which formerly consoled me, but the honey no longer gave me

pleasure, and the white and black mice of day and night gnawed at

the branch by which I hung. I saw the dragon clearly and the honey

no longer tasted sweet. I only saw the unescapable dragon and the

mice, and I could not tear my gaze from them. and this is not a

fable but the real unanswerable truth intelligible to all.

The deception of the joys of life which formerly allayed my

terror of the dragon now no longer deceived me. No matter how