I have climbed the steps of Eschmoun, god of the planets and intelligences; I have slept beneath the golden olive of Melkarth, patron of the Tyrian colonies; I have pushed open the doors of Baal-Khamon, the enlightener and fertiliser; I have sacrificed to the subterranean Kabiri, to the gods of woods, winds, rivers and mountains; but, can you understand?
they are all too far away, too high, too insensible, while she--I feel her mingled in my life; she fills my soul, and I quiver with inward startings, as though she were leaping in order to escape.

Methinks I am about to hear her voice, and see her face, lightnings dazzle me and then I sink back again into the darkness." Schahabarim was silent.

She entreated him with suppliant looks.

At last he made a sign for the dismissal of the slave, who was not of Chanaanitish race.

Taanach disappeared, and Schahabarim, raising one arm in the air, began: "Before the gods darkness alone was, and a breathing stirred dull and indistinct as the conscience of a man in a dream.