' He
stepped toward it: touched by his glowing breath, the Lily opened her
leaves; and he saw the Lily's daughter, the green Snake, lying asleep
in the hollow of the flower. Then was the Salamander inflamed with
warm love for the fair Snake; and he carried her away from the Lily,
whose perfumes in nameless lamentation vainly called for her beloved
daughter throughout all the garden. For the Salamander had borne her
into the palace of Phosphorus, and was there beseeching him: 'Wed me
with my beloved, for she shall be mine forevermore.' 'Madman, what
askest thou!' said the Prince of the Spirits; 'know that once the Lily
was my mistress, and bore rule with me; but the Spark, which I cast
into her, threatened to annihilate the fair Lily; and only my victory
over the black Dragon, whom now the Spirits of the Earth hold in
fetters, maintains her, that her leaves continue strong enough to
inclose this Spark and preserve it within them. But when thou claspest
the green Snake, thy fire will consume her frame; and a new Being,
rapidly arising from her dust, will soar away and leave thee.'
"The Salamander heeded not the warning of the Spirit-prince: full of
longing ardor he folded the green Snake in his arms; she crumbled into
ashes; a winged Being, born from her dust, soared away through the
sky. Then the madness of desperation caught the Salamander, and he ran
through the garden, throwing forth fire and flames, and wasted it
in his wild fury, till its fairest flowers and blossoms hung down,
blackened and scathed, and their lamentation filled the air.
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