Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None

Much time has passed, and Zarathustra has grown old. He sits outside his cave, overlooking the sea and, his animals stand before him. They ask Zarathustra if he is looking for happiness, asking, “Do you not lie in a sky-blue lake of happiness” (191). Zarathustra responds by saying that his happiness is heavy and not like a fluid wave of water. It presses against him and will not leave him alone. The animals notice that Zarathustra has become yellower and darker. He tells them that he has become ripe with honey and desires to climb a mountain so that he may give away his honey. Once he climbs the mountain, he sends his animals away and is alone. Zarathustra reveals that the sacrifices of honey were used to distract the animals. Now he will speak freely. He says that when he references honey he means bait as is needed by hunters and fishermen. He continues, “Especially the human world, the human sea—toward it I now cast my golden fishing rod and say: open up, you human abyss! Open up and toss me your fishes and glittering crabs! With my best bait today I bait the oddest human fishes!” (192). Zarathustra yearns to bring men up, calling himself a cultivator who tells men “Become who you are!” (192).