Thus Spoke Zarathustra · Chapters
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Chapter companions for Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche.
Chapter 1
Part I: Zarathustra’s Discourses
Zarathustra delivers a series of speeches to the people and his disciples, proclaiming the death of God, the need for the Superman, and the revaluation of all values. He critiques herd morality, pity, and the last man, urging self-overcoming and the will to power.
Chapter 2
Zarathustra's Prologue
Zarathustra, after ten years of solitude in the mountains, descends to share his wisdom with humanity. He proclaims the death of God and the coming of the Superman, but the crowd in the marketplace mocks him. He witnesses the death of a rope-dancer and realizes he must seek living companions, not the masses.
Chapter 3
The Bestowing Virtue
Zarathustra leaves the town called 'The Pied Cow' accompanied by his disciples. At a crossroads, he decides to go alone and is given a staff with a serpent twined around the sun. He speaks to his disciples about the highest virtue being a bestowing virtue, contrasting it with a selfishness that steals. He urges them to strive for a virtue that gives, and describes the origin of virtue in the body's elevation and the will to power.
Chapter 4
II
Zarathustra urges his disciples to remain true to the earth, to bring virtue back to the body and life, and to become creators who determine values anew. He speaks of the Superman arising from a chosen people and of the earth becoming a place of healing.
Chapter 5
III
Zarathustra urges his disciples to leave him, to find themselves, and to deny him so that he may return to them with a new love. He proclaims the great noontide when man stands between animal and Superman, and declares that the dead gods make way for the will to the Superman.
Chapter 6
IV
Zarathustra addresses the crowd, proclaiming that man is a rope between animal and Superman, and he loves those who sacrifice themselves for the earth and the coming of the Superman.
Chapter 7
V
Zarathustra reflects on the crowd's inability to understand him and decides to speak of the 'last man' as the most contemptible being. He describes a future where humanity becomes small, comfortable, and devoid of longing, creativity, or self-overcoming. The crowd, however, cheers for the last man and rejects the Superman, leaving Zarathustra saddened and misunderstood.
Chapter 8
VI
The rope dancer performs in the marketplace but is fatally tripped by a buffoon. Zarathustra remains beside the dying man, denies the existence of devil and hell, and promises to bury him with his own hands.
Chapter 9
VII
As evening falls and the marketplace empties, Zarathustra remains alone with the corpse of the rope dancer, reflecting on the meaninglessness of human life and his own isolation. He resolves to bury the dead man himself, recognizing that he is still misunderstood by the crowd, who see him as something between a fool and a corpse.
Chapter 10
Chapter VIII
Zarathustra carries the dead rope-dancer out of town, is warned by the buffoon, mocked by gravediggers, and seeks shelter with an old hermit who gives him bread and wine. He then continues through the forest, places the corpse in a hollow tree to protect it from wolves, and falls asleep.
Chapter 11
The New Truth
Zarathustra awakens from a long sleep with a new realization: he must seek living companions, not dead followers or the herd. He rejects the good and just, the believers, and the herdsmen, and instead seeks fellow-creators who will break old values and create new ones. He bids farewell to his first companion and sets out on his own course toward the Superman.
Chapter 12
Zarathustra's Prologue
Zarathustra, after ten years of solitude in the mountains, feels his wisdom overflowing and decides to descend to share it with humanity. He encounters a saint in the forest who advises him to stay with the animals, but Zarathustra continues on his way. In the marketplace, he attempts to teach the concept of the Superman to a crowd, but they mock him. A rope dancer performs and falls to his death, and Zarathustra carries his corpse away, realizing he must find living companions who understand his teachings.
Chapter 13
I: The Three Metamorphoses
Zarathustra describes the three metamorphoses of the spirit: the camel, which bears heavy burdens; the lion, which fights the dragon 'Thou-shalt' to create freedom; and the child, which represents innocence, forgetfulness, and a holy Yea to life, enabling new creation.
Chapter 14
II: The Academic Chairs of Virtue
Zarathustra visits a wise man who teaches that virtue is a means to achieve good sleep. The wise man prescribes a regimen of daily self-overcomings, reconciliations, truths, and laughter, all in service of a peaceful night. Zarathustra laughs inwardly, recognizing that this wisdom reduces life to mere drowsiness and has no higher meaning. He concludes that such teachers of virtue are obsolete, promoting only a sleep without dreams.
Chapter 15
Backworldsmen
Zarathustra recounts his own past as a backworldsman who once believed in a transcendent God and otherworldly realms, but he now sees that such beliefs arise from suffering, impotence, and the body's despair of itself. He teaches that the body and the earth are the true sources of meaning, and that the ego, which speaks of the body, is the measure of all things. He urges his listeners to overcome sickness and create higher bodies, rather than fleeing into heavenly delusions.
Chapter 16
IV: The Despisers of the Body
Zarathustra addresses those who despise the body, arguing that the body is a great intelligence and that the self, not the ego or spirit, is the true ruler. He criticizes the despisers for turning away from life and the earth, unable to create beyond themselves, and declares they are no bridges to the Superman.
Chapter 17
V: Joys and Passions
Zarathustra addresses his brother on the nature of virtue, urging that a true virtue is unique and ineffable, not shared with the herd. He explains that passions, once considered evil, can be transformed into virtues through the direction of one's highest aim. He warns of the jealousy and conflict among virtues, and concludes that man must be surpassed, even by his own virtues.
Chapter 18
VI: The Pale Criminal
Zarathustra addresses judges and executioners, arguing that the pale criminal's moment of self-judgment is his highest, and that his crime stems from a madness of the idea rather than the deed itself. He critiques the herd's moral categories and calls for pity over revenge, urging a justification of life through love for the Superman.
Chapter 19
VII: Reading and Writing
Zarathustra extols the virtues of writing with blood and spirit, condemns the rise of mass readership that degrades thought, and celebrates the courage, laughter, and lightness of the exalted individual who overcomes the spirit of gravity.
Chapter 20
VIII: The Tree on the Hill
Zarathustra encounters a youth who avoids him and confesses his inner turmoil. The youth feels torn between his aspiration for height and light and his descent into darkness and evil. Zarathustra uses the metaphor of a tree growing high on a hill to illustrate the loneliness and danger of striving upward. He warns the youth against losing his highest hope and becoming a mere sensualist, urging him to maintain the hero in his soul.
Chapter 21
IX: The Preachers of Death
Zarathustra condemns those who preach death, whether through asceticism, despair, or doctrines of renunciation, arguing that they are the ones who are refuted by their narrow view of life, not life itself.
Chapter 22
X: War and Warriors
Zarathustra addresses his 'brethren in war,' urging them to embrace conflict, courage, and the will to overcome. He redefines war as a spiritual and creative force, advocating for enemies worthy of respect, obedience as a form of command, and the highest thought that man must be surpassed. He rejects pity and long life, celebrating the warrior's path toward self-overcoming.
Chapter 23
The New Idol
Zarathustra condemns the state as a cold monster that lies about being the people, devours the many-too-many, and preaches death. He contrasts it with the open earth for great souls and the Superman, urging his brethren to withdraw from idolatry and seek freedom beyond the state.
Chapter 24
XII: The Flies in the Marketplace
Zarathustra warns his friend to flee into solitude, away from the noise and stings of the marketplace, where great men are merely actors and the small and pitiable ones seek vengeance. He advises against engaging with the poisonous flies of the crowd, urging the preservation of one's depth and pride.
Chapter 25
XIII: Chastity
Zarathustra contrasts the innocence of animals with the lustful hypocrisy he sees in humans, arguing that chastity can be a virtue for some but a vice for others. He warns against suppressing instincts and instead advocates for innocence in one's instincts, criticizing those who disguise their lust as compassion or spirituality.
Chapter 26
The Friend
Zarathustra reflects on the nature of friendship, emphasizing that a true friend serves as a third party to prevent the anchorite's inner dialogue from sinking into depth. He argues that friendship requires honoring the enemy within the friend, waging war for them, and seeing them as an arrow toward the Superman. He critiques women as incapable of friendship due to their historical roles as slaves or tyrants, and calls for a higher form of comradeship.
Chapter 27
The Thousand and One Goals
Zarathustra reflects on how different peoples create their own values of good and bad as expressions of their Will to Power, asserting that valuation is a creative act and that humanity lacks a single unifying goal, which means humanity itself is still lacking.
Chapter 28
XVI: Neighbour-Love
Zarathustra critiques neighbor-love as a form of self-avoidance and bad self-love, urging instead a love for the furthest and future ones, culminating in the creation of the friend who embodies the Superman.
Chapter 29
The Way of the Creating One
Zarathustra addresses the lonesome seeker who would go into isolation to find themselves. He warns of the herd's lingering voice, the pain of solitude, and the necessity of self-overcoming. The creating one must be ready to burn in their own flame and become ashes to be reborn, to create a god out of their own devils, and to love and despise in equal measure.
Chapter 30
Old and Young Women
Zarathustra is confronted by an old woman who demands he speak about women. He delivers a series of provocative assertions about the nature of woman, man, love, and the purpose of bearing the Superman. The old woman thanks him with a cryptic 'little truth': 'Thou goest to women? Do not forget thy whip!'
Chapter 31
XIX: The Bite of the Adder
Zarathustra is bitten by an adder while sleeping under a fig tree, but he refuses the serpent's poison and instead thanks it for waking him. He then tells his disciples a series of moral inversions, advocating for revenge, shared injustice, and a justice that includes love and guilt, while warning against harming anchorites.
Chapter 32
Child and Marriage
Zarathustra questions a young man about his desire for child and marriage, urging him to first conquer himself and build a higher body and soul. He contrasts true marriage as a will to create something greater than oneself with the shallow, foolish unions of the many-too-many, which he condemns as long stupidity and spiritual poverty. He concludes that the best love should inspire longing for the Superman.
Chapter 33
Voluntary Death
Zarathustra teaches the value of dying at the right time, praising the voluntary death that comes from having a goal and an heir. He contrasts this with the slow, cowardly death of those who cling to life, and critiques the premature death of Jesus, suggesting he would have learned to love the earth and laughter had he lived longer. Zarathustra urges his friends to die in a way that honors the earth and inspires the living.
Chapter 34
The Bestowing Virtue
Zarathustra takes leave of his disciples at a crossroads, presenting them with a staff adorned with a serpent and sun. He extols the 'bestowing virtue' as the highest virtue, contrasting it with selfishness born of sickness and degeneration. He urges his disciples to remain true to the earth, to become creators and fighters who revalue all values, and to prepare for the Superman. Finally, he commands them to leave him, to find themselves, and to deny him so that he may return to them at the great noontide.
Chapter 35
The Bestowing Virtue
Zarathustra leaves the town called 'The Pied Cow' accompanied by his disciples. At a crossroads, he decides to go alone and is given a staff with a serpent twined around the sun. He speaks to his disciples about the highest virtue being a bestowing virtue, contrasting it with a selfishness that steals. He urges them to strive for a virtue that gives, and describes the origin of virtue in the body's elevation and the will to power.
Chapter 36
II
Zarathustra urges his disciples to remain true to the earth, to bring virtue back to the body and life, and to become creators who determine values anew. He speaks of the Superman arising from a chosen people and of the earth becoming a place of healing.
Chapter 37
III
Zarathustra urges his disciples to leave him, to find themselves, and to deny him so that he may return to them with a new love. He proclaims the great noontide when man stands between animal and Superman, and declares that the dead gods make way for the will to the Superman.
Chapter 38
XXIII: The Child with the Mirror
Zarathustra, after a long period of solitude in his mountain cave, awakens from a dream in which a child shows him a mirror reflecting a devil's grimace instead of his own face. Interpreting this as a sign that his enemies have distorted his teachings, he resolves to descend again to his friends and enemies, driven by a newfound, storm-like happiness and a desire to share his wisdom.
Chapter 39
In the Happy Isles
Zarathustra speaks to his friends in a setting of autumnal abundance, urging them to abandon the conjecture of God and instead focus on creating the Superman. He emphasizes that creating requires suffering, transformation, and the will to power, and that the beauty of the Superman has come to him as a shadow, making the gods irrelevant.
Chapter 40
The Pitiful
Zarathustra warns his friends against pity, arguing that it causes more suffering than any other folly. He critiques the merciful, advocates for distance in compassion, and declares that great love seeks to create what is loved rather than merely pity. He recounts the devil's saying that God died of pity for man, and urges self-overcoming and hardness in creators.
Chapter 41
XXVI: The Priests
Zarathustra instructs his disciples to pass the priests quietly, acknowledging them as enemies yet feeling a kinship with them. He laments the priests' imprisonment by false values and their 'Saviour,' criticizing their churches as caves of shame and their worship as rooted in suffering and revenge. He calls for a new freedom beyond the all-too-human saviors, affirming that the Superman has never yet existed.
Chapter 42
The Virtuous
Zarathustra criticizes the virtuous for their hidden desires for reward, punishment, and vengeance, urging them to see virtue as an expression of their deepest self rather than a transaction or a cloak for baser motives.
Chapter 43
XXVIII: The Rabble
Zarathustra expresses his profound loathing for the rabble, whom he sees as poisoning the wells of life, corrupting fire, and defiling fruit. He recounts his long struggle to escape their influence, his retreat into solitude, and his eventual ascent to a height where he can find pure delight. He calls his friends to join him in this elevated home, where they will live like strong winds, above the impure, and build their nest on the tree of the future.
Chapter 44
XXIX: The Tarantulas
Zarathustra confronts the 'preachers of equality,' whom he identifies as tarantulas—secretly vengeful beings who disguise their envy and lust for power as a demand for justice. He warns his friends against those who preach equality out of impotent rage, and reaffirms his own doctrine that life requires struggle, inequality, and self-surpassing. He refuses to be confused with such preachers, declaring that justice for him means men are not equal, and that the path to the Superman demands war and difference.
Chapter 45
XXX: The Famous Wise Ones
Zarathustra rebukes the 'famous wise ones' for serving the people and their superstitions rather than pursuing truth. He contrasts their comfortable, domesticated wisdom with the wild, dangerous, and self-overcoming spirit of the free thinker, who dwells in solitude and embraces the cruelty and coldness of true knowledge.
Chapter 46
XXXI: The Night-Song
In 'The Night-Song,' Zarathustra laments his nature as a giver of light, expressing a profound loneliness and a craving for darkness and love. He feels isolated by his own abundance, unable to receive or connect with those he illuminates, and yearns for the warmth and intimacy of the night.
Chapter 47
XXXII: The Dance-Song
Zarathustra encounters maidens dancing in a meadow and encourages them to continue, singing a song that celebrates Life and Wisdom while satirizing the spirit of gravity. After the dance, he grows sad as evening falls, questioning the meaning of his own existence.
Chapter 48
XXXIII: The Grave-Song
Zarathustra sails to the island of graves, mourning the loss of his youth's visions, loves, and hopes, which he blames on his enemies. He reflects on how these precious things were taken from him, yet finds solace in his indomitable Will, which remains invulnerable and capable of resurrection.
Chapter 49
Self-Surpassing
Zarathustra reveals that the will to truth is actually a will to power, and that all life is characterized by self-overcoming and the drive to surpass itself. He teaches that good and evil are not fixed but must be continually recreated, and that the living thing obeys, commands, and risks itself for power.
Chapter 50
XXXV: The Sublime Ones
Zarathustra critiques the 'sublime one'—a solemn, heroic penitent of the spirit who has conquered monsters and solved enigmas but lacks beauty, laughter, and grace. He argues that true sublimity must transform into beauty, that the hero must unlearn his will and let his power become gracious. Only when the sublime one turns away from himself and overcomes his own deeds can he become an exalted, beautiful being, and ultimately give rise to the superhero.
Chapter 51
The Land of Culture
Zarathustra returns to the present age and finds it a motley, superficial 'land of culture' where people are covered in masks, paints, and borrowed beliefs from all times. He laughs at their pretense of reality, finding them unfruitful and hollow, and declares his love only for the undiscovered future land of his children.
Chapter 52
XXXVII: Immaculate Perception
Zarathustra criticizes those who claim to have 'immaculate perception'—a detached, desireless contemplation of the world. He compares them to the moon, which appears pregnant but is barren, and accuses them of hiding their covetousness and shame behind a mask of purity. True innocence and beauty, he argues, lie in the will to create, to procreate, and to love even unto death. The chapter culminates in a celebration of solar love, which is active, creative, and unashamed.
Chapter 53
XXXVIII: Scholars
Zarathustra reflects on his departure from the company of scholars, criticizing their detached, sterile approach to knowledge and celebrating his own passionate, embodied pursuit of wisdom. He contrasts his love of freedom and fresh air with their dusty rooms and cautious, spectator-like mentality, affirming the inequality of men and his own higher path.
Chapter 54
XXXIX: Poets
Zarathustra critiques poets for their superficiality, vanity, and tendency to lie, acknowledging that he too is a poet. He expresses weariness with their shallow depths and predicts a time when poets will turn penitently inward.
Chapter 55
XL: Great Events
Zarathustra recounts his encounter with the 'fire-dog,' a symbol of revolutionary noise and shallow upheaval, arguing that true great events are silent and revolve around creators of new values, not loud subverters. Meanwhile, rumors spread that Zarathustra has disappeared to a volcanic isle, only for him to return and reveal deeper truths about the earth, the state, and the mendacity of churches.
Chapter 56
XLI: The Soothsayer
Zarathustra hears a soothsayer prophesy a great sadness and weariness over mankind, which deeply afflicts him. He falls into a three-day depression, then a deep sleep, and dreams of being a night-watchman in a fortress of Death. In the dream, a roaring wind bursts open the gates and a coffin spews laughter and caricatures, terrifying him awake. His disciples interpret the dream as a sign that Zarathustra himself is the wind that overcomes death and weariness, bringing laughter and new life. Zarathustra, initially unrecognizing, eventually recovers and calls for a feast, inviting the soothsayer to join him.
Chapter 57
XLII: Redemption
Zarathustra is confronted by a hunchback and other cripples who demand physical healing as proof of his teachings. He responds by describing 'reversed cripples'—those who have too much of one thing and too little of everything else—and laments that humanity itself is fragmented, a collection of broken pieces and limbs. He then turns to his disciples and delivers a profound discourse on redemption: the Will, though an emancipator, is itself imprisoned by the past ('It was'), and its revenge against time is the source of suffering. True redemption lies in the creative Will that transforms every 'It was' into 'Thus would I have it,' a teaching that points toward the Will to Power and the overcoming of the spirit of revenge.
Chapter 58
XLIII: Manly Prudence
Zarathustra reflects on his double will—pulled upward toward the Superman yet bound to humanity. He articulates three forms of manly prudence: allowing himself to be deceived to stay anchored among men, forbearance toward the vain as physicians of melancholy, and not being dismayed by wickedness, which holds future potential for greatness. He critiques the 'highest and best' for their fear of the Superman, whom they would mistake for a devil.
Chapter 59
The Stillest Hour
Zarathustra reveals to his friends that his 'stillest hour'—a voice without sound—has commanded him to return to solitude. He recounts a painful dialogue in which the voice insists he must speak his ultimate word and command, despite his fear and shame. The chapter ends with Zarathustra weeping and departing alone at night.
Chapter 60
XLV: The Wanderer
Zarathustra ascends the mountain ridge of the isle at midnight, reflecting on his lifelong wandering and mountain-climbing. He recognizes that he now stands before his last summit and his lonesomest wandering, where he must go deeper down into pain than ever before. At the top, he gazes upon the sea, feels sorrow and longing for his abandoned friends, and weeps bitterly.
Chapter 61
The Vision and the Enigma
Zarathustra, aboard a ship with daring sailors, breaks his silence to recount a profound vision. He describes climbing a mountain path while burdened by the 'spirit of gravity,' a dwarf who whispers of inevitable downfall. At a gateway called 'This Moment,' Zarathustra confronts the dwarf with the idea of eternal recurrence—that all things, including this moment, must return eternally. The vision shifts to a young shepherd choking on a black serpent; Zarathustra urges him to bite off its head. The shepherd does so and is transformed into a laughing, transfigured being, leaving Zarathustra longing for that laughter.
Chapter 62
I
Zarathustra speaks as a diviner, wandering between past and future like a heavy cloud, charged with lightning and ready to kindle the light of the future. He expresses his ardent love for Eternity and the ring of eternal return.
Chapter 63
II
Zarathustra expresses his wrath against old values and dead gods, celebrating destruction as a prelude to creation. He declares his love for eternity and the eternal recurrence, personifying eternity as a beloved woman.
Chapter 64
XLVII: Involuntary Bliss
Zarathustra, sailing alone after leaving the Happy Isles, reflects on his solitude and his love for his children (his creations). He feels the weight of an abysmal thought and longs for the strength to confront it, but instead finds himself pursued by an involuntary happiness that he distrusts. He waits for misfortune, but happiness comes to him unbidden, leading him to mockingly compare happiness to a woman.
Chapter 65
Before Sunrise
Zarathustra addresses the pure, deep heaven before sunrise, expressing a divine desire to ascend into its light and silence. He reflects on their shared friendship, common grief, and mutual knowledge that transcends speech. He denounces 'passing clouds'—symbols of doubt, half-heartedness, and mediation—and declares himself a blesser and Yea-sayer who teaches that above all things stand the heaven of chance, innocence, and hazard, free from eternal will or rationality. As day approaches, he bids farewell to the heaven, acknowledging that not everything can be uttered in daylight.
Chapter 66
XLIX: The Bedwarfing Virtue
Zarathustra returns from his island to the continent and observes that people have become smaller, both in stature and in virtue. He criticizes their comfortable, moderate, and cowardly morality, which prioritizes safety and mutual non-aggression over greatness. He denounces their 'bedwarfing virtue' and calls for self-overcoming, will to power, and the rejection of submission. He proclaims himself 'Zarathustra the godless' and looks forward to the great noontide.
Chapter 67
I
Zarathustra speaks as a diviner, wandering between past and future like a heavy cloud, charged with lightning and ready to kindle the light of the future. He expresses his ardent love for Eternity and the ring of eternal return.
Chapter 68
II
Zarathustra expresses his wrath against old values and dead gods, celebrating destruction as a prelude to creation. He declares his love for eternity and the eternal recurrence, personifying eternity as a beloved woman.
Chapter 69
III
Zarathustra expresses his profound love for eternity, describing the creative breath, the laughter of lightning, and playing dice with gods on the divine table of the earth. He yearns for the ring of return and declares his love for eternity itself.
Chapter 70
On the Olive-Mount
Zarathustra reflects on winter as a harsh but honorable guest, using it as a metaphor for his own solitude and inner strength. He celebrates his ability to endure cold and privation, mocking the weak who worship comfort and fire-idols. He speaks of his long silence as a form of wisdom and concealment, protecting his profound happiness from the envy of others. The chapter concludes with Zarathustra singing and mocking pity from his sunny olive-mount.
Chapter 71
On Passing-By
Zarathustra, returning to his mountains, encounters a foaming fool at the gate of a great city. The fool, known as the ape of Zarathustra, reviles the city as a place of decay, compressed souls, and mendicant virtues, urging Zarathustra to spit on it and turn back. Zarathustra rebukes the fool, accusing him of being motivated by vengeance and vanity, and declares that he despises the fool's contempt. He then looks upon the city, expresses his own loathing, and prophesies its eventual destruction by a pillar of fire before the great noontide. He advises the fool that where one can no longer love, one should pass by, and he departs.
Chapter 72
The Apostates
Zarathustra observes that those who once followed him with youthful vigor have now become weary, comfortable, and have 'again become pious.' He mocks their return to religious devotion, describing them as cowardly and light-dreading. He recounts overhearing night-watchmen doubt God, and he laughs at their foolishness, asserting that the old gods laughed themselves to death when one claimed to be the only God. Zarathustra advises himself not to lament the withering of these followers but to blow them away like dead leaves.
Chapter 73
I
Zarathustra speaks as a diviner, wandering between past and future like a heavy cloud, charged with lightning and ready to kindle the light of the future. He expresses his ardent love for Eternity and the ring of eternal return.
Chapter 74
II
Zarathustra expresses his wrath against old values and dead gods, celebrating destruction as a prelude to creation. He declares his love for eternity and the eternal recurrence, personifying eternity as a beloved woman.
Chapter 75
The Return Home
Zarathustra returns to his solitude, which he personifies as his true home. He reflects on the difference between lonesomeness and forsakenness, recalling past moments of despair and isolation among men. He contrasts the pure, open stillness of his solitude with the noisy, petty, and pity-driven world of human society, where everything is misunderstood and trivialized. He celebrates his escape from the 'human hubbub' and the danger of pity, breathing freely again in the mountain air.
Chapter 76
The Three Evil Things
Zarathustra recounts a morning dream in which he weighed the world, and then proceeds to weigh the three things traditionally cursed as evil: voluptuousness, passion for power, and selfishness. He revalues each as wholesome and necessary, defending selfishness as healthy self-enjoyment of the powerful soul, and proclaiming the coming of the great noontide.
Chapter 77
I
Zarathustra speaks as a diviner, wandering between past and future like a heavy cloud, charged with lightning and ready to kindle the light of the future. He expresses his ardent love for Eternity and the ring of eternal return.
Chapter 78
II
Zarathustra expresses his wrath against old values and dead gods, celebrating destruction as a prelude to creation. He declares his love for eternity and the eternal recurrence, personifying eternity as a beloved woman.
Chapter 79
LV: The Spirit of Gravity
Zarathustra declares his hostility to the 'spirit of gravity'—the force that weighs down the human spirit with inherited values and self-contempt. He teaches self-love as a prerequisite for lightness and flight, and insists that each individual must discover their own path rather than follow a single 'way.'
Chapter 80
I
Zarathustra speaks as a diviner, wandering between past and future like a heavy cloud, charged with lightning and ready to kindle the light of the future. He expresses his ardent love for Eternity and the ring of eternal return.
Chapter 81
II
Zarathustra expresses his wrath against old values and dead gods, celebrating destruction as a prelude to creation. He declares his love for eternity and the eternal recurrence, personifying eternity as a beloved woman.
Chapter 82
LVI: Old and New Tables
Zarathustra sits among old and new tables, waiting for his hour of descent. He reflects on his past teachings, the creation of new values, and the need to surpass humanity. He calls for the destruction of old moral tables and the embrace of the Superman, redemption through creating, and the overcoming of weariness and sloth. He warns against parasites and preaches the joy of willing and creating.
Chapter 83
I
Zarathustra speaks as a diviner, wandering between past and future like a heavy cloud, charged with lightning and ready to kindle the light of the future. He expresses his ardent love for Eternity and the ring of eternal return.
Chapter 84
II
Zarathustra expresses his wrath against old values and dead gods, celebrating destruction as a prelude to creation. He declares his love for eternity and the eternal recurrence, personifying eternity as a beloved woman.
Chapter 85
III
Zarathustra expresses his profound love for eternity, describing the creative breath, the laughter of lightning, and playing dice with gods on the divine table of the earth. He yearns for the ring of return and declares his love for eternity itself.
Chapter 86
IV
Zarathustra expresses his love for eternity, describing how he has mingled opposites and desires the marriage-ring of return, affirming his devotion to the eternal recurrence.
Chapter 87
V
Zarathustra passionately declares his love for the sea and the boundless, celebrating the joy of exploration and the breaking of all chains. He then turns his ardor toward Eternity itself, expressing a profound desire for the eternal return and the marriage-ring of rings, concluding with a direct declaration of love for Eternity.
Chapter 88
VI
Zarathustra celebrates his love for eternity, envisioning a world where everything heavy becomes light, every body a dancer, and every spirit a bird. He declares his wickedness as laughing wickedness and his virtue as a dancer's virtue, culminating in a passionate declaration of love for eternity itself.
Chapter 89
VII
Zarathustra reflects on the joy of self-overcoming and flight into freedom, declaring his love for eternity and the eternal recurrence. He also critiques pity, recounting the devil's words that God died of his pity for man.
Chapter 90
VIII
Zarathustra uses the metaphor of a thawing wind to challenge the illusion of stable values, arguing that all is in flux and that the hard winter's doctrine of stasis is a false comfort. He calls his brethren to preach the transformative power of change.
Chapter 91
IX
Zarathustra reflects on the historical illusion of good and evil, tracing it from belief in fate under soothsayers and astrologers to a later belief in absolute freedom, concluding that true knowledge of good and evil remains absent.
Chapter 92
On the Old and New Tables
Zarathustra critiques the old moral precepts, calling them holy yet accusing them of being the greatest robbers and slayers of life and truth. He urges his brethren to break the old tables and create new values that affirm life.
Chapter 93
XI
Zarathustra reflects on the abandonment of the past to the whims of each new generation, which reinterprets it for its own purposes. He warns of the danger when the populace becomes master, drowning all time in shallow waters. He calls for a new nobility that opposes both populace and potentate rule, inscribing a new 'noble' on new tables, and hints at a multiplicity of gods rather than a single God.
Chapter 94
XII
Zarathustra consecrates his brethren to a new nobility, urging them to become creators and sowers of the future, to love their children's land rather than their fathers', and to redeem the past by looking outward, not backward.
Chapter 95
XIII
Zarathustra condemns the ancient 'wisdom' that declares life vain and meaningless, comparing it to childish fear of fire. He calls for breaking the tables of the joyless and affirms the value of living well.
Chapter 96
XIV
Zarathustra contrasts the people's saying 'To the clean are all things clean' with his own teaching that to the swine all things become swinish. He criticizes backworldsmen and those who see the world only from its backside, affirming that while the world contains filth, it is not itself a filthy monster. He finds wisdom in loathing, which creates wings and divine powers, and insists that even the best must be surpassed.
Chapter 97
XV
Zarathustra condemns the pious backworldsmen who preach passivity and renunciation of the world, urging his followers to shatter the old tables of such world-maligning morality.
Chapter 98
XVI
Zarathustra critiques the prevailing wisdom that equates learning with the weakening of desire, calling it a sermon for slavery. He urges his brethren to break this new table and teaches that willing is creating, and that true learning comes from the will to create.
Chapter 99
XVII
Zarathustra rebukes the world-weary, accusing them of still clinging to earthly desires and pleasures. He insists that true weariness would lead one to embrace the 'death-boat' into nothingness, but instead they remain attached to the earth. He calls for them to be roused with stripes or to pass away, asserting that making an end requires more courage than creating new verses.
Chapter 100
XVIII
Zarathustra warns his brethren about tables framed by weariness and slothfulness, describing a hero who lies down a span from his goal, too weary to continue. He urges them to let the hero rest until he awakens on his own, but to protect him from the 'cultured' vermin that feast on his sweat.
Chapter 101
XIX
Zarathustra speaks of building holy boundaries and ascending ever higher mountains, warning his brethren against parasites that attach to the weary and weak spots of ascending souls. He reflects on the nature of the highest soul, which, being most comprehensive and self-loving, inevitably attracts the worst parasites.
Chapter 102
XX
Zarathustra exhorts his brethren to embrace the decay of the present age, urging them to push what is falling and to learn to fall faster, as a prelude to better players and a higher future.
Chapter 103
XXI
Zarathustra counsels the brave to reserve themselves for worthier foes, to pass by the rabble and the noise of peoples and traders, and to let the best rule, for where the teaching is different, the best is lacking.
Chapter 104
XXII
Zarathustra reflects on the nature of humanity as the best beast of prey, arguing that hardship and struggle are necessary to elevate man above mere survival, and that even the birds remain beyond him, hinting at a future where man might learn to fly and transcend his current limitations.
Chapter 105
XXIII
Zarathustra declares his ideal for man and woman: man fit for war, woman fit for maternity, but both fit for dancing with head and legs. He insists that a day without dancing is lost, and that every truth without laughter is false.
Chapter 106
XXIV
Zarathustra critiques hasty marriages and advocates for honest, self-overcoming partnerships that serve the Superman. He urges that marriage be a garden for growth, not a binding of the ill-suited.
Chapter 107
XXV
Zarathustra teaches that true wisdom seeks new origins and futures, comparing the emergence of new peoples to earthquakes that reveal hidden powers. He redefines human society as an attempt to find a ruler, not a contract, urging destruction of softhearted notions.
Chapter 108
XXVI
Zarathustra warns his brethren that the greatest danger to humanity's future comes from the 'good and just,' who, believing they already possess what is good, oppose creators and new values. He identifies them as Pharisees who crucify those who break old tablets and invent their own virtue, thus sacrificing the future.
Chapter 109
XXVII
Zarathustra calls upon his brethren to recognize the greatest danger to humanity's future as lying with the 'good and just,' urging them to break up these figures to enable the emergence of the Superman.
Chapter 110
XXVIII
Zarathustra urges his brethren to break free from the 'good' and their moral tables, embracing the terror and nausea of the high seas of self-overcoming. He calls them to become sailors toward the future, leaving behind false securities and fatherlands for the land of their children.
Chapter 111
XXIX
Zarathustra exhorts his brethren to become hard, like diamond, in order to create and conquer with him. He contrasts softness and submission with the hardness required for creators, urging them to press their will upon millennia as upon wax or brass.
Chapter 112
The Sign
Zarathustra addresses his own Will, imploring it to preserve him from small victories and to prepare him for a single great victory. He envisions himself as a bow, arrow, and star, ripe for the great noontide and ready for annihilation in triumph.
Chapter 113
The Convalescent
Zarathustra awakens from a seven-day convalescence after confronting his most abysmal thought—the eternal recurrence of the small man. His animals, the eagle and serpent, urge him to sing and create new lyres, articulating the doctrine of eternal return. Zarathustra recounts his disgust at humanity's smallness and his struggle with the soothsayer's prophecy, ultimately finding consolation in the necessity of singing and self-overcoming.
Chapter 114
I
Zarathustra speaks as a diviner, wandering between past and future like a heavy cloud, charged with lightning and ready to kindle the light of the future. He expresses his ardent love for Eternity and the ring of eternal return.
Chapter 115
II
Zarathustra expresses his wrath against old values and dead gods, celebrating destruction as a prelude to creation. He declares his love for eternity and the eternal recurrence, personifying eternity as a beloved woman.
Chapter 116
LVIII: The Great Longing
Zarathustra addresses his soul, recounting how he has taught it to transcend time, shed shame, and embrace freedom and contempt. He describes his soul as a vine heavy with grapes, longing for the vintager and the vintage-knife. He urges his soul to sing rather than weep, anticipating future songs that will name the great deliverer.
Chapter 117
LIX: The Second Dance-Song
Zarathustra engages in a poetic and playful dance with Life, who accuses him of planning to leave her. Their dialogue reveals a deep, ambivalent bond beyond good and evil, culminating in a shared moment of weeping and the midnight clock's profound song about eternity.
Chapter 118
I
Zarathustra speaks as a diviner, wandering between past and future like a heavy cloud, charged with lightning and ready to kindle the light of the future. He expresses his ardent love for Eternity and the ring of eternal return.
Chapter 119
II
Zarathustra expresses his wrath against old values and dead gods, celebrating destruction as a prelude to creation. He declares his love for eternity and the eternal recurrence, personifying eternity as a beloved woman.
Chapter 120
III
Zarathustra expresses his profound love for eternity, describing the creative breath, the laughter of lightning, and playing dice with gods on the divine table of the earth. He yearns for the ring of return and declares his love for eternity itself.
Chapter 121
The Seven Seals (Or the Yea and Amen Lay)
Zarathustra delivers a lyrical, ecstatic hymn celebrating his love for eternity and the eternal recurrence. Through seven verses, he affirms his role as a diviner of the future, a destroyer of old values, a creator who plays dice with gods, a mixer of all things, a seafarer of the boundless, a dancer who turns heaviness into lightness, and a bird who transcends all dualities. Each verse culminates in the refrain declaring his love for eternity and the marriage-ring of return.
Chapter 122
I
Zarathustra speaks as a diviner, wandering between past and future like a heavy cloud, charged with lightning and ready to kindle the light of the future. He expresses his ardent love for Eternity and the ring of eternal return.
Chapter 123
II
Zarathustra expresses his wrath against old values and dead gods, celebrating destruction as a prelude to creation. He declares his love for eternity and the eternal recurrence, personifying eternity as a beloved woman.
Chapter 124
III
Zarathustra expresses his profound love for eternity, describing the creative breath, the laughter of lightning, and playing dice with gods on the divine table of the earth. He yearns for the ring of return and declares his love for eternity itself.
Chapter 125
IV
Zarathustra expresses his love for eternity, describing how he has mingled opposites and desires the marriage-ring of return, affirming his devotion to the eternal recurrence.
Chapter 126
V
Zarathustra passionately declares his love for the sea and the boundless, celebrating the joy of exploration and the breaking of all chains. He then turns his ardor toward Eternity itself, expressing a profound desire for the eternal return and the marriage-ring of rings, concluding with a direct declaration of love for Eternity.
Chapter 127
VI
Zarathustra celebrates his love for eternity, envisioning a world where everything heavy becomes light, every body a dancer, and every spirit a bird. He declares his wickedness as laughing wickedness and his virtue as a dancer's virtue, culminating in a passionate declaration of love for eternity itself.
Chapter 128
VII
Zarathustra reflects on the joy of self-overcoming and flight into freedom, declaring his love for eternity and the eternal recurrence. He also critiques pity, recounting the devil's words that God died of his pity for man.
Chapter 129
LXI: The Honey Sacrifice
Zarathustra, now white-haired, sits before his cave and reflects on his happiness and his work. He ascends a high mountain with his animals, then sends them away to be alone. He reveals that his talk of sacrifice is a ruse; he is a fisherman of men, casting his happiness as bait to lure the strangest human fish up to his height. He waits for the time of his 'down-going' and speaks of a future Zarathustra-kingdom of a thousand years, laughing with wickedness and patience.
Chapter 130
The Cry of Distress
Zarathustra is visited by the soothsayer, who warns him of rising waves of distress and a cry from a higher man calling for him. The soothsayer tempts Zarathustra to his last sin of pity, but Zarathustra resists, asserts that Happy Isles still exist, and departs to seek the higher man in the forest, leaving the soothsayer to wait in his cave.
Chapter 131
LXIII: Talk with the Kings
Zarathustra encounters two kings on the path who are fleeing their corrupt courts in search of the higher man. The kings express disgust with the false nobility and populace, and they bring an ass as a gift for the highest man. Zarathustra mocks their eagerness but invites them to wait in his cave.
Chapter 132
I
In the cool, thoughtful night, Zarathustra leads the ugliest man and the other higher men outside to show them the moon and waterfalls. The ugliest man, content for the first time with his life, declares that one festival with Zarathustra has taught him to love the earth and that he would willingly live again. This question sparks a transformation in the higher men, who rush to thank and honor Zarathustra, with the soothsayer dancing and even the ass reportedly joining in, though the narrator suggests greater wonders occurred.
Chapter 133
II
Zarathustra, stunned by the appearance of the ugliest man, stands as if drunk and distant, wandering mentally between past and future. As the higher men support him, he hears a midnight bell and, after three calls, invites them to wander into the night.
Chapter 134
LXIV: The Leech
Zarathustra, lost in thought, accidentally treads upon a man lying in a swamp. The man, initially enraged, reveals himself as the spiritually conscientious one who has devoted his life to studying the brain of the leech. Recognizing Zarathustra, he praises him as a 'great conscience-leech.' Zarathustra invites him to his cave for healing and further conversation, but is called away by a cry of distress.
Chapter 135
LXV: The Magician
Zarathustra encounters a man who appears to be in great distress, but soon recognizes him as the Magician, a master of deception and performance. The Magician confesses his lies and his search for a truly great man, ultimately revealing that he was testing Zarathustra. Zarathustra sees through the Magician's tricks, acknowledges his genuine weariness, and directs him to his cave, while reflecting on the nature of greatness in an age of the populace.
Chapter 136
I
In the cool, thoughtful night, Zarathustra leads the ugliest man and the other higher men outside to show them the moon and waterfalls. The ugliest man, content for the first time with his life, declares that one festival with Zarathustra has taught him to love the earth and that he would willingly live again. This question sparks a transformation in the higher men, who rush to thank and honor Zarathustra, with the soothsayer dancing and even the ass reportedly joining in, though the narrator suggests greater wonders occurred.
Chapter 137
II
Zarathustra, stunned by the appearance of the ugliest man, stands as if drunk and distant, wandering mentally between past and future. As the higher men support him, he hears a midnight bell and, after three calls, invites them to wander into the night.
Chapter 138
Out of Service
Zarathustra encounters the last pope, who served the old God until his death. The pope, now out of service and seeking a new master, reveals his intimate knowledge of God's nature and death. Zarathustra engages in a dialogue about the death of God, the nature of piety, and the priestly type, ultimately inviting the pope to his cave while acknowledging his own ungodliness.
Chapter 139
LXVII: The Ugliest Man
Zarathustra enters a deathly valley and encounters the Ugliest Man, who reveals himself as the murderer of God. The Ugliest Man explains that God had to die because His pity knew no modesty and He saw all human ugliness and shame. He seeks refuge with Zarathustra, who recognizes him and offers his cave as a hiding place, warning him against pity.
Chapter 140
LXVIII: The Voluntary Beggar
Zarathustra encounters the Voluntary Beggar, a former rich man who fled to the poorest and then to the animals, seeking happiness and learning from the kine. They discuss the corruption of wealth, the mob-and-slave insurrection, and the art of giving. Zarathustra invites him to his cave, but playfully drives him away when flattered.
Chapter 141
LXIX: The Shadow
Zarathustra is pursued by his own shadow, a weary and homeless wanderer who has followed him through the most forbidden and extreme realms. The shadow confesses its loss of goal, belief, and home, having become a hollow, drifting figure. Zarathustra, initially irritated, offers the shadow rest in his cave but then resolves to run alone to regain brightness, warning the shadow against being captured by a narrow faith.
Chapter 142
Noontide
Zarathustra, wandering alone at noon, stops by a vine-covered tree, feels a desire for grapes but instead lies down to sleep. In a half-dreaming state, he reflects on the perfection of the world, the lightness of happiness, and the stillness of eternity. He struggles between waking and sleeping, ultimately rising to find the sun still overhead, suggesting only a brief rest.
Chapter 143
LXXI: The Greeting
Zarathustra returns to his cave to find all the higher men he encountered during the day gathered inside, including the two kings, the magician, the pope, the voluntary beggar, the shadow, the conscientious in spirit, the soothsayer, the ass, and the ugliest man. He greets them with love and mischief, offering them security and hospitality, but then speaks plainly that they are not the ones he truly awaits—they are only bridges and steps for higher ones, his children, the laughing lions, who are yet to come.
Chapter 144
LXXII: The Supper
The soothsayer interrupts Zarathustra's greeting, demanding wine and food. Zarathustra organizes a meal with the help of the kings, preparing lambs, roots, fruits, and nuts. The voluntary beggar objects to the flesh and wine, but Zarathustra affirms his own law of strength and joy. The repast begins, focusing on the higher men.
Chapter 145
The Higher Man
Zarathustra addresses the 'higher men,' urging them to reject the marketplace, the herd, and the petty virtues of the populace. He declares that God is dead and that the goal is now the Superman, not the preservation of man. He calls for courage, self-overcoming, honesty, and the embrace of difficulty and failure as necessary for creation and ascent. He warns against false values, submission, and the comfort-seeking of the petty people, and encourages laughter, play, and the pursuit of the perfect.
Chapter 146
I
In the cool, thoughtful night, Zarathustra leads the ugliest man and the other higher men outside to show them the moon and waterfalls. The ugliest man, content for the first time with his life, declares that one festival with Zarathustra has taught him to love the earth and that he would willingly live again. This question sparks a transformation in the higher men, who rush to thank and honor Zarathustra, with the soothsayer dancing and even the ass reportedly joining in, though the narrator suggests greater wonders occurred.
Chapter 147
II
Zarathustra, stunned by the appearance of the ugliest man, stands as if drunk and distant, wandering mentally between past and future. As the higher men support him, he hears a midnight bell and, after three calls, invites them to wander into the night.
Chapter 148
The Night Song and the Midnight
Zarathustra speaks to the higher men in the deep of midnight, using the metaphor of the old clock-bell to convey a mysterious, frightful, and cordial message that can only be heard in the stillness of night, urging them to heed the profound wisdom of the midnight hour.
Chapter 149
IV
Zarathustra, in a moment of deep introspection, questions the passage of time and his own existence. He speaks of a midnight hour that demands courage and mastery over the world, addressing the higher man directly with a cryptic and urgent message.
Chapter 150
V
Zarathustra addresses the higher men, urging them to dance and transcend their limitations, but warns that they have not flown high enough. The imagery of sepulchres, moonlight, and a deep world evokes themes of death, awakening, and the eternal depth of existence.
Chapter 151
VI
Zarathustra addresses the higher men with a lyrical invocation to his lyre, celebrating a ripe, drunken tone that speaks of father-pain and forefathers'-pain. He declares that the world has become ripe and wishes to die of happiness, evoking a mysterious odor of eternity and drunken midnight-death happiness.
Chapter 152
VII
Zarathustra rejects the day and the world as too coarse for his refined soul, declaring himself a midnight-soul of depth and purity, and asserting that the purest and strongest are destined to be masters of the world.
Chapter 153
VIII
Zarathustra, in a lyrical and intoxicated midnight song, addresses the higher men, lamenting that they do not understand him. He personifies midnight as a drunken poetess who ruminates on both woe and joy, ultimately asserting that joy is deeper than grief.
Chapter 154
IX
Zarathustra addresses a grapevine, reflecting on the relationship between suffering, maturity, and the desire for eternal recurrence. He contrasts the longing of suffering for heirs and self-overcoming with joy's desire for eternity and self-sameness.
Chapter 155
The Intoxicated Song
Zarathustra delivers a rhapsodic speech to the higher men, proclaiming the unity of joy and woe, and the eternal recurrence of all things. He challenges them to embrace the world's eternal return, affirming that every joy demands eternity.
Chapter 156
XI
Zarathustra speaks to the higher men about the nature of joy, which desires eternity, grief, and all things—including woe, hate, and the world—because joy is so rich it longs for its own opposite and for the eternal recurrence of all experiences.
Chapter 157
XII
Zarathustra calls upon the higher men to sing his roundelay, a song that speaks of the deep world, woe, and the eternal longing of joy for eternity.
Chapter 158
XIII
Zarathustra warns against forcing virtue beyond one's nature, urging people to walk in the footsteps of their fathers' virtues and vices rather than pretending to be saints where they are not. He criticizes the folly of demanding chastity from those whose lineage inclines toward indulgence, and he questions the holiness of monasteries, suggesting that solitude can unleash the brute within.
Chapter 159
XIV
Zarathustra addresses the higher men, chiding them for their shame and awkwardness after failed attempts, and encourages them to embrace play and mockery as essential to overcoming failure.
Chapter 160
XV
Zarathustra addresses the higher men, acknowledging their failures and half-successes, but encouraging them to laugh at themselves and recognize the potential within them. He points out that the earth is rich in small, perfect things that can heal the heart and inspire hope.
Chapter 161
XVI
Zarathustra condemns the absolute ones who curse laughter and lack love for the earth, arguing that they are a sickly populace-type who cannot dance and do not know how to make the earth light.
Chapter 162
XVII
Zarathustra exhorts his followers to embrace lightness, dance, and laughter as signs of approaching their goals, contrasting this with the stiffness of those who have not found their own path.
Chapter 163
XVIII
Zarathustra crowns himself with the rose-garland of laughter, declaring himself the dancer, the light one, the soothsayer and sooth-laugher, who loves leaps and side-leaps, and has consecrated his own laughter.
Chapter 164
XIX
Zarathustra exhorts the higher men to lift their hearts and legs, to dance even in awkwardness, and to unlearn sorrow and populace-sadness, embracing happiness over misfortune.
Chapter 165
XX
Zarathustra exhorts the higher men to embrace a spirit of wild, free laughter and dance, urging them to overcome their failures and learn to laugh beyond themselves as a consecration of the Übermensch.
Chapter 166
The Song of Melancholy
Zarathustra steps outside his cave to enjoy the pure air and the company of his animals, leaving the higher men inside. The old magician then seizes the moment to conjure a spirit of melancholy and deceit, performing a song that explores the nature of the poet as a liar, a fool, and a predator, contrasting with the ideal of a truth-seeker.
Chapter 167
I
In the cool, thoughtful night, Zarathustra leads the ugliest man and the other higher men outside to show them the moon and waterfalls. The ugliest man, content for the first time with his life, declares that one festival with Zarathustra has taught him to love the earth and that he would willingly live again. This question sparks a transformation in the higher men, who rush to thank and honor Zarathustra, with the soothsayer dancing and even the ass reportedly joining in, though the narrator suggests greater wonders occurred.
Chapter 168
II
Zarathustra, stunned by the appearance of the ugliest man, stands as if drunk and distant, wandering mentally between past and future. As the higher men support him, he hears a midnight bell and, after three calls, invites them to wander into the night.
Chapter 169
The Night Song and the Midnight
Zarathustra speaks to the higher men in the deep of midnight, using the metaphor of the old clock-bell to convey a mysterious, frightful, and cordial message that can only be heard in the stillness of night, urging them to heed the profound wisdom of the midnight hour.
Chapter 170
LXXV: Science
The magician's song entrances the higher men, but the conscientious in spirit resists, snatching the harp and accusing the magician of seduction and deceit. He argues that fear is the origin of all human virtue and science, while Zarathustra counters that courage, not fear, is the true foundation of human history. The higher men laugh in unison, and the magician reconciles, predicting Zarathustra will again love him. Zarathustra then feels a longing for the open air and his animals.
Chapter 171
Among Daughters of the Desert
Zarathustra's shadow, the wanderer, pleads with Zarathustra to stay, fearing a return of melancholy. He recalls a song he once composed among Oriental maidens in the desert, celebrating clear, bright air and playful, enigmatic femininity. The shadow sings a whimsical, self-mocking poem about sitting in an oasis, surrounded by maidens named Dudu and Suleika, and contrasts the desert's vitality with the damp gloom of Old Europe.
Chapter 172
I
In the cool, thoughtful night, Zarathustra leads the ugliest man and the other higher men outside to show them the moon and waterfalls. The ugliest man, content for the first time with his life, declares that one festival with Zarathustra has taught him to love the earth and that he would willingly live again. This question sparks a transformation in the higher men, who rush to thank and honor Zarathustra, with the soothsayer dancing and even the ass reportedly joining in, though the narrator suggests greater wonders occurred.
Chapter 173
II
Zarathustra, stunned by the appearance of the ugliest man, stands as if drunk and distant, wandering mentally between past and future. As the higher men support him, he hears a midnight bell and, after three calls, invites them to wander into the night.
Chapter 174
LXXVII: The Awakening
Zarathustra observes the higher men in his cave, now noisy and laughing, and feels a mix of aversion and joy at their apparent convalescence. He steps outside to speak with his animals, celebrating the defeat of the 'spirit of gravity' and the newfound thankfulness of his guests. Suddenly, the cave falls silent, and Zarathustra discovers the higher men—including the two kings, the pope out of service, the magician, the voluntary beggar, the wanderer and shadow, the soothsayer, the conscientious in spirit, and the ugliest man—kneeling and worshipping an ass, reciting a litany praising its patience, silence, and affirmation.
Chapter 175
I
In the cool, thoughtful night, Zarathustra leads the ugliest man and the other higher men outside to show them the moon and waterfalls. The ugliest man, content for the first time with his life, declares that one festival with Zarathustra has taught him to love the earth and that he would willingly live again. This question sparks a transformation in the higher men, who rush to thank and honor Zarathustra, with the soothsayer dancing and even the ass reportedly joining in, though the narrator suggests greater wonders occurred.
Chapter 176
II
Zarathustra, stunned by the appearance of the ugliest man, stands as if drunk and distant, wandering mentally between past and future. As the higher men support him, he hears a midnight bell and, after three calls, invites them to wander into the night.
Chapter 177
The Ass-Festival
Zarathustra interrupts his guests during a mock religious ceremony in which they worship an ass, rebuking them for their childish piety and idolatry. The pope, the wanderer and shadow, the magician, the conscientious in spirit, and the ugliest man each defend their participation, revealing a complex interplay of belief, unbelief, and the reawakening of the old God. Zarathustra ultimately embraces their newfound joy and declares the ass-festival a good omen for convalescents, urging them to celebrate it in remembrance of him.
Chapter 178
I
In the cool, thoughtful night, Zarathustra leads the ugliest man and the other higher men outside to show them the moon and waterfalls. The ugliest man, content for the first time with his life, declares that one festival with Zarathustra has taught him to love the earth and that he would willingly live again. This question sparks a transformation in the higher men, who rush to thank and honor Zarathustra, with the soothsayer dancing and even the ass reportedly joining in, though the narrator suggests greater wonders occurred.
Chapter 179
II
Zarathustra, stunned by the appearance of the ugliest man, stands as if drunk and distant, wandering mentally between past and future. As the higher men support him, he hears a midnight bell and, after three calls, invites them to wander into the night.
Chapter 180
The Night Song and the Midnight
Zarathustra speaks to the higher men in the deep of midnight, using the metaphor of the old clock-bell to convey a mysterious, frightful, and cordial message that can only be heard in the stillness of night, urging them to heed the profound wisdom of the midnight hour.
Chapter 181
The Drunken Song
In the aftermath of the day's events, the higher men gather outside Zarathustra's cave under the night sky. The ugliest man expresses contentment with life and a desire for its recurrence, prompting a joyful transformation among the higher men. Zarathustra, overcome, leads them into a mystical midnight meditation on the nature of joy, woe, and eternity, culminating in his roundelay affirming that joy wants deep, profound eternity.
Chapter 182
I
In the cool, thoughtful night, Zarathustra leads the ugliest man and the other higher men outside to show them the moon and waterfalls. The ugliest man, content for the first time with his life, declares that one festival with Zarathustra has taught him to love the earth and that he would willingly live again. This question sparks a transformation in the higher men, who rush to thank and honor Zarathustra, with the soothsayer dancing and even the ass reportedly joining in, though the narrator suggests greater wonders occurred.
Chapter 183
II
Zarathustra, stunned by the appearance of the ugliest man, stands as if drunk and distant, wandering mentally between past and future. As the higher men support him, he hears a midnight bell and, after three calls, invites them to wander into the night.
Chapter 184
The Night Song and the Midnight
Zarathustra speaks to the higher men in the deep of midnight, using the metaphor of the old clock-bell to convey a mysterious, frightful, and cordial message that can only be heard in the stillness of night, urging them to heed the profound wisdom of the midnight hour.
Chapter 185
IV
Zarathustra, in a moment of deep introspection, questions the passage of time and his own existence. He speaks of a midnight hour that demands courage and mastery over the world, addressing the higher man directly with a cryptic and urgent message.
Chapter 186
V
Zarathustra addresses the higher men, urging them to dance and transcend their limitations, but warns that they have not flown high enough. The imagery of sepulchres, moonlight, and a deep world evokes themes of death, awakening, and the eternal depth of existence.
Chapter 187
VI
Zarathustra addresses the higher men with a lyrical invocation to his lyre, celebrating a ripe, drunken tone that speaks of father-pain and forefathers'-pain. He declares that the world has become ripe and wishes to die of happiness, evoking a mysterious odor of eternity and drunken midnight-death happiness.
Chapter 188
VII
Zarathustra rejects the day and the world as too coarse for his refined soul, declaring himself a midnight-soul of depth and purity, and asserting that the purest and strongest are destined to be masters of the world.
Chapter 189
VIII
Zarathustra, in a lyrical and intoxicated midnight song, addresses the higher men, lamenting that they do not understand him. He personifies midnight as a drunken poetess who ruminates on both woe and joy, ultimately asserting that joy is deeper than grief.
Chapter 190
IX
Zarathustra addresses a grapevine, reflecting on the relationship between suffering, maturity, and the desire for eternal recurrence. He contrasts the longing of suffering for heirs and self-overcoming with joy's desire for eternity and self-sameness.
Chapter 191
The Intoxicated Song
Zarathustra delivers a rhapsodic speech to the higher men, proclaiming the unity of joy and woe, and the eternal recurrence of all things. He challenges them to embrace the world's eternal return, affirming that every joy demands eternity.
Chapter 192
XI
Zarathustra speaks to the higher men about the nature of joy, which desires eternity, grief, and all things—including woe, hate, and the world—because joy is so rich it longs for its own opposite and for the eternal recurrence of all experiences.
Chapter 193
XII
Zarathustra calls upon the higher men to sing his roundelay, a song that speaks of the deep world, woe, and the eternal longing of joy for eternity.
Chapter 194
LXXX: The Sign
Zarathustra awakens at dawn, feeling that the higher men are not his true companions. He is visited by a flock of doves and a lion, which he interprets as a sign that his children are near. The higher men flee in terror at the lion's roar. Zarathustra reflects on the soothsayer's prophecy and recognizes that his last sin was fellow-suffering with the higher men. He declares his time has come and leaves his cave, strong and glowing like the morning sun.
