“Let not this trouble thee, O King,” the Councillor said.  “Both for the Princes and the people it is good that thoughts on this subject should come out into talk.  But let the thoughts be put to the test.  Let the Princes, with suitable companions, be sent forth to search for this Age of Gold.  Although the Age itself, in its very substance, is hid with God, there is a country in which shadows of all the Ages are to be seen.  In that country, the very clouds in the sky, the air which men breathe, and the hills and woods and streams shape themselves into images of the life that has been, or is to be among men.  And whosoever reaches that country and looks with honest, earnest eyes, shall see the Age he looks for, just as it was or is to be, and shall know concerning it whether it be his Age of Gold.  At the end of a year, let the travelers return, and tell before your Majesty and an assembly of the people the story of their search.”  To this counsel the King gave his assent.  And he directed his sons to make the choice of their companions and prepare for their journey.

Yestergold, for his companions, chose a painter and a poet.  Goldmorrow preferred two brothers of the Order of Watchers of the Sky.  But Goldenday said, “I shall be glad if my sister Faith will be companion to me.”  And so it was arranged.

Just at that time the King was living in a palace among the hills.  And it was from thence the travelers were to leave.  It was like a morning in Wonderland.  The great valley on which the palace looked down, and along which the Princes were to travel, was that morning filled with vapor.  And the vapor lay, as far as the eye could reach, without a break on its surface, or a ruffled edge, in the light of the rising sun, like a sea of liquid silver.  The hills that surrounded the palace looked like so many giants sitting on the shores of a mighty sea.  It was into this sea the travelers had to descend.  One by one, with their companions, they bade the old King farewell.  And then, stepping forth from the palace gates and descending toward the valley, they disappeared from view.

The country to which they were going lay many days’ distance between the Purple Mountains and the Green Sea.  The road to it lay through woods and stretches of corn and pasture land.  It was Autumn.  In every field were reapers cutting or binding the corn.  At every turn of the road were wagons laden with sheaves.  Then the scene changed.  The land became poor.  The fields were covered with crops that were thin and unripe.  The people who passed on the road had a look of want on their faces.  The travelers passed on.  Every eye was searching the horizon for the first glimpse of the mountain peaks.  In every heart was the joyful hope of finding the Golden Age.  Can you think what the joy of a young student going for the first time to a university is?  It was a joy like his.  While this joy was in their hearts, the road passed into a mighty forest.  And suddenly among the shadows of the trees a miserable spectacle crossed their path.  It was a crowd of peasants of the very poorest class.  A plague had fallen on their homes, and they were fleeing from their village, which lay among the trees a mile or two to the right.