“I did as I had to,” replied Spring and smiled and plucked at the strings of his lute.
But the Prince of Autumn rose and made three deep bows:
“Then our meeting was fortunate for the poor earth,” he said. “Now we can part, never to meet again, and go our way over the land until the end of the world.”
The Prince of Spring rose and bowed three times, as Autumn had done, and bound the lute over his shoulder. But Summer and Winter remained sitting and looked out before them, as if they had more on their minds; and, when Spring and Autumn saw this, they sat down again, each on his mountain, and waited respectfully.
And, when this had lasted some time, Winter raised his white head and looked from the one to the other. Then he said:
“Now I will say what we are all thinking.”
Autumn turned a questioning glance towards him; and Spring unfastened his lute again and played and hummed. But the Prince of Summer nodded in assent.
“We are princes by the grace of God,” said Winter. “We have shared the earth among us by turns, according to agreement, so that each of us reigned for a quarter of the year. We have kept the covenant which we made with one another, but the land is no longer ours.”
“That is true,” said Summer.
“We are no longer lords in the land,” said Winter. “Men have seized upon the power.”