Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 6.djvu/543

Rh are good, each after its kind. Behold how the rocks stand firm and motionless, proof against the effects of sun and storm. Their summits are crowned with ancient trees; and, elated with the pride of their ornaments, they look round boldly far and wide. But, should a part become detached, it no longer appears as before: it breaks into a thousand pieces, and covers the side of the declivity. But even there the pieces find no resting-place: they pursue their course downward, till the brook receives them, and carries them onward to the river. Thence, unresisting and submissive, their sharp angles having become rounded and smooth, they are borne along with greater velocity from stream to stream, till they finally attain the ocean, in whose mighty depths giants abide and dwarfs abound.

"But who celebrates the praise of the Lord, whom the stars praise from all eternity? Why, however, should we direct our vision so far? Behold the bee, how he makes his provision in harvest-time, and constructs a dwelling, correct in angle and level, at once the architect and workman. Behold the ant: she knows her way, and loses it not; she builds her habitation of grass and earth and tiny twigs, builds it high, and strengthens it with arches, but in vain,—the prancing steed approaches, and treads it into nothing, destroying the little rafters and supports of the edifice. He snorts with impatience and with restlessness; for the Lord has formed the horse as companion to the wind, and brother to the storm, that he may carry mankind whither he will. But in the palm forest even he takes to flight. There, in the wilderness, the lion roams in proud majesty: he is monarch of the beasts, and nothing can resist his strength. But man has subdued his valour: the mightiest of animals has respect for the image of God, in which the very angels are formed; and they minister to the Lord and his