And it shall come to
pass,' said the old man, raising himself prophetically and pointing with
his finger to the sky, 'it shall come to pass, that when enough of those
silver feathers shall have been gathered by the hands of men, and shall
have been woven into a cord, and the cord into a net, that in that net
Truth may be captured. Nothing but Truth can hold Truth.'
"The hunter arose. 'I will go,' he said.
"But wisdom detained him.
"'Mark you well--who leaves these valleys never returns to them. Though he
should weep tears of blood seven days and nights upon the confines, he can
never put his foot across them. Left--they are left forever. Upon the
road which you would travel there is no reward offered. Who goes, goes
freely--for the great love that is in him. The work is his reward.'
"'I go' said the hunter; 'but upon the mountains, tell me, which path shall
I take?'
"'I am the child of The-Accumulated-Knowledge-of-Ages,' said the man; 'I
can walk only where many men have trodden. On these mountains few feet
have passed; each man strikes out a path for himself. He goes at his own
peril: my voice he hears no more. I may follow after him, but cannot go
before him.'
"Then Knowledge vanished.
"And the hunter turned. He went to his cage, and with his hands broke down
the bars, and the jagged iron tore his flesh.
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