Artificial grottoes surrounded bodies of fresh or salt water,and gave a glimpse into the empire of the fishes; the visitor seemedto wander at the bottom of the sea, among fishes and polypi.
  "All this," they said, "the Champ de Mars offers;" and aroundthe great richly-spread table the crowd of human beings moves like abusy swarm of ants, on foot or in little carriages, for not all feetare equal to such a fatiguing journey.
  Hither they swarm from morning till late in the evening. Steamerafter steamer, crowded with people, glides down the Seine. Thenumber of carriages is continually on the increase. The swarm ofpeople on foot and on horseback grows more and more dense. Carriagesand omnibuses are crowded, stuffed and embroidered with people. Allthese tributary streams flow in one direction- towards the Exhibition.On every entrance the flag of France is displayed; around theworld's bazaar wave the flags of all nations. There is a humming and amurmuring from the hall of the machines; from the towers the melody ofthe chimes is heard; with the tones of the organs in the churchesmingle the hoarse nasal songs from the cafes of the East. It is akingdom of Babel, a wonder of the world!
  In very truth it was. That's what all the reports said, and whodid not hear them? The Dryad knew everything that is told here ofthe new wonder in the city of cities.
  "Fly away, ye birds! fly away to see, and then come back andtell me," said the Dryad.
  The wish became an intense desire- became the one thought of alife. Then, in the quiet silent night, while the full moon wasshining, the Dryad saw a spark fly out of the moon's disc, and falllike a shooting star. And before the tree, whose leaves waved to andfro as if they were stirred by a tempest, stood a noble, mighty, andgrand figure. In tones that were at once rich and strong, like thetrumpet of the Last Judgment bidding farewell to life and summoning tothe great account, it said:
  "Thou shalt go to the city of magic; thou shalt take root there,and enjoy the mighty rushing breezes, the air and the sunshinethere. But the time of thy life shall then be shortened; the line ofyears that awaited thee here amid the free nature shall shrink tobut a small tale. Poor Dryad! It shall be thy destruction. Thyyearning and longing will increase, thy desire will grow morestormy, the tree itself will be as a prison to thee, thou wilt quitthy cell and give up thy nature to fly out and mingle among men.Then the years that would have belonged to thee will be contractedto half the span of the ephemeral fly, that lives but a day: onenight, and thy life-taper shall be blown out- the leaves of the treewill wither and be blown away, to become green never again!"
  Thus the words sounded. And the light vanished away, but not thelonging of the Dryad. She trembled in the wild fever of expectation.
  "I shall go there!" she cried, rejoicingly. "Life is beginning andswells like a cloud; nobody knows whither it is hastening."
  When the gray dawn arose and the moon turned pale and the cloudswere tinted red, the wished-for hour struck. The words of promise werefulfilled.
  People appeared with spades and poles; they dug round the roots ofthe tree, deeper and deeper, and beneath it. A wagon was broughtout, drawn by many horses, and the tree was lifted up, with itsroots and the lumps of earth that adhered to them; matting wasplaced around the roots, as though the tree had its feet in a warmbag. And now the tree was lifted on the wagon and secured with chains.The journey began- the journey to Paris. There the tree was to grow asan ornament to the city of French glory.
  The twigs and the leaves of the chestnut tree trembled in thefirst moments of its being moved; and the Dryad trembled in thepleasurable feeling of expectation.
  "Away!