams done,
Redeemers need not be, and faith need never
Lease, for the faithful, homes beyond the sun.

Victoriously that dream—above the sorrow
And subterfuge of living,—still lets fail
No heart to heed its soothing lure.... _To-morrow
Dreams will be true, and faith and right prevail._

_Out of the bright—and, no, not vacant!—heavens
Redeemers will be coming by and by,
En route to make our sixes and our sevens
Neat as a trivet or an apple-pie._

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In this volume the text of Bülg has not
been followed over-scrupulously: but it
is hoped that, in a book intended for
general circulation, none will deplore
such excisions and euphemisms, nor even
such slight additions, as seemed to make
for coherence and clarity and decorum.

The curious are referred to the pages of
_Poictesme en Chanson et Légende_ for a
discussion of the sources of _The Silver
Stallion_; and may decide for themselves
whether or not Bülg has, in Codman’s
phrase, “shown” these legends to be
“spurious compositions of 17th century
origin.” For myself, I here confess to
finding the evidence educed, alike, a bit
inadequate and, as far as goes my purpose,
wholly immaterial. These chronicles, such
as they are, present the only known record
of the latter days of champions whose
youthful exploits have long since been
made familiar to English readers of
Lewistam’s _Popular Tales of Poictesme_:
authentic or not, and irrespective of
whether such legends cannot be quite
definitely proved to have existed earlier
than 1652, here is the sole account we
have anywhere, or are now likely ever to
receive, of the changes that followed in
Poictesme after the passing of Manuel the
Redeemer.

It is as such an account—which for my
purpose was a desideratum,—that I have put
_The Silver Stallion_ into English.

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THE LORDS THAT POICTESME HAD IN DOM MANUEL’S TIME

_These ten were of the Fellowship of the Silver Stallion_:

_¶ Dom Manuel_, Count of Poictesme, held Storisende and Bellegarde, the town of Beauvillage and the strong fort at Lisuarte, with all Amneran and Morven.

_¶ Messire Gonfal of Naimes_, Margrave of Aradol, held Upper Naimousin.

_¶ Messire Donander of Évre_, the Thane of Aigremont, held Lower Naimousin.

_¶ Messire Kerin of Nointel_, Syndic and Castellan of Basardra, held West Val-Ardray.

_¶ Messire Ninzian of Yair_, the High Bailiff of Upper Ardra, held Val-Ardray in the East.

_¶ Messire Holden of Nérac_, Earl Marshal of St. Tara, held Belpaysage.

_¶ Messire Anavalt of Fomor_, the Portreeve and Warden of Manneville, held Belpaysage Le Bas.

_¶ Messire Coth of the Rocks_, Alderman of St. Didol, held Haut Belpaysage.

_¶ Messire Guivric of Perdigon_, Heitman of Asch, held Piemontais.

_¶ Messire Miramon of Ranec_, Lord Seneschal of Gontaron, held Duardenois.

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Likewise there were the fiefs of Dom Meunier, Count of Montors, Dom Manuel’s brother-in-law. Meunier was not of this fellowship: he held also Giens. Here his wife ruled over Lower Duardenois.

_¶ Othmar Black-Tooth_, whom some called Othmar the Lawless, long held Valnères and Ogde, until Manuel routed him: thereafter these villages, with the most of Bovion, stayed masterless.

_¶ Helmas the Deep-Minded_, after a magic was put upon him in the year of grace 1255, held, in his fashion, the high place at Brunbelois: but the rest of Acaire, once Lorcha had been taken and Sclaug burned, was no man’s land. Also upon Upper Morven lived disaffected persons in defiance of all law and piety.

—_Poictesme en Chanson et Légende._ G. J.
Bülg. Strasburg, 1785. [Pp. 87-88.]

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CONTENTS

BOOK ONE: LAST SIEGE OF THE FELLOWSHIP

PAGE
I Child’s Talk 3
II Economics of Horvendile 7
III How Anavalt Lamented the Redeemer 17
IV Fog Rises 21

BOOK TWO: THE MATHEMATICS OF GONFAL

V Champion at Misadventure 27
VI The Loans of Power 31
VII Fatality the Second 39
VIII How the Princes Bragged 42
IX The Loans of Wisdom 46
X Relative to Gonfal’s Head 49
XI Economics of Morvyth 56

BOOK THREE: TOUPAN’S BRIGHT BEES

XII The Mage Emeritus 61
XIII Economics of Gisèle 67
XIV The Changing That Followed 73
XV Disastrous Rage of Miramon 76
XVI Concerns the Pleiades and a Razor 78
XVII Epitome of Marriage 81
XVIII Koshchei is Vexed 87
XIX Settlement: in Full 90

BOOK FOUR: COTH AT PORUTSA

XX Idolatry of an Alderman 97
XXI The Profits of Pepper Selling 104
XXII Toveyo Dances 110
XXIII Regrettable Conduct of a Corpse 113
XXIV Economics of Yaotl 119
XXV Last Obligation upon Manuel 122
XXVI The Realist in Defeat 128

BOOK FIVE: “MUNDUS VULT DECIPI”

XXVII Poictesme Reformed 133
XXVIII Fond Motto of a Patriot 138
XXIX The Grumbler’s Progress 141
XXX Havoc of Bad Habits 145
XXXI Other Paternal Apothegms 149
XXXII Time Gnaws at All 153
XXXIII Economics of Coth 158

BOOK SIX: IN THE SYLAN’S HOUSE

XXXIV Something Goes Wrong: and Why 171
XXXV Guivric’s Journey 175
XXXVI The Appointed Enemy 178
XXXVII Too Many Mouths 182
XXXVIII The Appointed Lover 186
XXXIX One Warden Left Uncircumvented 190
XL Economics of Glaum-Without-Bones 194
XLI The Gratifying Sequel 203

BOOK SEVEN: WHAT SARAÏDE WANTED

XLII Generalities at Ogde 207
XLIII Prayer and the Lizard Maids 213
XLIV Fine Cordiality of Sclaug 219
XLV The Gander Also Generalizes 222
XLVI Kerin Rises in the World 229
XLVII Economics of Saraïde 232
XLVIII The Golden Shining 237
XLIX They of Nointel 239

BOOK EIGHT: THE CANDID FOOTPRINT

L Indiscretion of a Bailiff 247
LI The Queer Bird 250
LII Remorse of a Poor Devil 260
LIII Continuation of Appalling Pieties 263
LIV Magic That was Rusty 267
LV The Prince of Darkness 270
LVI Economics of Ninzian 277

BOOK NINE: ABOVE PARADISE

LVII Maugis Makes Trouble 283
LVIII Showing that Even Angels May Err 287
LIX The Conversion of Palnatoki 290
LX In the Hall of the Chosen 293
LXI Vanadis, Dear Lady of Reginlief 297
LXII The Demiurgy of Donander Veratyr 300
LXIII Economics of Sidvrar 305
LXIV Through the Oval Window 308
LXV The Reward of Faith 314