Page:The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart.pdf/221

Rh and behold, there was darkness there and gloom; indeed, at first I saw scarcely anything, and heard but some clinking; and the stink of mould proceeding from all directions overcame me. Then when I somewhat recovered my eyesight, I see that the chamber was full of people of all ranks, who walked, stood, sat, reclined, and each man's feet were loaded with fetters, and his hands bound with chains; some had also beside this a chain round their neck, and on their back a burden of some sort. And I was afeard, and I said: "On my faith, have we then come to some prison-house?" The interpreter answered, laughing: "What folly! These are the gifts of the Lady Fortuna, with which she endows her beloved sons." And looking first at one, then a second, then a third of these gifts, I see steely fetters, iron chains, and leaden or earthen crates. "What strange gifts are these!" quoth I. "I should not desire them!" "But, oh fool! thou seest not rightly," said the interpreter; "for all this is sheer gold." And I look again yet more carefully, and tell him that I none the less see there but iron and clay. "Cavil not too much," he answered, "believe others rather then thyself; see how the others value these things."

3. And I look, and see to my surprise how these men delighted in being thus fettered; this one counted the rings of his chain; another took them