FROM THE PAGES OF
TARZAN OF THE APES
TARZAN OF THE APES
For a long time no sound broke the deathlike
stillness of the jungle midday save the piteous wailing of the tiny
man-child. (page 30)
And then Tublat went to Kerchak to urge him to
use his authority with Kala, and force her to give up little
Tarzan, which was the name they had given to the tiny Lord
Greystoke, and which meant “White-Skin.” (page 38)
From early childhood he had used his hands to
swing from branch to branch after the manner of his giant mother,
and as he grew older he spent hour upon hour daily speeding through
the tree tops with his brothers and sisters. (page 37)
As the body rolled to the ground Tarzan of the
Apes placed his foot upon the neck of his lifelong enemy and,
raising his eyes to the full moon, threw back his fierce young head
and voiced the wild and terrible cry of his people. (pages
61—62)
His strange life had left him neither morose nor
bloodthirsty. That he joyed in killing, and that he killed with a
joyous laugh upon his handsome lips betokened no innate cruelty. He
killed for food most often, but, being a man, he sometimes killed
for pleasure, a thing which no other animal does; for it has
remained for man alone among all creatures to kill senselessly and
wantonly for the mere pleasure of inflicting suffering and death.
(page 79)
“Tarzan,” he continued, “is not an ape. He is
not like his people. His ways are not their ways, and so Tarzan is
going back to the lair of his own kind by the waters of the great
lake which has no farther shore. You must choose another to rule
you, for Tarzan will not return.” (page 101)
“What a frightful sound!” cried Jane, “I shudder
at the mere thought of it. Do not tell me that a human throat
voiced that hideous and fearsome shriek.” (page 127)
From the trees Tarzan of the Apes watched the
solemn ceremony; but most of all he watched the sweet face and
graceful figure of Jane Porter. (page 139)
I am Tarzan of the Apes. I want you. I am yours.
You are mine.
(page 154)
When Jane realized that she was being borne away
a captive by the strange forest creature who had rescued her from
the clutches of the ape she struggled desperately to escape, but
the strong arms that held her as easily as though she had been but
a day-old babe only pressed a little more tightly. (page 168)
“Yes, Miss Porter, they were—cannibals.” (page
192)
“I love you, and because I love you I believe in
you. But if I did not believe, still should I love. Had you come
back for me, and had there been no other way, I would have gone
into the jungle with you—forever.” (page 211)
Gradually he became accustomed to the strange
noises and the odd ways of civilization, so that presently none
might know that two short months before, this handsome Frenchman in
immaculate white ducks, who laughed and chatted with the gayest of
them, had been swinging naked through primeval forests to pounce
upon some unwary victim, which, raw, was to fill his savage belly.
(page 222)
“My mother was an Ape, and of course she
couldn’t tell me much about it. I never knew who my father was.”
(page 252)