'That depends upon yourself,' answered the Fairy. 'If you do not, like
Adam, allow yourself to be tempted to do what is forbidden, you can stay
here always.'

'I will not touch the apples on the Tree of Knowledge,' said the Prince.
'There are thousands of other fruits here as beautiful.'

'Test yourself, and if you are not strong enough, go back with the
Eastwind who brought you. He is going away now, and will not come back
for a hundred years; the time will fly in this place like a hundred
hours, but that is a long time for temptation and sin. Every evening
when I leave you I must say, "Come with me," and I must beckon to you,
but stay behind. Do not come with me, for with every step you take your
longing will grow stronger. You will reach the hall where grows the Tree
of Knowledge; I sleep beneath its fragrant drooping branches. You will
bend over me and I must smile, but if you press a kiss upon my lips
Paradise will sink deep down into the earth, and it will be lost to you.
The sharp winds of the wilderness will whistle round you, the cold rain
will drop from your hair. Sorrow and labour will be your lot.'

'I will remain here!' said the Prince.

And the Eastwind kissed him on the mouth and said: 'Be strong, then we
shall meet again in a hundred years. Farewell! Farewell!' And the
Eastwind spread his great wings; they shone like poppies at the harvest
time, or the Northern Lights in a cold winter.

'Good-bye! good-bye!' whispered the flowers. Storks and pelicans flew
in a line like waving ribbons, conducting him to the boundaries of the