274 The King Orgulous

was speaking: “All the lusts of the flesh,
and all the lusts of the eyes, and all the lusts
of the will, and the pride of life this man
hath gratified and glutted to surfeiting, yet
is he as restless as the sea and as insatiable
as the grave. Speak, man; is it not so?”

And Talisso answered, with a peal of
orgulous laughter: ‘Restless as the sea;
insatiable as the grave.”

‘How then, Lord,” said the Angel, “shall
this man’s unrest and hunger be stayed?”

God spoke and said: “Fill his mouth
with dust.”

Then the Angel took a handful of dust
and said to Talisso: “ Open thy mouth and
eat.”

Talisso cried aloud, “I will not eat.”

“Open thy mouth,” said the Angel
sternly.

“My mouth I will not open,” replied
Talisso.

Thereupon the Angel caught him by the
hair, and plucked his head backward till his
throat made a knotted white ridge above the
neck, and as Talisso opened his mouth,
shrieking blasphemies and laughing with
frantic rage, the Angel filled it with dust.