The Shepherdess
95
the melody of the syrinx, and the song seemed to speak directly to his heart of the flowers and the open sky and of strange things which, until then, he had never known. The pleasure trip with his companions was suddenly distasteful to him. He would prefer to see the shepherd girl again, if he could, without frightening her . . . he turned back, the way they had come; and when the others were weary of their dancing, they moved out from the trees, along the path, without Archias, whom they could not find.
A cicada shrilled, unseen among the grasses. A bird, deep in the blue sky, sang praises to the glory of the fields.
***
Across the path, a shepherd gazed down at his limbs overhung with a finer cloak
