Follow Ylajali

The narrator's first encounter with Ylajali occurs on a morning in Christiania when, after leaving the park to retrieve his pencil from a pawnbroker, he overtakes two ladies on the street and, in a state of disordered excitement, begins to follow them, inventing the name Ylajali and repeatedly addressing one of them with the cryptic phrase 'You are losing your book, madam,' an episode that establishes the obsessive, hallucinatory quality of his desire and the intersection of hunger, shame, and erotic fixation that will define their relationship.

Circumstances and the State of the Narrator

The narrator is in a precarious physical and mental condition. He has just eaten a large meal after a period of starvation, having pawned his waistcoat for one-and-sixpence and bought a piece of cheese and a French roll. The food on an empty stomach has disturbed him, and he is in a 'tantalizing mood, annoyed with myself on account of the pencil incident.' He is also acutely aware of his shabby appearance: his trousers have shiny knees, he has no waistcoat, and he has been rejected for a job as a debt collector because he could not find the fifty shillings demanded as security. His application to the Fire Brigade was also rejected, on account of his sight. This accumulated humiliation and physical distress primes him for an irrational, impulsive act.

The Pursuit and the Invention of Ylajali

As he descends Castle Hill, the narrator overtakes two ladies and accidentally brushes one on the arm. She blushes and becomes 'suddenly surprisingly lovely,' her high, full bosom heaving violently. Seized by an 'odd desire to make this lady afraid,' he overtakes her again, turns to face her, and on the spur of the moment invents a name he has never heard before: 'Ylajali.' He draws himself up and says impressively, 'You are losing your book, madam!' He can hear his own heart beat audibly. The lady is confused and frightened, asking her companion, 'My book?' Her companion dismisses him as drunk. The narrator, however, is fully conscious of his actions, observing details like a large brown dog with a narrow collar of German silver and a servant-maid cleaning windows. He follows the ladies to Cisler's music-shop and then to St. Olav's Place, where they enter No. 2, a large four-storeyed house. The narrator leans against a lamp-post near the fountain and listens to their footsteps die away on the second floor.

The Window and the First Glimpse

As the narrator looks up at the house, the curtains are stirred, a window opens, and a head pops out. Two singular-looking eyes dwell on him. He mutters 'Ylajali!' and feels himself grow red. They stand looking into one another's eyes without moving for a minute. She then turns and disappears across the floor. The narrator feels 'a delicate shock through my senses' and interprets the reluctant turning of her shoulders as 'a nod to me.' He feels 'all at once rarely glad' and wheels around to go down the street, but he is acutely aware of being watched and his gait becomes unsteady as he tries to appear at ease. He eventually escapes down a side street to retrieve his pencil from the pawnbroker.

Consequences and Thematic Significance

This first encounter establishes the pattern of the narrator's relationship with Ylajali, which is characterized by obsession, shame, and a profound asymmetry of power. His poverty and hunger are the underlying conditions that drive his erratic behavior, and his invention of the name 'Ylajali'—a word with a 'gliding, nervous sound'—becomes a private, talismanic term for his desire. The episode also reveals his acute sensitivity to social perception: he is mortified by his own appearance and terrified of being seen as a beggar, yet he is compelled to act out in a way that draws attention to himself. The encounter is a direct consequence of his physical deprivation and mental instability, and it foreshadows the later, more intimate and painful meetings that will follow.