her.  “The bird died, and Lora did not long survive it,” was the conclusion, and both the youths sighed as though their hearts would break.  Finally the other said, “My soul is sorrowful; come forth with me into the dark night!  Let me inhale the breath of the clouds and the moon-rays.  Companion of my sorrow!  I love thee; thy words are musical, like the rustling of reeds and the flow of rivulets; they reecho in my breast, but my soul is sad!”

Both of the young men arose.  One threw his arm around the neck of the other, and thus they left the noisy room.  I followed, and saw them enter a dark chamber, where the one by mistake, instead of the window, threw open the door of a large wardrobe, and both, standing before it with outstretched arms, expressing poetic rapture, spoke alternately.  “Ye breezes of darkening night,” cried the first, “how ye cool and revive my cheeks!  How sweetly ye play amid my fluttering locks!  I stand on the cloudy peak of the mountain; far below me lie the sleeping cities of men, and blue waters gleam.  List! far below in the valley rustle the fir-trees!  Far above yonder hills sweep in misty forms the spirits of our fathers.  Oh, that I could hunt with ye on your cloud-steeds through the stormy night, over the rolling sea, upwards to the stars!  Alas!  I am laden with grief, and my soul is sad!” Meanwhile, the other had also stretched out his arms toward the wardrobe, while tears fell from his eyes as he cried to a pair of yellow leather pantaloons which he mistook for the moon, “Fair art thou, daughter of heaven!  Lovely and blessed is the calm of thy countenance.  Thou walkest in loveliness!  The stars follow thy blue path in the east!  At thy glance the clouds rejoice, and their dark forms gleam with light.  Who is like unto thee in heaven, thou the night-born?  The stars are ashamed before thee, and turn away their sparkling eyes.  Whither, ah, whither, when morning pales thy face, dost thou flee from thy path?  Hast thou, like me, thy Halle?  Dwellest thou amid shadows of sorrow?  Have thy sisters fallen from heaven?  Are they who joyfully rolled with thee through the night now no more?  Yea, they have fallen down, oh! lovely light, and thou hidest thyself often to bewail them!  Yet the night must come at last when thou too will have passed away, and left thy blue path above in heaven.  Then the stars, that were once ashamed in thy presence, will raise their green heads and rejoice.  But now art clothed in thy beaming splendor and gazest down from the gate of heaven.  Tear aside the clouds, oh! ye winds, that the night-born may shine forth and the bushy hills gleam, and that the foaming waves of the sea may roll in light!”

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