Short Stories

The Triumph Of The Egg

A Book Of Impressions
From American Life
In Tales And Poems

By
Sherwood Anderson

In Clay By
Tennessee Mitchell

In the fields Seeds on the air floating.  In the towns Black smoke for a shroud.  In my breast Understanding awake. Mid American Chants.

To
Robert And John Anderson

Tales are people who sit on the doorstep of the house of my mind. 
It is cold outside and they sit waiting. 
I look out at a window.

The tales have cold hands,
Their hands are freezing.

A short thickly-built tale arises and threshes his arms about. 
His nose is red and he has two gold teeth.

There is an old female tale sitting hunched up in a cloak.

Many tales come to sit for a few moments on the doorstep
     and then go away. 
It is too cold for them outside. 
The street before the door of the house of my mind is
     filled with tales. 
They murmur and cry out, they are dying of cold and hunger.

I am a helpless man—­my hands tremble. 
I should be sitting on a bench like a tailor. 
I should be weaving warm cloth out of the threads of thought. 
The tales should be clothed. 
They are freezing on the doorstep of the house of my mind.

I am a helpless man—­my hands tremble. 
I feel in the darkness but cannot find the doorknob. 
I look out at a window. 
Many tales are dying in the street before the house of my mind.