Lilith

their princess and her power, and despising every one they get the better of; never doubting themselves the
most honourable of all the nations, and each man counting himself better than any other. The depth of their
worthlessness and height of their vainglory no one can understand who has not been there to see, who has not
learned to know the miserable misgoverned and self−deceived creatures."
"I thank you, madam. And now, if you please, will you tell me something about the Little Ones−−the Lovers?
I long heartily to serve them. Who and what are they? and how do they come to be there? Those children are
the greatest wonder I have found in this world of wonders."
"In Bulika you may, perhaps, get some light on those matters. There is an ancient poem in the library of the
palace, I am told, which of course no one there can read, but in which it is plainly written that after the Lovers
have gone through great troubles and learned their own name, they will fill the land, and make the giants their
slaves."
"By that time they will have grown a little, will they not?" I said.
"Yes, they will have grown; yet I think too they will not have grown. It is possible to grow and not to grow,
to grow less and to grow bigger, both at once−−yes, even to grow by means of not growing!"
"Your words are strange, madam!" I rejoined. "But I have heard it said that some words, because they mean
more, appear to mean less!"
"That is true, and such words HAVE to be understood. It were well for the princess of Bulika if she heard
what the very silence of the land is shouting in her ears all day long! But she is far too clever to understand
anything."
"Then I suppose, when the little Lovers are grown, their land will have water again?"
"Not exactly so: when they are thirsty enough, they will have water, and when they have water, they will
grow. To grow, they must have water. And, beneath, it is flowing still."
Lilith
"I have heard that water twice," I said; "−−once when I lay down to wait for the moon−−and when I woke the
sun was shining! and once when I fell, all but killed by the bad giant. Both times came the voices of the
water, and healed me."
The woman never turned her head, and kept always a little before me, but I could hear every word that left
her lips, and her voice much reminded me of the woman's in the house of death. Much of what she said, I did
not understand, and therefore cannot remember. But I forgot that I had ever been afraid of her.
We went on and on, and crossed yet a wide tract of sand before reaching the cottage. Its foundation stood in
deep sand, but I could see that it was a rock. In character the cottage resembled the sexton's, but had thicker
walls. The door, which was heavy and strong, opened immediately into a large bare room, which had two
little windows opposite each other, without glass. My hostess walked in at the open door out of which the
moon had looked, and going straight to the farthest corner, took a long white cloth from the floor, and wound
it about her head and face. Then she closed the other door, in at which the moon had looked, trimmed a small
horn lantern that stood on the hearth, and turned to receive me.
"You are very welcome, Mr. Vane!" she said, calling me by the name I had forgotten. "Your entertainment
will be scanty, but, as the night is not far spent, and the day not at hand, it is better you should be indoors.
Here you will be safe, and a little lack is not a great misery."
Lilith 49