wae The Wind’s “2323 Twelve Quarters I IDI. aaa eae) Pooks Be URsuL K. Lx cum Roconsn's World Planet of ile iy of Wasone ‘he Left Head of Darkest A Wieard of Brsies The Tombs of Aeon ‘The Ferthei Shore The Lathe of Heaven The Diponesed orem: Wit Anges Short Stories by URSULA K, LE GUIN eae) ate HARPER & ROW, PUBLISHERS [New York Hegerstown, ‘Sen Frantic, LondonD4 The Winds Toeee Quarters cterity, And because he dtd in that moment of fake vist, be- ‘enue i can never change, Tam cat in eel. ‘This ie unendurable, T cannot uphold ach an illusion. If the Jhuman crerues will not understand Relatvny, very well but they smost undertand Relatdacss ei necenary tothe Onder of Thingy I wil kil drivers of crt ‘hough ling i nota duty usually required of cake, Bute unjust to require me to play the pa, not ofthe killer ony, bat of death ‘For Tam not death, Iam life: !am meal. TE they wish to se death vnbly in the world chat i thee busi ‘nes; not mine I wll not at tery for them. Let them net turn tw the trees fr death, If tha is what they want to 2, let hem lool imo one anothe’'s eyes and se i there, @ THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY FROM OMELAS eI TI AD OD (Waiations on a theme by Wiliam James) ‘The centalidea of thie pryhomyth, the sepepoat, arms up in Dostoyeckjs Brothers Karamazov, and teceral people have asked sue, rsther suspiciously, why I geve the eredt 10 Willis James, ‘The fct is, 1 have's bee able 1 reread Dostoyenshy, much at 1 loved him, since I wes woerty foe, end Td imply forgotten he used the idea. Bus when I met it in Jamet's "The Moral Philosopher ond the Moral Life” it was with shock of recognition, Here is how Temes pate it OF if the potas mere ofr wt of & word in which Meer Fowie's and Blamy’s and Morris oper chold alt be ontdoe, tnd milions ket perennty happy onthe one Simple onion thet ei i elon he Jr ee of ing hal ad ae ot Tonal torment what exept indtpndot tof emaion an be whch woald make urine oer thagh on ‘pte ie wl yh a th pte oe ow The demos of the American conscience can hardly be beter sate. Dostoyevsky wos a great ets, and a radical one, but bis cal social radicals revered itself song him a violent reston- ary, Whereas the American Jomes, who seems :0 mild 0 navy gentemanly—ok how he sys us” assuming all his endere are26 The Wind's Twelve Querrs as decent as imel—w, and remained, nd remains a genuinely ‘radial thinker. Directly after the “Tat sou passage he goes OF, “All the higher, mre penering ideas ae reolonary. They present “hemalos for le the gute of eet of as experience shan i Uhr of probable ceuer of futare experience, factors to which the ‘ensroues and helo it aro far tough at mt le fo bend. ‘The application of thoce two tetenes to thie sory, and t ence {fetion, and to all thinking about the future, is quite direct, Ideals 18 “the probable enue of future experence™—that ira tube and an exhilarating remark! Of couse didn't read Jemet and sit down ond say, Now Pl write 44 ary about tht “Tot rou!” It eldom works that simply. at own and uarted a sory, jst Beceue I fl like i, with nothing but the word “Omelas” in mind. I came from a road sign: Sere (Oregon) Backwards. Dow's you read road signs backwards? POTS, WOLS nerd. Octcear} Nat... Salem equals schelomo equals saloars equals Pesce. Mela. 0 melas, Omelar, Homme hilt. "Where do you get your idea from, Me Le Guin?” From fergeting Dovseyeesky ond resding roed signs backwards, naturally, Where ela? With 2 camor of bells thst st the svallos soaring, the Festival of ‘Somaner came to the cy Oma, bightiowered by the 12, The Figging of the boats ia barker spared with Mags Inthe streets berween howes with ed reefs and painted wall, between old mos grown gardens and under avenues of tree, past grest parks and plc building, procesions moved. Some were deorou: old peo- ple in lng stiff robes of mauve and grey, grave maner workmen, ‘The Ones Who Walk Assy fom Omclat 277 aie, merry women catryog thee babe and chatting as they ‘walked. [nother sre the mie best fe, simmering of gong and tambourig, and the peuple went dancing, the procetion wat 4 dance, Children dodged ia and out, their high cals rising like the mallow’ croing Sights over the mosic and the saging. All ‘he procsions wound towards the north side of the cry, where on the great watermeadow called the Green Fiske boys and gil naked in the bright ar, with mudained fet and sakes end long, lithe arms, exercised thee restive hones before the race. The hones swore no gear at all bt a baker without bit. Thee manes were ‘rsd with streamers of er, gold, and grees. They fared their ots and pranced and boasted to one another; they were vsly excited, the horse being the only animal who has adopted out ‘ceremonies as his own, Fr off othe north and wet the mountains stood up half encircling Omela on her bay. The air of morning wat to clar tht the snow sill coming the Eighteen Peaks Dbumed with whitegeld fire aces the miles of walt si under the dark blue ofthe sky. There was jast enough wind to make the banners that marked the raescoure map and fluter now and then. Inthe silence ofthe broad green meadow one could hea the sie winding through the city sueet, fanher and nearer and erer approaching, a cheefl fine sweetness of the ie that from time to time trembled and gathered together and broke out iato the sat joyous clanging ofthe bell. Joyous How is one to tel about joy? How describe the citizens of Omen? ‘They were not simple folk, you se, though they were happy. ‘Bat we do not say the words of cheer much any mere. All emis Ihave become archaic Given a description such at this one tends to make cenain asrumptions. Given a description such os this ne tends to look next forthe King, mounted on a splendid tli and surounded by his noble knights, or perhap in glden lier8 The Winds Tocve Quarters borne by reticle. But tere was no king. They did sot word or hry sve Tey wre not bbe Ido st ow th re and law ofthe scr, bt T pect at they were ings few. As hey i witht monarchy and ever, 1 they a gt on without the tk ecg the dren, the sve poli, and the bomb, Yet Teepat that tee were oot simple fll at dale shepherds, sole trap, Bland opine “They wee not kas comple han The wovbl is tht we have 4 fad babi encourged by pedets and episcat,of conie- ing happiness at ametbig rhe api aly pins inelecl, nly ei inereing. "Thin the wenn ofthe ria ref t foi the oly fei andthe eile ered of pi IE yo cat ik ‘a jin ‘om. hrs repeat Ba to pabe eie iro condemn dts to embrace viene it lo hl fee thing ee, We hae amo lo ol; we en no Inger debe py man, nor make any clan of oy. How ea Tell yo about the perple of Omen? They were ot ne and hoppy Children=ogh te cin wer in fa, happy. Tey were sete nln peionate ada whee Ives were ot watched (ac bur Twit I could debe tbr with T could ‘convince you. Omelas sounds in my words like a city in a fairy fn ong ago sofa avy, ence ona ine Peas woul be bn if you imagine eat your own fancy Hd sing i it ‘ie he ein fr certainly Tent el you al For inane, how aboot thnalogy? I think ht thre would be no cr ot elope in and sve the sects this allows fom te Gt at the pone of Ones ar happy peopl. Hopine sed on at dlcimination of wht is mcr, what neiber near nor devon, and what it deere. I the mile eager, howe cver—tht of th unnenry but unerotine,that af coniot, long, eben, ctethny could peetly well have cet esting sabvay ey, waning machine and all ids of mare The Ones Who Walk dwey from Omelar 279 os devices not yet invented hers Basing Highesoures, fells power, a cue for the common ead. Or they could have pone of {hat it does’ mater, As you lk incline to think that people fom towns up and dowa the exat have been coming i to Ome uring the last days before the Festival on very ft litle terns sod suble decked trams, and thatthe rin sation of Ome is aetully the handomes building in twa, chough plainer than the magni ‘zt Farmen’ Market, But even granted tain T fae that Omelas 0 ‘ar ares some of you as goody goody. Smiles, bells, parades, hore, eh. Is please ad en orgy. If a orgy would help, dont hese ‘Let us no, however, have temples fan which isu besuful de eens and press already half fn ctasy and ready to copulate With any man or woman, lover or strange, whe desires una wich the deep godhead ofthe blood, although that wat my Kt idea, But really it would be ber not to have any temple in Omelar—at leat, ot manned temples. Religion yes, clergy na, Sarely the beautifl nudes can just wander about, ofeing themselves ik divin suf to the hunger of the needy and the rapture of the Ges, Let therm Join the proceins. Let tambourine be track above the copulation, and the glory of dere be proclaimed upon the gongs and (not ‘important point) Ie the ofspring of these delighl rituals be beloved and looked after by all. One thing I know there is none of in Oma i quik. But what ele should there be I thought at Six there were no drugs, but that it puritanical, For those who Hike it the foe nsisent sweetness f draor may pecfumethe ways ofthe ly, droos which frst beings a gest lightness and brliance t the sind and limb, and thea ater some hour «dreamy languoe, and ‘wondeefl visions a at ofthe very arcana and inmos eres of he ives, at well as exciting the pleat of sex beyond all belie and it is not habitorming. For more made tates T think there cought tobe beer. What ee, wat ee belongs nthe joyous city? The vente of victory, surly, the celebration of courage: But ax we did280. The Wind's Teeoe Querrs without clergy tut do without soir. The joy bul upon suceest- fal slaughter snot he right kindof joys will not do; fearful tnd iti trivial. A boundless and generous cootentment, a mag. sanimous triumph fel not aginst tome outer enemy bat in com ‘union withthe nest and fart i the souls fallen everywhere snd the splendor ofthe worlds summer: this i what swells the Iaarts of the people of Omelas, an the vst they elbrate ie chat of if. Telly do’ think many of them need to ake doo ‘Moet of the precenions have reached the Green Feds by now. ‘A marvclous smell of cooking goes forth from che red and blue vents ofthe provisioner, The faces of small children are amiably sicky; in the benign grey beard of a man a couple of crumbs of rich parry are entangled. The youths and gs ave mounted their horses and are beginning to group around the sarting line of the coane, An old woman, sal, ft, and laughing i pasing cut ower rom a basket, and tll young men wear her Bowers in thet shining hae. A child of nine or ten ste atthe edge of the crowd, lone, playing on 2 woeden Sue, People pause to listen, and they ‘mile but they do aot speak to him, for he never cates playing and reverses therm, hie dark eyes wholly rape inthe swee, thin magic of the rae. “He finishes, and slowly lowers his hands holding the wooden ue. ‘Asif that ie private lene were the signal allt once a trumpet sounds fom the parion near the starting Lae: imperious, melan- cdolp, piercing. The hors rear on ther slender lps, and some of them neigh in answer, Soberfaced, the young riders stoke the hho’ necks and socthe them, whispering, “Que, qui, chere say beau, my hope...” They bepia to form in rank along the stating line. The crowds along the racecourse are Hike field of ‘fas and Bowers ig the wind, The Fava of Summer has begun. ‘Do you believe? Do you seep the feival, the ci, the joy? No? "Then let me deverbe ene more thing. The Ones Who Walk Ausy from Omelas 281 In a barement under one of the beruful public buildings of ‘Onli perhaps in the cellar of one of spacious privace homes, ‘there ia room. Ithas one locke door, nd no window. A Til ight seeps in dusily between cracks in the boards, secondhand from a ccbweited window somewhere acres the elit. In one commer of the ltd room a couple of mepy, with sf, cote, foulameling Ia sand near a rusy bucke. The for ied, a litle damp to the ouch as llr dire usually i. The oom is bout cies paces lng and two wide: a mere brom closet or diswied tool room Ia the rom a child is iting. Ie could be abo or agi e ook abot sy ‘bat actully is neatly tea, It is fsbleminded, Perhape it wat born ‘elective, or pechaps i has bzome imbecile though fae, mlaut- tion, and neglect. Ie picks its nose and occasionally fumbles vaguely with its tet or genital as it sis hunched in the corner furthest from the bucket and the two mops Tei afraid a the mp, Inds them horrible. It shuts ite eyes butt knows the mops are ail stand. ing there; andthe doe i locked; and nobody wil cme, The door is always locked; and nobody ever comes except that sometimes — the child has no understanding of time or interval—sometmes the oor rales esl and opens, and a peton, or several people ace Where. One of them may came in and Kick the child to make it stand up. The ethers never come clo, but peer in at it with Sightened, disgusted eyes, The food bowl and the water jug sre Isl fille, the door is locked, the eye disspear, The people at the door never say anything, but the cil, who has at always ied {in the tol room, and can remember sunigh and its mother vice sometimes speaks. “Twill be goad i says “Plete let ne ou. wl be good! They never anewer. The child ed 9 scream for help st sigh and cry a god deal but now itenly makes a kind of whining, “ccs, can” andi peal los and lest often. It i 0 thin there ‘reno calves to its legs its ely protrudes; eves ona alow of orn meal and grease a day ee aaked Its buttacks and thighs are mass of eter tore ast sits ini own excrement continually.282. The Winds Toele Quarters ‘They all koow i sthere, all he people of Omlat. Some of them hae come to 2 i other are content mely to now iti there. ‘They all know that ic hs tbe there, Some of them understand why, and some do not, but shey all understand that their happiness the beany of thes ciy, the tendernent of their friendships che heath of their children, the wisdom of thei echolary, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of ther skies, depend wholly on tis chiles abominable smirery. "Thi is usually explsined to children when they are between eight and twelve, whenever they séem capable of underanding; and most of those who come tose the child ae young people though often enough a adult come, or comes back, toate the child. No ‘matter how well he mater has been explained to ther, these young spectatss are always shocked and sickened atthe sight. Thy fel iggy, which they had thought themselves superior to, They fel anger, outrage, impotence, despite all the explantins. They would ike wo do something fr the cid, But there i nothing they can do, Ifthe eld were brought up into the sunlight out ofthat wile plas fi were cleaned and fed and comforted, that would be a ood thing, indeed; bu if it were dane i that day and hour all the prosperity and betty and delight of Omels would wither and bbe destroyed. Those are the terms. To exchange ll the goodaess and race of every life in Omelas for shat sags, all improvement: t9 throw way the happnes of thourands forthe chance ofthe hap ‘es of one: that woald be to let gui within the walls indeed ‘The terms are suet and abulue; there may nt even be a kind word spoken to the eld, Often the young people go home in teary of ia a teazk 156, when they have sen the child and faced thie terse paradox. They may brood over it for weeks or year. Buta ie goes on they begin to realize that even ifthe child could be release, it would not get The Oner Wh Walk wey fom Omelet 283 such god of i freedom: Hal vague plese of warmth nd food no dows, bat ine more. Is tao degraded and ec to now any eal joy. Tehas ben aad log eve to beef far 1s habits ae too uncouth fori to sepond to humane wean. Tadeed afer so lng ic woald probably be wretched without wal shoot eto protect and darks fori eye and its own exer. sent tsitin. Tei ters a the bier injutie dy whe they begin to perv the erle ue of ei, and to act Yer it theca and anger, the ying ofthe generosity andthe aceptace cf thie heplenes, which ae perhaps the tive source of the splendor of the lies. Tei i no vapid, icesponblebaprnes They know that hey, like the hl are nts, Tey know cre ton. Ils the extene ofthe cil and ie kool of ites, that makes pouble he acy oftheir ace, he gman of thee musth prfundy otras becte the child dha they ae so gentle with children, They know that Af the wretched one were ot there anveling inte dark, the ober as, he futoplaer, could make no joyful mica the young ders ne up in ther bear forthe race inthe sutghe ofthe fine sorng of summer. Now do you beeen tem? Are they not more cree? But there one more thing to el and thie quite incredible At times one ofthe adlecnt gis orbays who got sete cid oe not go ome to weep o aps dee no inf go home al Sometimes tho ¢ min or woman mich adr fal lent for a day toy and thea leaves home, These people go ott at these, and walk down the sre alone. They kxp walking, aad wale senight out fhe cy of Only, hough the bei gate. They ep walking aces the farmlands of Omels, Each ne gor alone, youth or gi maa or woman. Night fll the tne ms pss doa village ses, brween the houses with yw ft windows, nd on out into the darkest ofthe eld, Each lone hey go wort284. The Wind's Twelve Quarters cr north, towards the mountaia, They go on. They lave Omen they walk ahead into the darknes and they do act come back, The place they go towards ia place even leis imaginable to mot of us than the city of happiness. I eannot descrbe ita all. Iti poxble that it doesnot exist: But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who wall away fom Orel. @ THE DAY BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 7 I). 7 Dn caemeriae Po Gooden, 1911-1972 My novel The Dispstesed ir about a small worl of people who ‘all shemueles Odonians. The name is taken from the founder of ‘cir sciesy, Odo, who Hed several generations Before the time of ‘he novel, and who therefore doct’t gt into the action—encpt ine Plc, in thal the action started with her Odenianism is anarchiom. Not the bombin-thepocket st, which is teroriom, whatever name it isto dignity itl with; not ‘the recial Darwin econore "librtaranso” of the far right; but anarchism, as prefigured in early Taos thought, and expounded by Shaley and Kropettia, Goldman end Goodman, Anarchism’ prin- ‘ipl target is the authoritarian State (cepts or soil); ite ‘priacipal moral practical theme is cooperation (oliderity, mutual id), Ie is the mort idealistic, and to me the moc interesting, of polisher ‘To embody ina nov, which had not been done before, wat & Jong ond hard ob for me, andabcorbed me totaly for many months, When is was done I felt a, exile displaced perzon. I wae very Araea, therefore, when Odo came ont of the shadow and aroxt ‘he gulf of Probably, and wanted a sory writen, not about the world she made but about hell ‘his tory is about one of he ones who walked away from Onl.