“Ah, clear they see and true they sayThat one shall weep, and one shall stray”

“One man sees a riselka: his life forks there. Two men see a riselka: one of them shall die. Three men see a riselka: one is blessed, one forks, one shall die.One woman sees a riselka: her path comes clear to her. Two women see a riselka: one of them shall bear a child. Three women see a riselka: one is blessed, one is clear, one shall bear a child.”

“I shall not weep for any of them, nor regret their fate, nor shake one feather in sympathy.”

“It is true, we shall be monsters, cut off from all the world; but on that account we shall be more attached to one another.”

“And the name of the one shall be Fearfulness. And the name of the other shall be Arrogance... Well, clearly you are not Fearfulness, so I suppose you must be Arrogance.'This was not very polite.”

“MRS ARBUTHNOT For me the world is shriveled to a palm's breath, and where I walk there are thorns.HESTER It shall not be so. We shall somewhere find green valleys and fresh waters, and if we weep, well, we shall weep together.”