nd tied it
on with the broad band of Inevitable Necessity. Then she looked at the
earth and the sky, and knew there was no hope for her; and she lay down
on the sand with the burden she could not loosen. Ever since she has
lain here. And the ages have come, and the ages have gone, but the band
of Inevitable Necessity has not been cut."

And I looked and saw in her eyes the terrible patience of the centuries;
the ground was wet with her tears, and her nostrils blew up the sand.

And I said, "Has she ever tried to move?"

And he said, "Sometimes a limb has quivered. But she is wise; she knows
she cannot rise with the burden on her."

And I said, "Why does not he who stands by her leave her and go on?"

And he said, "He cannot. Look--"

And I saw a broad band passing along the ground from one to the other,
and it bound them together.

He said, "While she lies there he must stand and look across the
desert."

And I said, "Does he know why he cannot move?"

And he said, "No."

And I heard a sound of something cracking, and I looked, and I saw the
band that bound the burden on to her back broken asunder; and the burden
rolled on to the ground.

And I said, "What is this?"

And he said, "The Age-of-muscular-force is dead. The
Age-of-nervous-force has killed him with the knife he holds in his hand;
and silently and invisibly he has crept up to the woman, and with that
knife of Mechanical Invention he has cut the band that bound the burden
to her back. The Inevitable Necessity it broken. She might rise now."

And I saw that she still lay motionless on the sand, with her eyes open
and her neck stretched out. And she seemed to look for something on the
far-off border of the desert that never came. And I wondered if she were
awake or asleep. And as I looked her body quivered, and a light came
into her eyes, like when a sunbeam breaks into a dark room.

I said, "What is it?"

He whispered "Hush! the thought has come to her, 'Might I not rise?'"

And I looked. And she raised her head from the sand, and I saw the dent
where her neck had lain so long. And she looked at the earth, and she
looked at the sky, and she looked at him who stood by her: but he looked
out across the desert.

And I saw her body quiver; and she pressed her front knees to the earth,
and veins stood out; and I cried; "She is going to rise!"

But only her sides heaved, and she lay still where she was.

But her head she held up; she did not la