woman, armed with a great pair of shears, peered at all the
figures with a jealous eye, then suddenly fell upon the web and cut it
at random, when, lo! a piercing wail rose from it that would have
moved a heart of stone. The tears of children, the sobs of mothers,
the despair of lovers, the last murmurs of old age, all human sorrow
seemed mingled in this wail. At the sound the old woman burst into a
loud laugh, and her hideous face lighted up with ferocious delight,
while an invisible hand mended the web, eternally destroyed and
eternally repaired.

The hag, again opening her shears, was already approaching the web
anew, when she saw the shadow of Carlino.

"Fly, unhappy man," cried she, without turning round; "I know what
brings you here, but I can do nothing for you. Go to my sister;
perhaps she will give you what you desire. She is Life--I am Death."

Carlino did not wait for a second bidding. He rushed onward, too happy
to escape this scene of horror.

The landscape soon changed. Carlino found himself in a fertile valley.
On every side were harvests, blossoming fields, vines loaded with
grapes, and olive-trees full of fruit. In the thick shade of a
fig-tree, by a running spring, sat a blind woman unrolling the last
gold and silver thread from a spindle. Around her lay several
distaffs, full of different kinds of materials ready for
spinning--flax, hemp, wool, silk, and others.

When she had finished her task the fairy stretched out her trembling
hand at random, took the first distaff that came, and began to spin.

Carlino bowed respectfully to the lady, and began with emotion to tell
her the story of his pilgrimage, when the fairy stopped him at the
first word.

"My child," said she, "I can do nothing for you. I am only a poor
blind woman that does not even know herself what she is doing. This
distaff, which I have taken at random, decides the fate of all who are
born while I am spinning it. Riches or poverty, happiness or
misfortune, are attached to this thread that I cannot see. The slave
of destiny, I can create nothing. Go to my other sister; perhaps she
will give you what you desire. She is Birth; I am Life."

"Thanks, madam," answered Carlino; and with a light heart he ran to
find the youngest of the Fates. He soon discovered her, fresh and
smiling as the spring. Everything about her was taking root and
germinating; the corn was bursting through the earth and putting forth
its green blades from the