Page:Thus Spake Zarathustra - Alexander Tille - 1896.djvu/375

 ��THE HONEY-OFFERING

And again months and years passed over Zara- thustra's soul, and he took no notice of it. But his hair grew white. One day, when he sat on a stone before his cave and silently gazed (there one looketh out on the sea and away over winding abysses) his animals went thoughtfully round him and at last stood in front of him.

" O Zarathustra," they said, " dost thou peradventure look out for thy happiness ? " " What is happiness worth ? " he answered. " For a long time I have not ceased to strive for my happiness ; now I strive for my work." "O Zarathustra," the animals said once more, "thou sayest so as one who hath more than enough of what is good. Dost thou not lie in a sky-blue lake of happiness ? " "Ye buffoons," answered Zarathustra smiling, " how well ye chose that simile ! But ye also know that my happiness is heavy, and is not like a liquid wave of water. It presseth me and will not part from me and behaveth like melted pitch."

Then the animals again went thoughtfully round him and once more stood in front of him. " O Zara- thustra," they said, "we see, it is for that reason that

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