No one moved or spoke.
"Give him to me, do!" Maki repeated, looking round at them all. "Mother, where is he? Tell me the truth.... What has happened? Is he dead?"
The queen covered her face with her hands.
"Well, perhaps it is better so," Maki said quietly. "We shall soon be together...."
That same night before dawn the death struggle began. She no longer tossed about or wandered; she lay quite naked: the lightest covering oppressed her; the slender, childish body seemed flat and crushed as though it had been trodden on like a blade of grass; the head with the elongated skull was thrown back, the eyes closed, the face immovable and the breathing so faint that at times it was not noticeable.
Pentu, the physician, brought to her lips a round brass mirror and when it grew slightly clouded, he said:
"She breathes."
Suddenly she opened her eyes and called:
"Enra, where is Enra?"
"Here," the king answered bending over her, and she whispered in his ear, like a blade of grass rustling: