Dreams

There is a world in one of the far-off stars, and things do not happen
here as they happen there.

In that world were a man and woman; they had one work, and they walked
together side by side on many days, and were friends--and that is a
thing that happens now and then in this world also.

But there was something in that star-world that there is not here.
There was a thick wood: where the trees grew closest, and the stems were
interlocked, and the summer sun never shone, there stood a shrine. In
the day all was quiet, but at night, when the stars shone or the moon
glinted on the tree-tops, and all was quiet below, if one crept here
quite alone and knelt on the steps of the stone altar, and uncovering
one’s breast, so wounded it that the blood fell down on the altar steps,
then whatever he who knelt there wished for was granted him. And all
this happens, as I said, because it is a far-off world, and things often
happen there as they do not happen here.

Now, the man and woman walked together; and the woman wished well to the
man. One night when the moon was shining so that the leaves of all the
trees glinted, and the waves of the sea were silvery, the woman walked
alone to the forest. It was dark there; the moonlight fell only in
little flecks on the dead leaves under her feet, and the branches were
knotted tight overhead. Farther in it got darker, not even a fleck of
moonlight shone. Then she came to the shrine; she knelt down before it
and prayed; there came no answer. Then she uncovered her breast; with a
sharp two-edged stone that lay there she wounded it. The drops dripped
slowly down on to the stone, and a voice cried, “What do you seek?”

She answered, “There is a man; I hold him nearer than anything. I would
give him the best of all blessings.”

The voice said, “What is it?”

The girl said, “I know not, but that which is most good for him I wish
him to have.”

The voice said, “Your prayer is answered; he shall have it.”

Then she stood up. She covered her breast and held the garment tight
upon it with her hand, and ran out of the forest, and the dead leaves
fluttered under her feet. Out in the moonlight the soft air was blowing,
and the sand glittered on the beach. She ran along the smooth shore,
then suddenly she stood still. Out across the water there was something
moving. She shaded her eyes and looked. It was a boat; it was sliding
swiftly over the moonlit water out to sea. One stood upright in it; the
face the moonlight did not show, but the figure she knew. It was passing
swiftly; it seemed as if no one propelled it; the moonlight’s shimmer
did not let her see clearly, and the boat was far from shore, but it
seemed almost as if there was another figure sitting in the stern.
Faster and faster it glided over the water away, away. She ran along the
shore; she came no nearer it. The garment she had held closed fluttered
open; she stretched out her arms, and the moonlight shone on her long
loose hair.

Then a voice beside her whispered, “What is it?”

She cried, “With my blood I bought the best of all gifts for him. I have
come to bring it him! He is going from me!”

The voice whispered softly, “Your prayer was answered. It has been given
him.”

She cried, “What is it?”

The voice answered, “It is that he might leave you.”

The girl stood still.

Far out at sea the boat was lost to sight beyond the moonlight sheen.

The voice spoke softly, “Art thou contented?”

She said, “I am contented.”

At her feet the waves broke in long ripples softly on the shore.