Page:Popular Tales of the Germans (Volume 1).djvu/220

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202
THE STEALING

the otherwiſe unattainable privilege of unfading youth and beauty.

‘If you do not grudge to undertake ſo long a journey, and to lie in ambuſh beſide one of theſe wonder-working ſprings, in order to make that declaration of love, which the beautiful Zoe will hardly hear from you in Naxos, I will tell you where to ſeek them. The firſt lies in Abyſſinia, in the depth of Africa, and is in fact the long-ſought fountain of the Nile. The ſecond is a bottomleſs pool, at the foot of Mount Ararat, in Aſia, which received and ſwallowed up the waters of Noah’s flood. The third ſprings in Europe, in the empire of Germany, where the roots of the Sudetes ſhoot out weſtward towards the plain country. Its waters are collected in a pool ſituated in a delightful valley, named by the inhabitants of the country the Swansfield. This pool is moſt frequently viſited by Zoe, for it is neareſt home. You will not find any‘difficulty