"No, not now—not now! Those are no arrows of Apollo, for the pedagogue to ward off!"
Manna did not understand what Roland was saying; his mind seemed to her distracted, and he did not explain how it was that the Niobe group rose before his eyes. At length, after some time, he said:—
"Yes, so it is! The maiden hides in her mother's lap, but the boy holds up his own hands and wards off the fatal shaft. And at night, when I was wandering off to Eric, I listened to the story of the laughing sprite. It takes a long while for an acorn to grow into a tree, and a cradle to be made out of the tree, and a child that lies in the cradle to open the door. Don't you hear? he laughs; he must go through his transformation."
Manna begged him to be quiet, and said:—
"I must go to father."
"And I to mother."
Pranken met them on the steps; he held out his hand to Manna, and she said:
"I am unspeakably thankful to you for the great loyalty you have shown to my father."
"Stop a while, I beg of you."
"No, I cannot now—no longer."