IT WAS ONLY the other day that I came to your earth, naked and nameless, with a wailing cry. To-day my voice is glad, while you, my lord, stand aside to make room that I may fill my life. Even when I bring you my songs for an offering I have the secret hope that men will come and love me for them. You love to discover that I love this world where you have brought me.
'PRISONER, TELL me, who was it that bound you?' 'It was my master,' said the prisoner. 'I thought I could outdo everybody in the world in wealth and power, and I amassed in my own treasure-house the money due to my king. When sleep overcame me I lay upon the bed that was for my lord, and on waking up I found I was a prisoner in my own treasure-house.' 'Prisoner, tell me who was it that wrought this unbreakable chain?' 'It was I,' said the prisoner, 'who forged this chain very carefully. I thought my invincible power would hold the world captive leaving me in a freedom undisturbed. Thus night and day I worked at the chain with huge fires and cruel hard strokes. When at last the work was done and the links were complete and unbreakable, I found that it held me in its grip.'