"I asked the red-hot iron, when it glimmered on the anvil, 'Wherefore glowest thou longer than the firebrand? 'I was born in the dark mine, and the brand in the pleasant greenwood. Kindness fadeth away, but vengeance endureth. "I asked the green oak of the assembly, wherefore its boughs were dry and seared like the horns of the stag? And it showed me that a small worm had gnawed its roots.

And verily, already hath thy breath the fragrance of future songs, Already glowest thou and dreamest, already drinkest thou thirstily at all deep echoing wells of consolation, already reposeth thy melancholy in the bliss of future songs!