I,
yes I, Ayesha[*]--for that, stranger, is my name--I say to thee that
I wait now for one I loved to be born again, and here I tarry till he
finds me, knowing of a surety that hither he will come, and that here,
and here only, shall he greet me. Why, dost thou believe that I, who
am all-powerful, I, whose loveliness is more than the loveliness of the
Grecian Helen, of whom they used to sing, and whose wisdom is wider, ay,
far more wide and deep than the wisdom of Solomon the Wise--I, who know
the secrets of the earth and its riches, and can turn all things to
my uses--I, who have even for a while overcome Change, that ye call
Death--why, I say, oh stranger, dost thou think that I herd here with
barbarians lower than the beasts?"
[*] Pronounced Assha.--L. H. H.
"I know not," I said humbly.
"Because I wait for him I love. My life has perchance been evil, I know
not--for who can say what is evil and what good?--so I fear to die even
if I could die, which I cannot until mine hour comes, to go and seek him
where he is; for between us there might rise a wall I could not climb,
at least, I dread it.
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