We continue with Goethe's Tale where the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily have a conversation about the coming of a Bridge over the River between two lands.
The good old dame, the old Woman, had listened with impatience to the fair Lily singing her ballad, which the fair Lily accompanied with her harp, in a way that would have charmed any other.
She was on the point of taking leave, when the arrival of the Green Snake again detained her. The Snake had caught the last lines of her singing a song and on this matter forthwith began to speak to comfort the fair Lily.
The Snake cried: "The prophecy of the Bridge is fulfilled! You may ask this worthy dame how royally the arch looks now. What formerly was untransparent jasper, or agate, allowing but a gleam of light to pass about its edges, is now become transparent precious stone. No beryl is so clear, no emerald so beautiful of hue."
The Lily said: "I wish you joy of it but you will pardon me if I regard the prophecy as yet unaccomplished. The lofty arch of your bridge can still but admit foot-passengers and it is promised us that horses and carriages and travellers of every sort shall, at the same moment, cross the bridge in both directions. Is there not something said too, about pillars, which are to arise of themselves from the waters of the River?"
The old Woman still kept her eyes fixed on her hand; she here interrupted their dialogue and was taking leave when:
The Lily said: "Wait a moment and carry my little bird with you. Bid the lamp change it into topaz; I will enliven it by my touch; with your good Mops it shall form my dearest pastime: but hasten, hasten; for, at sunset, intolerable putrefaction will fasten on the hapless bird and tear asunder the fair combination of its form forever."
The old Woman laid the little corpse, wrapped in soft leaves, into her basket and hastened away.
The Snake said, recommencing their interrupted dialogue, "However it may be, the Temple is built."
The Lily replied: "But it is not at the River."
The Snake said: It is yet resting in the depths of the Earth. I have seen the Kings and conversed with them."
Lily inquired: "But when will they arise?"
The Snake replied: "I heard resounding in the Temple these deep words, The time is at hand."
A pleasing cheerfulness spread over the fair Lily's face.
The Lily said: "Tis the second time that I have heard these happy words today: when will the day come for me to hear them thrice?"
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The Snake said, recommencing their interrupted dialogue, "However it may be, the Temple is built."
The Lily replied: "But it is not at the River."
The Snake said: It is yet resting in the depths of the Earth. I have seen the Kings and conversed with them."
Lily inquired: "But when will they arise?"
The Snake replied: "I heard resounding in the Temple these deep words, The time is at hand."
A pleasing cheerfulness spread over the fair Lily's face.
The Lily said: "Tis the second time that I have heard these happy words today: when will the day come for me to hear them thrice?"
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Throughout the Tale the phrase "The time is at hand" is used three times and has a rhythm of life of its own. It is spoken by wise characters. The sound of the words and the gesture that precedes them are like Bridges in themselves which need our attention.
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