ird I have seen sailing in the blue? They would have me believe she is
a dream; the shadow of my own head."

The old man smiled.

"Her name is Truth. He who has once seen her never rests again. Till
death he desires her."

And the hunter cried:

"Oh, tell me where I may find her."

But the old man said:

"You have not suffered enough," and went.

Then the hunter took from his breast the shuttle of Imagination, and
wound on it the thread of his Wishes; and all night he sat and wove a
net.

In the morning he spread the golden net upon the ground, and into it
he threw a few grains of credulity, which his father had left him, and
which he kept in his breast-pocket. They were like white puff-balls, and
when you trod on them a brown dust flew out. Then he sat by to see what
would happen. The first that came into the net was a snow-white
bird, with dove's eyes, and he sang a beautiful song--"A human-God! a
human-God! a human-God!" it sang. The second that came was black and
mystical, with dark, lovely eyes, that looked into the depths of your
soul, and he sang only this--"Immortality!"

And the hunter took them both in his arms, for he said--

"They are surely of the beautiful family of Truth."

Then came another, green and gold, who sang in a shrill voice, like one
crying in the marketplace,--"Reward after Death! Reward after Death!"

And he said--

"You are not so fair; but you are fair too," and he took it.

And others came, brightly coloured, singing pleasant songs, till all the
grains were finished. And the hunter gathered all his birds together,
and built a strong iron cage called a new creed, and put all his birds
in it.

Then the people came about dancing and singing.

"Oh, happy hunter!" they cried. "Oh, wonderful man! Oh, delightful
birds! Oh, lovely songs!"

No one asked where the birds had come from, nor how they had been
caught; but they danced and sang before them. And the hunter too was
glad, for he said:

"Surely Truth is among them. In time she will moult her feathers, and I
shall see her snow-white form."

But the time passed, and the people sang and danced; but the hunter's
heart grew heavy. He crept alone, as of old, to weep; the terrible
desire had awakened again in his breast. One day, as he sat alone
weeping, it chanced that Wisdom met him. He told the old man what he had
done.

And Wisdom smiled sadly.

"Many men," he said, "have spread that net for Truth; but they have
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