Page:La Fontaine - The Original Fables Of, 1913.djvu/67

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
THYRSIS AND AMARANTH
55

at whose voice, at the mention of whose name, you will blush; at the thought of whom you will sigh. Why, one knows not! To see him will be a burning desire, and yet you would shrink from him."

"Oho!" said Amaranth, "Is this then the pain you have preached so much! It is hardly new to me. I seem to know something of it." The heart of Thyrsis leapt, for he thought that at last he had gained his end; when the fair one added, "'Tis just in this way that I feel for Cladimant!"

Imagine the vexation and misery of poor Thyrsis!


How many like him, intending to work solely for themselves, prove only to have been stepping stones for others.