wept. "I must away to a foreign land!" he said: "the strange old woman in
the wood has told me what I must do to get well; she has thrown the book
into the fire, and has made me come to you to ask your blessing. Perhaps I
shall be back soon, perhaps never more. Say good-bye to Rosebud for me. I
should have been glad to have a talk with her; I do not know what has come
to me: I must go! When I would think to recall old times, immediately come
thoughts more potent in between; my rest is gone, and my heart and love
with it; and I must go find them! I would gladly tell you whither, but do
not myself know; it is where dwells the mother of things, the virgin with
the veil; for her my spirit is on fire. Farewell!" He tore himself from
them, and went out. His parents lamented and shed tears. Rosebud kept her
chamber, and wept bitterly.

Hyacinth now ran, as fast as he could, through valleys and wildernesses,
over mountains and streams, toward the land of mystery. Everywhere he
inquired--of men and beasts, of rocks and trees,--after the sacred goddess
Isis. Many laughed, many held their peace; nowhere did he get an answer.
At first he passed through a rugged wild country; mists and clouds threw
themselves in his way, but he rushed on impetuously. Then he came to
boundless deserts of sand--mere glowing dust; and as he went his mood
changed also; the time became tedious to him, and his inward unrest
abated; he grew gentler, and the stormy impulse in him passed by degrees
into a mild yet powerful attraction, wherein his whole spirit was
dissolved. It seemed as if many years lay behind him.

And now the country became again richer and more varied, the air soft and
blue, the way smoother. Green bushes enticed him with their pleasant
shadows, but he did not understand their speech; they seemed indeed not to
speak, and yet they filled his heart with their green hues, and their
cool, still presence. Ever higher in him waxed that same sweet longing,