The vulture thrust its beak into Rupert's chest and took out a good piece of heart. At once it seized our lad with its claws and carried him to the other side of the abyss.
The Vulture carried Him to the other Side of the Abyss.
Now he was at the very gates of Fortune. He could already count the number of towers which raised themselves above the high walls, and took his happiness for granted—if that consists in money. At the gate they stopped him. There heart was contraband, and therefore they took out what remained of it and put a pretty one inside of him, made of steel, but hard as a diamond. Only one little fibre escaped their search, which passed unnoticed behind the metal heart.
"At last I am inside," said Rupert to himself; but, strangely enough, the city of gold produced neither surprise nor joy.
"What do I want riches for?" he exclaimed, "if I have lost my heart and with it my illusions?" And he walked through the city, looking with great disdain at those riches which were within reach of his hand and which so much tempted his ambition before.
That dazzling brilliance began to disturb him.
"Here it seems," he said to himself, "there is nothing else but gold. Cursed metal, which has cost me my heart. Goodness me! Who will give me back my little heart?"
He looked for friends, but did not succeed in finding them, because those people had hearts of steel, and Rupert felt that that little fibre that remained of his own made him suffer atrociously.
Without friends or affection, in that city of gold, Rupert remembered his parents and his brother and bitterly lamented his fate.