wares in that house for awhile once.'

'Ah,' said the road, 'I remember, but I brought cheaper ones from
distant cities. Nothing is of any importance but making cities for
Man.'

'I know so little about him,' said the river, 'but I have a great
deal of work to do--I have all this water to send down to the sea;
and then tomorrow or next day all the leaves of Autumn will be
coming this way. It will be very beautiful. The sea is a very, very
wonderful place. I know all about it; I have heard shepherd boys
singing of it, and sometimes before a storm the gulls come up. It is
a place all blue and shining and full of pearls, and has in it coral
islands and isles of spice, and storms and galleons and the bones of
Drake. The sea is much greater than Man. When I come to the sea, he
will know that I have worked well for him. But I must hurry, for I
have much to do. This bridge delays me a little; some day I will
carry it away.'

'Oh, you must not do that,' said the road.

'Oh, not for a long time,' said the river. 'Some centuries
perhaps--and I have much to do besides. There is my song to sing, for
instance, and that alone is more beautiful than any noise that Man
makes.'

'All work is for Man,' said the road, 'and for the building of
cities. There is no beauty or romance or mystery in the sea except
for the men that sail abroad upon it, and for those that stay at
home and dream of them. As for your song, it rings night and