ii2 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



to them, and to have a little fun he cried out to those 

 near him: "Look! here comes an old woman, just 

 arrived, to fish; let's close up and say there is no room 

 for another here and have a laugh at her expense." 



Here the reader must be told that the part of a 

 man which survives death is in appearance the exact 

 counterpart of the man when alive. To mortal eyes 

 he is invisible, being of so thin a substance; but the 

 dead and immortal see him as he was, young or old 

 and ugly, with his grey hair and wrinkles and every 

 sign of suffering and care and passion on his counten- 

 ance. And as with the face and the whole body so 

 it is with the mind: if it has been evil, full of spite 

 and malice, it is so still. But he must be told, too, 

 that this state is not permanent, for in that bright 

 and buoyant atmosphere it is impossible for the marks 

 of age and misery to endure; they fade out as the 

 easy, happy existence finds its effect; they grow 

 youthful in appearance once more; and the change 

 is also in the mind. The old woman had, alas! not 

 been long enough in that happy land for any change 

 to have taken place in either her appearance or her 

 spiteful temper. 



That was how the people by the lake no sooner 

 beheld the newcomer than they knew her for what she 

 had been, and was still — a spiteful old woman; and 

 being of a merry disposition they were only too ready 

 to take part in the joke. As she drew near they closed 

 up and cried out: "No room for another fisher here; 

 go further on and find yourself a place." 



On she went; but those who were further up saw 



