hes like
pillows filled to bursting. Icicles hung down like fantastic swords.
Down the colonnaded avenues trees cast their shadows in heavy bars; the
spaces between them were golden splashes.

[Illustration: The Man yawned. "I am still tired. Fetch the horse, that
he may carry me back to my dwelling."]

The Man yawned. "I am still tired. Fetch the horse that he may carry me
back to my dwelling."

He ordered the horse to be fetched because he had forgotten where his
cave was. It was clever of him. He did it to keep the animals from
knowing his ignorance.

The horse came galloping up obediently. Clutching him by the mane, the
Man bestrode him. Off they started at a sharp trot, with the animals
shouting and bounding beside them. As they travelled, the Man could
hardly keep from smiling at picturing what a fine fellow he was. He made
no attempt to restrain himself from giving orders. All the time he kept
urging the animals to shout louder. He wanted the Woman to hear them, so
that she might crawl to the entrance of the cave and be a witness of his
triumphant home-coming. It wasn't good enough merely to picture himself
as a fine fellow. He was anxious to hear her say to him, "Oh, Man, what
a fine fellow you are!" He'd forgotten completely the purpose of his
errand--that he'd set out through the world's first snowstorm in search
of God.

So at last they burst forth from the forest and reached the foot of the
slippery ascent. Because it was so slippery, the Man dismounted; the
horse could carry him no further. Having commanded the animals to go on
shouting for at least half-an-hour, he left them and commenced to climb
the steep and narrow path. He had to go gingerly on his hands and knees.
There were places where he slipped back two steps for every one he
advanced. By snatching at rocks and bushes, he dragged himself slowly to
the turning which brought him in sight of the entrance. There, seated in
the entrance to the cave, he saw ...

You must remember that by now it was the twenty-fifth of December.
To remember that is most extraordinarily important. What he saw is so
exciting that it deserves another chapter.

VII

He saw the Woman--but not the Woman as he had left her. She was no
longer sick. She was completely restored. As in the old days her hair
clothed her like a flame. Her face parted it into waves as though she
were a swimmer. He could see the pink dimples in her knees where she sat
and the marble