When we last left our protagonist, Zarathustra, he had just watched the rope-dancer fall to his doom because of the merciless jester. Surprisingly, the rope-dancer is still barely alive when he regains consciousness to find Zarathustra kneeling beside him:
"What are you doing here?" [the rope-dancer] said at last. "I have long known that the Devil would trip me up. Now he is dragging me off to Hell: do you want to prevent him?"
Zarathustra, of course, is quick to sympathize:
"On my honour, friend," answered Zarathustra, "all you are speaking of does not exist: there is no Devil and no Hell. Your soul will be dead even sooner than your body: so fear nothing more!"
Exactly what every dying man wants to hear in his last moments. The rope dancer responds:
..."then I lose nothing when I lose my life. I am not much more than a beast that has been taught to dance by being dealt blows and meagre morsels."
It's a fair point. Do human beings need to have souls to consider ourselves somehow special or above animals (and all species, for that matter)? I would say no to 'special' and yes to 'above'.
Human beings are special. Let's face it, no other being on Earth can do the thing that we can, especially together. If there is such a thing as evil, it exists only within the hearts and minds of humans. A virus or a bear can do things that are harmful, but not because it hates. To be sure there are some more intelligent animals that are capable of hate but none have the tools, resources, or cognitive capacities of humans.
A dolphin may hate but it can't hire an assassin or launch a nuke.
But Zarathustra corrects the rope-dancer:
"Not so," said Zarathustra. "You have made danger your calling: there is nothing in that to despise. Now your calling has brought you down. Therefore will I bury you with my own hands."
When Zarathustra had said this, the dying man answered no further; but he motioned with his hand, as if he were feeling for Zarathustra's hand to thank him.
So ends our brave rope-dancer. Zarathustra appreciates a man who lives a life or follows a calling of danger. He seems to believe that if a man dies from this danger, then his death is a worthy 'going under'. This idea of going down or under continues, and the argument Zarathustra seems to make will be, hopefully, brought closer to light.
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