1. And I was in my meadow mowing my second crop, and it was hot, and I was weary, and a plum tree with green plums to me was nigh.
2. And lying down under the plum tree, I slumbered.
3. And during my sleep I had a vision, and I heard a voice sharp and ringing like the sound of a posthorn.
4. And that voice was sometimes weak and sometimes strong, sometimes booming and sometimes clear, passing alternately and rapidly from the deepest to the sharpest sounds, like the mewing of a cat on a gutter, or like the declamation of Reverend Imer, Deacon of Val de Travers.1
5. And the voice addressing itself to me spoke to me thus: Pierre the Seer, my son, listen to my words; and I kept quiet while slumbering, and the voice continued.
6. Listen to the word that I address to thee on behalf of the Spirit, and hold it in thine heart. Broadcast it throughout the earth and throughout Val-de-Travers, so that it might edify all the faithful;
7. And so that, taught about the punishment of the rebel Pierre of the Valley called Pierrot of the Ladies, they learn no longer to despise the nocturnal inspirations of the voice.
8. For I had chosen him in the abjectness of his mind and in the stupidity of his heart to be my interpreter.
9. I had made him the honorable successor of my Servant la Batizarde,R1 so that, like her, he might carry the light of my inspirations to all the Church.
10. I had charged him with being, like her, the organ of my word so that my glory might be manifested, and so that it might be seen that when I please I can draw gold from mud, and pearls from manure.
11. I had said to him: go speak to thine errant brother Jean-Jacques who is going astray, and lead him back to the good path.
12. For at bottom thy brother Jean-Jacques is a good man who does wrong to no one, who fears God and who loves the truth.
13. But in order to lead him back from an aberration this people falls into one itself, and for wishing to bring him back to the faith, this people renounces the Law.
14. For the law forbids avenging the offenses one has received and they ceaselessly revile a man who has not offended them at all.
15. The law commands returning good for evil, and they return him evil for good.
16. The Law commands loving those who hate us, and they hate the one who loves them.
17. The Law commands employing mercy, and they do not even employ justice.
18. The Law forbids lying, and there is no sort of lie that they do not invent against him.
19. The Law forbids slander, and they ceaselessly calumniate him.
20. They accuse him of having said that women did not have any soul, and he says on the contrary that all lovable women have at least two of them.2
21. They accuse him of not believing in God, and no one has so strongly proven the existence of God.
22. They say that he is the Antichrist, and no one has honored Christ in such a worthy manner.
23. They say that he wishes to unsettle their consciences, and never has he spoken to them about Religion.
24. If they read Books written for his defense in other countries, is it His fault and has he entreated them to read them? But on the contrary, it is because they have not read them that they believe that there are bad things in these Books that are not there, and they do not believe that the good things that are in them are in fact in them.
25. For those who have read them think completely otherwise about them, and say so if they are of good faith.
26. Yet this People is naturally good, but they are deceived; and they do not see that they are made to defend the cause of Good with the arms of Satan.
27. Let us draw them from the bad way where they are being led, and let us remove this stumbling block from in front of their feet.
1. Go then and speak to thine errant brother Jean-Jacques, and address these words to him in my name: thus has spoken the voice on behalf of the spirit.
2. My son Jean-Jacques, thou losest thy way in thine ideas. Come back to thyself, be docile, and receive my words of correction.
3. Thou believest in the powerful, intelligent, good, just and rewarding God; and in that thou doest well.
4. Thou believest in his son Jesus his Christ and in his word; and in that thou doest well.
5. Thou followest with all thy power the precepts of the Holy Gospel; and in that thou doest well.
6. Thou lovest men as thy neighbor and Christians as thy brothers. Thou doest good when thou canst, and never doest evil to anyone except for thy defense and that of justice.
7. Based on experience thou awaitest little equity on the part of men; but thou puttest thine hope in the other life which will compensate thee for the miseries of this one; and in all that thou doest well.
8. I know thy works; I love the good ones, thine heart and my clemency will efface the bad ones. But one thing displeases me in thee.
9. Thou persisteth in rejecting miracles; and what do miracles matter to thee? Since moreover thou believest in the Law without them, speaketh not about them, and no longer cause scandal to the weak.
10. And when thou, Pierre of the Valley, called Pierrot of the Ladies, will have said these words to thine errant brother Jean-Jacques, he will be seized with astonishment.
11. And seeing that thou, who art a coarse and a stupid man, speakest to him reasonably and decently, he will be struck by this prodigy, and he will recognize the finger of God.
12. And prostrating himself on the earth he will say. Behold my brother Pierrot of the Ladies who utters sensible and decent speeches. My disbelief gives way to this obvious sign. I believe in miracles, for none is greater than this one.
13. And all of Val de Travers witness of this double prodigy will intone canticles of joy; and it will be proclaimed from all sides in the six communities. Jean-Jacques believes in miracles, and sensible speeches come out of the mouth of Pierrot of the Ladies. The Almighty shows himself in his works: let his holy name be blessed.
14. Then, ashamed at having insulted a peaceful and gentle man, they will hasten to make him forget their outrages, and they will love him as their neighbor, and he will love them as his brothers. Seditious cries will no longer stir them up, hypocrisy will exhale its gall in vain murmurs to which even women will not listen at all. The peace of Christ will reign among Christians and scandal will be removed from their midst.
15. It is thus that I had spoken to Pierre of the Valley, called Pierrot of the Ladies, when I deigned to choose him to carry my word to his errant brother.
16. But instead of submitting to the mission that I had given him, and going to find Jean-Jacques as I had commanded him, he did not have faith in my promise, and was not able to believe in the miracle of which he was to be the instrument. Wild like the Onager of the desert and stubborn as Edom’s Mule, he could not believe that persuasive speeches could be put in his mouth and has persisted in his rebellion.
17. This is why, having rejected him, I order thee Pierre of the mountain, called the Seer, to write this anathema and to address it to him either directly or through the public, so that he cannot claim ignorance of it, and so that everyone may learn from the accomplishment of the punishment that I predict for him, not to disobey holy visions any longer.
1. Here are the words dictated by the voice under the plum tree with green plums to me, Pierre of the Mountain, called the Seer; to be the sentence conveyed in the same duly signified and pronounced to the said Pierre of the Valley, called Pierrot of the Ladies, so that he might prepare himself for its execution, and all the People being witness to it might become wise by this example, and learn not to disobey holy visions any longer.
2. Stiff-necked man, didst thou fear that he who caused fleshly nourishment to be given to the prophet through crows could not give spiritual nourishment to thy brother through thee? Fearest thou that he who made an ass speak cannot make a Horse speak?
3. Instead of proceeding uprightly and confidently to fulfill the mission I had given thee, thou hast lost thyself in the aberration of thy bad heart. Out of fear of leading thy brother to repentence thou hast not wished to bring him my word. Instead of that, abandoning thyself to the spirit of cabal and lying, thou hast divulged the order that I had given thee in secret, and malignantly suppressing the good that I had charged thee to say, thou hast falsely substituted for it the evil about which I had not spoken to thee.
4. This is why I have brought against thee this irrevocable judgment of which nothing can stay or change the effect. Thou then, Pierre of the Valley called Pierrot of the Ladies, listen and tremble; for behold thine hour draweth nigh; its speed will be ruled by thy thirst.
5. I know all thy secret machinations; thy plots have been formed while drinking; it is while drinking that they will be punished. Since the memorable night of thy vision until this day the thirteenth of the Month of ElulR2 at the ninth hour,R3 one hundred and sixteen hours have passed.
6. In my clemency to give thee time to know thyself and to mend thy ways, I grant thee the power to drink one hundred and fifteen more bumpers of pure wine, or their value, measured in the same cup in which thou hast drunk thy last draught, on the eve of thy vision.
7. But as soon as thy lips will have touched the one hundred and sixteenth bumper, thou must die; and before it has been emptied, thou wilt die suddenly.
8. And do thou not think to deceive me about the count by drinking furtively or in cups of varying measure. For I follow thee everywhere with my eye, and my measure is as sure as that of thy servant’s bread, and as the balance in which thou weighest thy coins.
9. In whatever time and in whatever place thou drinkest the one hundred and sixteenth bumper, thou wilt die suddenly.
10. If thou drinkest it in the depths of thy cellar hidden alone among thy barrels of bad wine, thou wilt die suddenly.
11. If thou drinkest it at table in the midst of thy family at the end of thy meager dinner, thou wilt die suddenly.
12. If thou drinkest it at Joseph Clerc’s3 seeking some lie in the wine along with him, thou wilt die suddenly.
13. If thou drinkest it at Mayor Baillod’s4 house listening to one of his old sermons, thou wilt fall asleep for ever, even if he does not continue to read.
14. If thou drinkest it while chatting with the Professor5 in secret, even while scheming some new vision, thou wilt die suddenly.
15. Happy mortal, until thy final moment and beyond, thou wilt put more spirit6 into thy stomach while dying than thy brain will yield of it, and the most pompous funeral oration in which thy visions will be celebrated will yield thee more honor after thy death than thou hadst in thy life.
16. Boy,7 too happy Pierre Boy,8 hasten thee to drink. Thou canst not hurry too much to go to win the laurels that await thee in the country of visions. Thou wilt die, but thanks to this one thy name will live among men. Boy, Pierre Boy: go promptly to the immortality that is owed thee. So be it; Amen, Amen.
17. And when I heard these words, I, Pierre of the Mountain called the Seer, I was seized by a great fear, and I said to the voice.
18. God forbid that I should herald these things without being assured of them by a sign. I know my brother Pierrot of the Ladies: he wants to have visions all to himself. He will not wish to believe in mine, even though I have been named the Seer. But if it must come to pass as thou sayest, giveth me a sign under whose authority I can speak.
19. And as I was finishing these words, behold I was awakened by a terrible blow, and putting my hand onto my head, I felt my face completely bloodied: for my nose was bleeding very much and the blood streamed down my face. Nevertheless after having stanched it as much as I could, I arose without any other wound, except that my nose was bruised and extremely swollen.
20. Then, looking around me from whence this blow could come, at last I saw that a plum had fallen from the tree and had struck me.
21. Seeing the plum near me, I took it up; and after having considered it well, I recognized that it was extremely healthy, extremely big, extremely green, and extremely hard, as the condition of my nose attested.
22. Then, my understanding having been opened, I saw that the plum in this condition could not naturally have fallen by itself. I saw in addition that the direct hit on the end of my nose was another miracle not less manifest, which confirmed the first one and showed clearly the work of the Spirit.
23. And, giving thanks to the voice for such an evident sign, I resolved to publish the vision as it was commanded me, and to keep the plum as evidence for my words, as I have done up to this day.
Notes
R1 An old gossip, from the dregs of the People, who formerly prided herself for having visions.
R2 The month of Elul corresponds just about to our month of August.
R3 At this season the ninth hour comes around two hours after noon.