i am from a nearby lamasery.
how do you do?
i shall consider it an honor to accompany you and your friends.
you will need suitable clothes for the journey. it is not particularly far, but quite difficult.
welcome to shangri-la.
is there something i can do for you?
i've offered you some warm broth. i thought perhaps-
please calm yourself. you'll soon be well if you do.
i'm sorry, but we have no doctors here.
please let me help you.
she's remaining in her room. she isn't feeling very well.
thank you.
i'm glad you like it. it's made right here in the valley.
really? well, as regards cabling, i'm afraid i can't help. unfortunately, we have no wireless here. as a matter of fact, we have no means of communication with the outside world.
it's always been a source of deep regret, but the mountains surrounding us have made reception almost impossible.
are you so certain you are away from it?
oh, dear.
i'm afraid that wouldn't help. you see, we have no porters here.
no.
yes. those are our own people. they never venture beyond the point where you were met this morning. it is much too hazardous.
oh, yes. there is a tribe of porters some five hundred miles from here. that is our only contact with the outside world. every now and again, depending upon favorable weather of course, they make the journey.
in that respect, you are exceedingly fortunate. we are expecting a shipment from them almost any time now
well, we've been expecting this particular shipment for the past two years.
yes.
but i can assure you, gentlemen, if there is a prolonged delay, shangri-la will endeavor to make your stay as pleasant as possible.
good night, mr. conway.
it's three thousand feet, practically straight down to the floor of the valley. the valley of the blue moon, as we call it. there are over two thousand people in the valley besides those here in shangri-la.
goodness, no!
so there are others?
oh, yes.
in time you will meet them all.
we follow many.
we find, in the valley, it makes for better happiness among the natives. we rule with moderate strictness and in return we are satisfied with moderate obedience. as a result, our people are moderately honest and moderately chaste and somewhat more than moderately happy.
oh, good heavens, no!
why, we have no crime here. what makes a criminal? lack, usually. avariciousness, envy, the desire to possess something owned by another. there can be no crime where there is a sufficiency of everything.
only very rarely. you see, it would not be considered good manners to take a woman that another man wanted.
you'd be surprised, my dear conway, how a little courtesy all around helps to smooth out the most complicated problems.
at some time in the future you will have the pleasure of meeting her.
they were.
centuries.
of course we have no money as you know it. we do not buy or sell or seek personal fortunes because, well, because there is no uncertain future here for which to accumulate it.
our valley is very rich in a metal called gold, which fortunately for us is valued very highly in the outside world. so we merely . . .
buy and - sell? no, no, pardon me, exchange
that, my dear conway, is the story of a remarkable man.
a belgian priest by the name of father perrault, the first european to find this place, and a very great man indeed. he is responsible for everything you see here. he built shangri-la, taught our natives, and began our collection of art. in fact, shangri-la is father perrault.
oh, let me see - way back in 1713, i think it was, that father perrault stumbled into the valley, half frozen to death. it was typical of the man that, one leg being frozen, and of course there being no doctors here, he amputated the leg himself.
yes. oddly enough, later, when he had learned to understand their language, the natives told him he could have saved his leg. it would have healed without amputation.
yes, yes. they were very sincere about it too. you see, a perfect body in perfect health is the rule here. they've never known anything different. so what was true for them they thought would naturally be true for anyone else living here.
rather astonishingly so, yes. and particularly so in the case of father perrault himself. do you know when he and the natives were finished building shangri-la, he was 108 years old and still very active, in spite of only having one leg?
you're startled?
forgive me. i should have told you it is quite common here to live to a very ripe old age. climate, diet, mountain water, you might say. but we like to believe it is the absence of struggle in the way we live. in your countries, on the other hand, how often do you hear the expression, "he worried himself to death?" or, "this thing or that killed him?"
and very true. your lives are therefore, as a rule, shorter, not so much by natural death as by indirect suicide.
why, mr. conway, you surprise me!
i mean, your amazement. i could have understood it in any of your companions, but you - who have dreamed and written so much about better worlds. or is it that you fail to recognize one of your own dreams when you see it?
the high lama is the only one from whom any information can come.
the only one.
the high lama arranges everything, mr. conway.
yes.
you've very kind mr. lovett.
oh, i'm so glad.
why, no.
now, what would you like to do?
splendid!
i'm sure you were. when would you like to start?
thank you.
i'm afraid that does it.
shall we have another?
come in, my dear.
charming, isn't she?
your brother seems quite fascinated by her.
young? she arrived here in 1888. she was 20 at the time. she was on her way to join her betrothed - when her carriers lost their way in the mountains. the whole party would have perished but for meeting some of our people.
not for years. shangri-la will keep her youthful indefinitely.
leave shangri-la! that's not likely. you couldn't drive her out.
oh, she'd quickly revert in her appearance to her actual age.
age is a limit we impose upon ourselves. you know, each time you westerners celebrate your birthday, you build another fence around your minds.
now, my dear boy. you shouldn't
you must prevail upon him not to attempt the journey. he could never get through that country alive.
he's going, my child.
but he will return.