But then she said to me:
'Am I to be slain here or led to a crueller prison?' And I said:
'Neither one thing nor the other: for lo! I have set thee free,
and I shall look to it that there shall be no pursuit of thee
till thou hast had time to get clear away.' But she said:
'What thanks wilt thou have for this? Wherefore hast thou done it?'
And I said, 'It is because of the gladness I have gotten.'
Said she, 'And would that I might get gladness!'
So I asked her what was amiss now that she was free. She said:
'I have lost one thing that I loved, and found another and lost
it also.' So I said: 'Mightest thou not seek for the lost?'
She said, 'It is in this wood, but when I shall find it I
shall not have it.' 'It is love that thou art seeking,'
said I. 'In what semblance is he?'
"What wilt thou, my friend? Straightway she fell to making
a picture of thee in words; so that I knew that she had met thee,
and belike after I had departed from thee, and my heart
was sore thereat; for now I will tell thee the very truth,
that she was a young woman and exceeding fair, as if she were
of pearl all over, and as sweet as eglantine; and I feared
her lest she should meet thee again in these wildwoods.
And so I asked her what would she, and she said that she had a mind
to seek to the Well at the World's End, which quencheth all sorrow;
and I rejoiced thereat, thinking that she would be far away from thee,
not thinking that thou and I must even meet to seek to it also.
Pages:
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263