friends with me. He would look into my eyes, and if mine met his, then
he would ask to kiss me. But I must refuse him, because if I liked him
to kiss me he would seize my soul, and take it from me, and I must
wander, like the restless ghosts, which the abyss rejects, and the storm
whirls before it, and the sea will not cover, and the sky will not
receive, soulless to the end of my days. Go away--for I cannot refuse
you the kiss, and yet I would not wander restless, and without a soul!"

"Is the old woman who told you that a good woman?" asked Rameri.

Uarda shook her head.

"She cannot be good," cried the prince. "For she has spoken a falsehood.
I will not seize your soul; I will give you mine to be yours, and you
shall give me yours to be mine, and so we shall neither of us be poorer--
but both richer!"

"I should like to believe it," said Uarda thoughtfully, "and I have
thought the same kind of thing. When I was strong, I often had to go
late in the evening to fetch water from the landing-place where the great
water-wheel stands. Thousands of drops fall from the earthenware pails
as it turns, and in each you can see the reflection of a moon, yet there
is only one in the sky. Then I thought to myself, so it must be with the
love in our hearts. We have but one heart, and yet we pour it out into
other hearts without its losing in strength or in warmth. I thought of
my grandmother, of my father, of little Scherau, of the Gods, and of
Pentaur. Now I should like to give you a part of it too."

"Only a part?" asked Rameri.