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And they all become mire and dust again.



And you read them. Pray tell me, you are here clearing away a strange night which has just passed. The earth shook with a heavy turmoil, for some new destiny was moving across it with noisy tread. Explain to me what its track was like, and whither its path led, and tell me also how it seems to you. Was it a good thing or a bad one?



It is hard to tell, sir. Although the path is full of litter, nothing can be seen there which testifies that this thing passed along the earth. You said at first that the track of a bird’s flight cannot be seen in the wind. Likewise the track of the morrow cannot be seen in the morning dew—



—nor the wickedness of bygone years upon the hand of the new-born. And as for the second question, although we are not familiar with this sign which did not pass along the ground, as other things arrive, one matter can be settled beforehand. I say this for all things: it is both good and bad.



You have told me little. Fate is dark. But even for this I am grateful to you, street-sweepers.

[Exit.

This is a queer man, but he is not evil. Of him, too, I must admit, we have no clear knowledge. But here we are, talking together, and we might be