“Do you remain there, Chimera? Do we remain there together?”
“No. . . .”
“Why not?”
“As soon as I have reached my purple land, I must go farther . . . . and then back again.”
“O Chimera, I will not go back! I will forget everything—my father, my country. I will remain there with you!”
“I cannot. . . . But now pay great attention; we are approaching my kingdom, little Psyche. Look! now we are going over the sea, now we are approaching the shore, lined with soft mother-of-pearl.”
“The sea is a dirty green, like an ordinary sea; the borders are sand. . . . You are deceiving me, Chimera! As soon as we approach, then you charm away everything that I saw beautiful.”
“Now, under us is the purple desert; under us are the oases of pale emerald.”
“You are deceiving me, Chimera! The desert glows in the strong sun, the oases fade away to nothing, like a meteor. . . . Chimera!”
“What, Psyche?”
“Where are you going?”
