Eden River by Gerald Bullet

by the river and came back by the mountain, she had spoken, therefore, the simple truth; but her words were dark to Eve and Adam, and having no clue to her meaning they were incurious, and Larian’s desperate hope that they would probe diligently into the past, and so at last arrive at her identity, was defeated. Distracted with grief she fell on her knees, and, bending over Eve’s lap, took her last farewell of Kelimuth’s baby. Then rising she presented a falsely smiling face to her mother, and said: Now I must go back to my own place. Both Eve and Adam smiled at her, answering: We should like you to stay with us. Why not? It is very pleasant here. I am going across the river, said Larian stubbornly, into the country of Cain. Ah, said Eve, then you’ll very likely see some of the children on your way, Seth and Hamaleda and the rest. And the little ones too: they’re somewhere over there.
    Even now Larian might have yielded to her passionate wish and revealed herself. But shewould not, for a voice said within her: They are young and I am old. And so, with tears in her eyes, she turned away, bitterly eager to be gone. She went with dragging feet, and aimlessly; and her heart, being filled with desolation, was dead to the vital beauty that surrounded her. She who of all Cain’s people had Eden most in her heart was yet so changed by time and stress as to believe herself alien to it. Night found her still wandering, and when she lay down and closed her eyes she half hoped that a wild beast would devour her while she slept, though sober judgment told her that no such thing could happen in this country of the blest, even to the outcast that she was. Her sleep was troubled with many dreams, but she slept soundly towards morning, and woke with the first pipe of birds to find two strangers staring down at her, a slim fair youth and a smooth-cheeked placid woman. As she rose to her feet they greeted her with friendly words. She answered the greeting briefly and would have resumed her wayfaring, but the young man came smiling towards her, his eyes bright with pleasure and curiosity. Hullo! What are you called? I’ve never seen you before. My name is Naban. And what is that thing for? he asked, pointing to the loin-cloth she wore. Lariancould not help smiling at his ingenuousness, but it was to the woman that she turned, saying: I am not of this country. And seeing that the woman before her was her sister Kirith, she could hold back the truth no longer, and the words came gushing out like tears: I am Larian your sister, for you are Kirith. How can that be? asked Kirith; I have never seen you before. How can it not be? answered Larian. Did not the same mother bear us both? Have you then forgotten Larian, and Cain, and Abel our brother who became dead? For answer Kirith wrinkled her smooth brow and said: There is an old story with those names in it, but I was a child when it happened, and I can’t remember such things. You are a child still, retorted Larian in anger. You are all children, and I hate you for your happiness. What word is that? put in the boy, eager for knowledge; and Larian’s heart melted towards him. But he, receiving no answer, hurried on to another question: How is it that you have ridges and furrows in your face? There and there! With his forefinger he traced out the course of her many wrinkles. Kirith’s face, he said, is not like that. That is because Kirith, answered Larian, has forgotten what I remember. Naban, I will tell you a story. But Kirith said suddenly: Yes, youare Larian. I have remembered you. But why must you tell my son a story? It is the story, said Larian, of why I came back to this place and of why I shall not stay in it.
    Tell me the story, said Naban. Tell me. And when the story was told he exclaimed with shining eyes: If you won’t stay with us here, Larian, I will go with you to your country, and see Kelimuth your daughter, who is so beautiful. I’m