I travelled the old road every day,
I took my fruits to the market,my cattle to the meadows,
I ferried my boat across the stream andall the ways were well known to me. One morning my basket was heavy with wares.
Men were busy inthe fields, the pastures crowded with cattle; the breast of earthheaved with the mirth of ripening rice. Suddenly there was a tremor in the air, and the sky seemed tokiss me on my forehead.
My mind started up like the morning out ofmist. I forgot to follow the track.
I stepped a few paces from thepath, and my familiar world appeared strange to me, like a flowerI had only known in bud. My everyday wisdom was ashamed.
I went astray in the fairylandof things.
It was the best luck of my life that I lost my path thatmorning, and found my eternal childhood.
