no companion but each other. The queen leaned heavily upon her
son's arm, and could walk only a few miles a day. But for all
her weakness and weariness, she would not be persuaded to give
up the search. It was enough to bring tears into the eyes of
bearded men to hear the melancholy tone with which she inquired
of every stranger whether he could not tell her any news of the
lost child.

"Have you seen a little girl--no, no, I mean a young maiden of
full growth--passing by this way, mounted on a snow-white bull,
which gallops as swiftly as the wind?"

"We have seen no such wondrous sight," the people would reply;
and very often, taking Cadmus aside, they whispered to him, "Is
this stately and sad-looking woman your mother? Surely she is
not in her right mind; and you ought to take her home, and make
her comfortable, and do your best to get this dream out of her
fancy."

"It is no dream," said Cadmus. "Everything else is a dream,
save that."

But, one day, Telephassa seemed feebler than usual, and leaned
almost her whole weight on the arm of Cadmus, and walked more
slowly than ever before. At last they reached a solitary spot,
where she told her son that she must needs lie down, and take a
good long rest.

"A good long rest!" she repeated, looking Cadmus tenderly in
the face. "A good long rest, thou dearest one!"