“And wherefore came you?”
“That you must know best, seeing it was your voice that sang in my heart.”
“Do you bring me the gift?” she said.
“Indeed, I bring you the complete gift, jewels of jade upon a silken string.”
“Come,” she said, and rose and took him by the hand. And they went to her father’s house.
So they drank the “Three Times Three,” and were made man and wife, and lived in sweet tranquillity many, many years.
All the time the crane dwelt in the Pine Tree’s topmost branches, and the tortoise on the brown carpet of needles below.
At last the Youth and Maiden, that once were, became white-haired, old, and withered, by the swift, relentless passage of years.
“Fair love,” said the old man, “how weary I grow! It is sad to be old.”
“Say not so, dear delight of my heart,” said the old woman; “say not so, the best of all is to come.”