THE ANCIENT MARINER

THE ANCIENT MARINER
S. T. COLERIDGE

The marriage ceremony was over and the guests were all going to the feast. The old grey-bearded sailor sat on a stone outside the church and watched the people walking past home. He had a strange, mad look in his eyes, and suddenly he stopped one of the guests.

There was a ship ………… the old sailor began, and he spoke so strangely that the guest stood still and listened to him. The feast began; the guest could hear the music and the laughter, but for some reason he could not move to join the others. He had to stay and listen to the bright-eyed sailor’s story.

The old man told him about his last journey on the sea. They had sail away to the south, he said, until they arrived in cold gray seas. Even the sea was frozen, and the ice was all around them, in those days there were no steamships and the big white sails of their ship opened wide as the strong wind blew them quickly through the ice waters. The weather was very cold and there were no birds or animals in that snow-covered country, but one day the sailors saw an albatross flying towards the ship, the albatross is a big sea bird, and it brings good luck to sailors, so the men were pleased to see it. They gave it food and water and it become very tame, it comes to the ship every day when the sailors called it.

“But one day I shot the albatross!” the old sailor told the marriage gust . it was a terrible thing to do and everyone said I had kill the bird which made the winds blew. I had brought bad luck to the crew.

And they were right. The ship sailed out of the ice waters into another sea, where the sun shone hotly overhead. The wind dropped. Day after day they stayed in that silent sea. There were no wind to fill the sails, and the ship rested unmoving. “As idle as a painted shop upon a painted ocean”. The heat was terrible. There was not a breath of wind, or a cloud in the sky to guard them from the burning sun. Their supply of drinking water was finished, and they could not drink the salty sera water, there was water everywhere around them, but they had not a drop to drink.

The other sailors were very angry with the old man who had shot the albatross. They blamed him for their sufferings and their thirst. They cursed him, and hung the dead albatross round his neck as a punishment.

The next few days were terrible. The sailor’s throats were so dry that they could not speak. Their eyes hurt with looking across the bright, glassy sea, watching all day long far a ship to come to help them.

Suddenly the old sailor saw a ship coming towards them.

“a sail ! a sail !ha cried and the other saw it, too and cried aloud in joy but the ship come slowly nearer, and the men were filled with fear.

This was no ordinary ship: it was not real at all , it seemed like the shadow of a ship, and they could see the shape of the sun quite clearly through the sails. It come nearer and they saw that it had no crew there were only two people on board: one was a woman with bright red lips and a dead white skin and her companion was death himself. They had come to take away the suffering sailors, to carry their souls to the land of death. The old sailor watched, and saw his companions fall down dead, one after another, and the terrible ship of death sails away again with their souls .
He was the only man alive.

“Alone, Alone all, all alone.
Alone on a wide, wide sea.”

For seven days he tried to pray, but he could not break the sailors’ course, he could not sleep, all day and all night he had to look upon the bodies of his dead companions laying round him.

But at last God took pity on him. One day the sailor was watching the water –snakes swimming round the ship. There color were so beautiful and he was filled with such a strong wonder that he felt a great love for them and blessed them from his heart , at once the albatross fell from his neck into the sea’s and the old man fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up it was raining. His thirsty lips were wet and his throat felt fresh and cold again. He thought he heard music all around him, and two voices in the air. One voice said:
Is this the man who killed the harmless albatross?
And the other voice answered: he has been punished enough.”
A soft wind came and blew the ship gently back to harbors, the old man was weak and ill after all his sufferings and he was nearly dead by the time he got back home.
And that is all “, the old sailor finished his story , I was saved because I had shown a true love for all living things, even for water- snacks . Some tines I fell I must tell my terrible story again and teach others the importance of the lesson I learned:

“Prayed best who love best
All things both great and small:
For the dear God who loved us.
He made and loved all.”

I find peace and happiness again as soon as I have told my story and taught people that they must love all things on earth.

And the old sailor, his strange bright eyes and long grey beard went away, leaving the marriage guest alone.