as built long ago, time out of mind. The walls are
cracked, the foundations crumbling away, the doors worm-eaten, the
furniture all worn out--and, in short, everything is gone to wrack and
ruin. On one side are seen shattered columns, on another broken
statues; and nothing is left in a good state except a coat-of-arms over
the door, quartered on which you will see a serpent biting its tail, a
stag, a raven, and a phoenix. When you enter, you will see on the
ground, files, saws, scythes, sickles, pruning-hooks, and hundreds and
hundreds of vessels full of ashes, with the names written on them, like
gallipots in an apothecary's shop; and there may be read Corinth,
Saguntum, Carthage, Troy, and a thousand other cities, the ashes of
which Time preserved as trophies of his conquests.

"When you come near the house, hide yourself until Time goes out; and
as soon as he has gone forth, enter, and you will find an old, old
woman, with a beard that touches the ground and a hump reaching to the
sky. Her hair, like the tail of a dapple-grey horse, covers her heels;
her face looks like a plaited collar, with the folds stiffened by the
starch of years. The old woman is seated upon a clock, which is
fastened to a wall; and her eyebrows are so large that they overshadow
her eyes, so that she will not be able to see you. As soon as you
enter, quickly take the weights off the clock, then call to the old
woman, and beg her to answer your questions; whereupon she will
instantly call her son to come and eat you up. But the clock upon which
the old woman sits having lost its weights, her son cannot move, and
she will therefore be obliged to tell you what you wish. But do not
trust any oath she may make, unless she swears by the wings of her son,
and you will be content."

So saying, the poor old man fell down and crumbled away, like a dead
body brought from a catacomb to the light of day. Then Cianna took the
ashes, and mixing them with a pint of tears, she made a grave and
buried them, praying Heaven to grant them quiet and repose. And
ascending the mountain till she was quite out of breath, she waited
until Time came out, who was an old man with a long, long beard, and
who wore a very old cloak covered with slips of paper, on which were
worked the names of various people. He had large wings, and ran so fast
that he was out of sight in an instant.

When Cianna entered the house of his mother, she started with affright
at the sight of tha