th from this place, your wife whom you love
shall go up after you, but remember that you must never look back
until she has reached the earth, for if you do, Eurydike will be
brought back here, and I shall not be able to give her to you again,
even if you should sing more sweetly and gently than ever."

Now, Orpheus was longing to see Eurydike, and he hoped that the King
would let him see her at once, but when the King said that he must not
try to see her till she had reached the earth, he was quite content,
for he said, "Shall I not wait patiently a little while, that Eurydike
may come and live with me again?" So he promised the King that he
would go up to the earth without stopping to look behind and see
whether Eurydike was coming after him.

Then Orpheus went away from the palace of the King, and he passed
through the dark gateway, and the dog, Kerberos, did not bark or
growl, for he knew that Orpheus would not have been allowed to come
back if the King had not wished it. So he went on and on a long way,
and he became impatient, and longed more and more to see Eurydike. At
last he came near to the land of living men, and he saw just a little
streak of light, where the sun was going to rise from the sea, and
presently the sky became brighter, and he saw everything before him so
clearly that he could not help turning round to look at Eurydike. But,
ah! she had not yet quite reached the earth, and so now he lost her
again. He just saw something pale and white, which looked like his own
dear wife, and he just heard a soft and gentle voice, which sounded
like the voice of Eurydike, and then it all melted away. And still he
thought that he saw that pale white face, and heard that soft and
gentle voice, which said, "O Orpheus, Orpheus, why did you look back?
How dearly I love you, and how glad I should have been to live with
you again, but now I must go back, because you have broken your
promise to the King, and I must not even kiss you, and say how much I
love you."

[Illustration: TERPSICHORE. (_Muse of Dancing._)]

And Orpheus sat down at the place where Eurydike was taken away from
him, and he could not go on any further, because he felt so miserable.
There he stayed day after day, and his cheek became more pale, and his
body weaker and weaker, till at last he knew that he must die. And
Orpheus was not sorry, for although he loved the bright earth, with
all its flowers and soft grass and sunny streams, he knew