“I reached the surface of this peaceful sea.  A scene lay before me more beautiful than any wonder of the deep.  I knew that I was among immortals, and that this was ‘Happy Archipelago’!

“The surface was calm.  Some purple islets were sprinkled here and there, and creatures marvellously fair were basking in the roseate waters.  They looked like angels half way out of heaven.  Their faces were of a silvery hue; their hairs shone on the stream like tremulous beams of light; their eyes were of a tender azure, and their bosoms rose and fell as if they were all dreaming of blessedness.  Some strains of ravishing harmony that were floating among the islands ceased when I appeared, and I thought I heard the snapping of a lute-string.  All the spirits started at once.  They were crescent-shaped, and stood upon their nether tips.  A star upon their foreheads shone like a pure diamond.  They saw me and vanished!

“All but one!  She was the fairest of the spirits, and looked, thus frightened, like the pale new moon.  The violet veins faded from her lids, and her blue eyes were full of wonder.  I felt as if, for the first time, a sinless being had looked upon me, and my heart grew so black and heavy that I sank a little way.  I feared to breathe, for she might vanish.  I wished to lie forever with her face shining upon me.  What were science, and dominion, and the secret of man’s immortality to one pure glance like hers?  In the agony of my soul I spoke:  ‘Spirit!  Immortal!  Woman!  O stay!  Speak to me!’

“’Who are you?  Whence do you come?  You are not of us, nor of our element.’

“The voice was like a disembodied sound, coming from nothing, floating in space eternally.

“’I am a creature of a cursed race—­ruler of a blighted domain—­a realm filled with violence:  it lies beneath you.’

“The pale face grew tender; the star on the forehead grew dim, like a tearful eye.  She pitied me.

“‘There are beings above us,’ she said, ’winged beings, that talk with us sometimes; but nothing below.  Are they sorrowful as you are?  Are their brows all heavy with sadness like yours?  Why are they unhappy?’

“I wept and moaned.

“’They have not your pure eyes; they cannot hear your voice.  They have sinned.’

“She glided toward me.  I felt my gray hairs dropping one by one; my heavy heart grew light; my groans softened to sighs.

“A shape came suddenly between us.

“I knew the long green locks, and the glossy neck.  It was Tethys who spoke.  ‘Man,’ she said, ’you were made one of us, not one of these.  Go back to your domain, for you are mortal.  Resume dominion over the fish, or, striving to win more, lose all!’

“I turned my face seaward bitterly.  I looked back once; the blue eyes were gleaming—­oh, so tenderly!—­and I could not go.  I muttered an execration at my bitter fate.  Straightway the sky rocked, the sea rose, the pale star vanished.  I had spoken a wicked word.