CHAPTER XXIV 



WHAT THE MOUNTAINS SAW 



IN the works of a Slavic author occurs a dia- 

 logue between two mountains, the giant 

 Finsteraarhorn and his companion, the Jung- 

 frau. They have been sleeping for immeasurable 

 periods of years, and as they awaken the elder of 

 the two, the darksome Finsteraarhorn, looks down 

 from the clouds and tells of what he sees : "Noth- 

 ing but ice and snow." There are no trees, no 

 grass, no living things. "Only endless ice and 

 snow." And so they sleep again. 



Ages pass and they awaken for the second time. 



The bonds of the ice are broken. The lakes 

 and tarns lie silvern and blue on the sunny earth. 

 The hills are covered with trees and the meadows 

 carpeted with green, inwrought with many-colored 

 flowers. All this the Finsteraarhorn recounts to his 

 companion, and he notes especially how the land- 

 scape is "dotted with tiny creatures," minutely 

 small as seen from that great height, whom he 

 calls "human beings." 



But the interest of the ancient mountain flags, 

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