They buried her where she lay, as is their custom; for,
before they die, they instinctively search for a spot like the
place of their birth, and having found one that satisfies them,
they lie down, fold their wings around them, if they be women, or
cross their arms over their breasts, if they are men, just as if
they were going to sleep; and so sleep indeed. The sign or cause
of coming death is an indescribable longing for something, they
know not what, which seizes them, and drives them into solitude,
consuming them within, till the body fails. When a youth and a
maiden look too deep into each other's eyes, this longing seizes
and possesses them; but instead of drawing nearer to each other,
they wander away, each alone, into solitary places, and die of
their desire. But it seems to me, that thereafter they are born
babes upon our earth: where, if, when grown, they find each
other, it goes well with them; if not, it will seem to go ill.
But of this I know nothing. When I told them that the women on
the Earth had not wings like them, but arms, they stared, and
said how bold and masculine they must look; not knowing that
their wings, glorious as they are, are but undeveloped arms.
But see the power of this book, that, while recounting what I can
recall of its contents, I write as if myself had visited the
far-off planet, learned its ways and appearances, and conversed
with its men and women.
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