he grey snake's shining folds, beamed in its eyes, and shone
through the Queen's dark hair and on her snowy breast.

At length the tale was told, and the Snake lifted its woman's head high
in the air and again it laughed.

"He seeks the Good," it said, "and he shall find the Ill! He looks for
Light, and in Darkness shall he wander! To Love he turns, in Lust he
shall be lost! He would win the Golden Helen, whom he has sought through
many a way, whom he has followed o'er many a sea, but first shall he
find thee, Meriamun, and through thee Death! For he shall swear by the
Snake who should have sworn by the Star. Far hath he wandered--further
shall he wander yet, for thy sin shall be his sin! Darkness shall wear
the face of Light--Evil shall shine like Good. I will give him to thee,
Meriamun, but, hearken to my price. No more must I be laid cold in the
gloom while thou walkest in the sunshine--nay, I must be twined about
thy body. Fear not, fear not, I shall seem but a jewel in the eyes of
men, a girdle fashioned cunningly for the body of a queen. But with thee
henceforth I must ever go--and when thou diest, with thee must I die,
and with thee pass where thou dost pass--with thee to sleep, with
thee to awake again--and so, on and on, till in the end I win or thou
winnest, or she wins who is our foe!"

"I give thee thy price," said Meriamun the Queen.

"So once before thou didst give it," answered the Evil; "ay, far, far
away, beneath a golden sky and in another clime. Happy wast thou then
with him thou dost desire, but I twined myself about thy heart and of
twain came three and all the sorrow that has been. So woman thou hast
worked, so woman it is ordained. For thou art she in whom all woes are
gathered, in whom all love is fulfilled. And I have dragged thy glory
down, woman, and I have loosed thee from thy gentleness, and set it free
upon the earth, and Beauty is she named. By beauty doth _she_ work who
is the Golden Helen, and for her beauty's sake, that all men strive to
win, are wars and woes, are hopes and prayers, and longings without end.
But by Evil dost _thou_ work who art divorced from Innocence, and evil
shalt thou ever bring on him whom thou desireth. A riddle! A riddle!
Read it who may--read it if thou canst, thou who art named Meriamun the
Queen, but who art less than Queen and more. Who art thou? Who is she
they named the Helen? Who is that Wanderer who seeks her from afar, and
who, who am _I_? A riddle!