The Journey of Rheinfrid 295

“Why do they gaze at it so steadfastly?”

“ Not hard to say,” replied the stranger.
“Every hundred years a little blue bird
passes by, flying between them and the
globe, and as it passes it touches the stone
with the tip of its wing. On the last day
of the hundredth year the people gather and
watch with eager eyes all day for the passing
of the bird, and while they watch they do
not suffer. Now this is the last hour of the
last day of the hundredth year, and you see
how they gaze.”

“ But why do they watch to see the
bird?”

“Fach time the bird passes it touches the
stone, and every hundred years it will thus
touch it, till the stone be utterly worn
away.”

“Ten thousand ages, and yet again ten
thousand, and it will not have been worn
away,” said Rheinfrid. “But when it has
been worn away, what then?”

“‘ Why, then,” said the stranger, “‘ Eternity
will be no nearer to its end than it is now.
But see! see!”

Rheinfrid looked, and beheld a little blue
bird flash across the huge ball of glimmer-