Free Mindswap by Robert Sheckley Page B

fag,' the ganzer egg sneered. 'If you want to speak, you'll have to speak for yourselves.'
    'The only poem I can remember from school is the
Ruba'iyat
,' Marvin said.
    'Well, go to it,' the ganzer egg said.
    Marvin thought, twitched, and nervously said:
    'Behold! A pilgrim from the forest war
    Of race 'gainst race, does humbly implore
    Your aid and sustenance, and help and hope.
    Can you this humble earnest plea ignore?'
    'Very shaky,' whispered the ganzer egg. 'But not bad for a first attempt.' (Otis was giggling, and Marvin clouted him with his tail.)
    The Hermit replied:
    'Well spoken, stranger! You shall have this aid.
    Nay, more! For when men meet, despite their divers forms,
    They needs must succor each one to his own.'
    More quickly now, Marvin replied:
    'I hoped, in this ancient planetoid with dreams displayed
    Of sunrise splendors, sunsets disarrayed,
    That one poor pilgrim who did pass this way
    Might find escape from terrors he surveyed.'
    The Hermit said:
    'Step forward then, my friend, my liege, my lord,
    For all men are consistent to that state
    Which life shall bring to them; the veriest slave
    May some day be the king of yonder peer,
    While this man here, this enemy by rote
    Of graven custom, shall at hand
    Be cup companion, if his speech be known!'
    Marvin stepped forward, saying:
    'Much thanks! Your doorway to the stars
    Fits wise man and fool; yet still it bars
    The Mute, who through his foolish tongue unused
    Won't even get one half the way to Mars.'
    Otis, who had been restraining his giggles through all this, now said: 'Hey! Were you saying something about me?'
    'I certainly was,' Marvin said. 'You'd better start versifying if you want to get out of here.'
    'Well, rats, you're doing it for both of us.'
    'Nope. The Hermit just said you have to speak for yourself.'
    'My God, what'll I do? Otis muttered. 'I don't know any poetry.'
    'You better think of something,' the ganzer egg said.
    'Well … all I can remember is a little Swinburne which some goopey girl talked to me once. It's pretty stupid stuff.'
    'Let's hear it,' Marvin said.
    Otis sweated and swotted, and at last intoned:
    'When the spaceships of Earth are on distant planets,
    The soul of a man, be he slender or tall,
    Desires his home, for it pulls like ten magnets,
    Filling his heart as great waves fill a hall.
    And the great green sensation of gratitude
    Is entranced by the welcoming attitude
    Of a heroic Hermit, whose modulent mood
    Is to rescue the spaceman and save him withal.'
    The Hermit said:
    'I find thee apt: 'Tis parlous to relate
    In these lean times a halting tongue may work
    Quick mischief 'pon its saddened owner-lord.'
    Marvin said:
    'Ali come, take Marvin Flynn away, and leave
    The Rest to wrangle! He would grieve
    To find his body torn and wounded: therefore now
    He'd like to go, whilst others stand and cheer.'
    The Hermit said:
    'Away then, gentlemen! Hearts high,
    Feet firm in stirrups, head uplifted be …'
    And so they proceeded in sing-song fashion to the Hermit's hut, where they saw, hidden away under some sheets of bark, an illegal Mindsender, of an ancient and curious design. And Marvin learned that there was method in even the direst madness. For the Hermit had been on this planet for less than a year, and already had made a considerable fortune by smuggling refugees to the less savoury labour markets of the galaxy.
    It was not ethical, but as the Hermit put it:
    'Call you it dastardly, then, the tricks I play
    With this my engine? Sobeit! Nay, I'll not dispute
    The arid-abstract trueness of your plea.
    Yet think upon't; 'tis folly to refuse bad wine
    When chok't with desert thirst. Not so? Then why
    So harshly judge the salvor of your life?
    'Tis damned ingratitude of most perversity –
    To slap the hand that plucked Death's grip from thee!'

Chapter 14
    A small amount of time passed. A job for Otis Dagobert had not been difficult to find. Despite his protestations to the contrary, the young man showed a small but very