"Proud boy! thy humility is a pretense; at heart, thou deemest thyself
wiser than Mardi."

"Not near so wise. To believe is a haughty thing; my very doubts
humiliate me. I weep and doubt; all Mardi may be light; and I too
simple to discern."

"He is mad," said the chief Divino; "never before heard I such words."

"They are thoughts," muttered the guide.

"Poor fool!" cried Fauna.

"Lost youth!" sighed the maiden.

"He is but a child," said the beggar. These whims will soon depart;
once I was like him; but, praise be to Alma, in the hour of sickness I
repented, feeble old man that I am!"

"It is because I am young and in health," said the boy, "that I more
nourish the thoughts, that are born of my youth and my health. I am
fresh from my Maker, soul and body unwrinkled. On thy sick couch, old
man, they took thee at advantage."

"Turn from the blasphemer," cried Pani. "Hence! thou evil one, to the
perdition in store."

"I will go my ways," said the boy, "but Oro will shape the end."

And he quitted the Morai.