Marlin stared entranced. He had no impulse to approach, but only to fill his eyes with the lovely picture she made--to feed his starved soul with the tranquility of her unconscious pose. Mature, brooding, poised--a veritable part of it she seemed--an expression of the universal mother-spirit. When she glanced up from the fluffy thing cuddled in her hands, she seemed scarcely surprised at seeing him, but her full lips broke into a smile of pleased welcome. As she deposited the fledgling on the ground among its mates, he took a diffident step toward her, then another. "Pearl!" he muttered in a choked voice, and dropped on his knees beside her. She looked down understandingly. Extending both hands, she clasped them behind his head and drew his face gently to the warm hollow where the chick had nestled. "... _Thus N'urth came into being. But it was a fearsome planet--barren--devoid of life. Then the gods who had created it turned to Pi-Ruh-Al, the all-knowing, and besought her to make their creation more pleasing to the sight of El-Leighi._ _"For know you, my son, that so great was the wisdom of this lovely goddess that for long periods she sealed her lips in mercy, lest she reveal truths too vast for mind to comprehend. Yet was she also the most tender and understanding of the Great Beings._ _"In her wisdom, Pi-Ruh-Al gathered a handful of soil from the barren planet, and breathed upon it, and moistened it in the sea. And she scattered the soil and it became seeds, which blossomed into grass and flowers and all things growing, so that N'urth was converted into a place of beauty riding upon the void._ _"And again Pi-Ruh-Al gathered rock fragments which she moistened in the sea and breathed upon and scattered abroad, and the rocks gave forth living things, so that the world teemed with birds and tiny creatures that crawl and fly and burrow, and with all animals that we know, from the least to great herds which feed upon the hillsides._ _"With all of this the gods were pleased, but in time they again grew dissatisfied, they knew not why. And Pi-Ruh-Al smiled, for the cause of their sorrow was known to her even before they voiced it. So she removed the seal from her lips and told them they were grieved because none of their kind would enjoy the beauty of this world or remain to husband its teeming life, when they returned to their home in the sun. And she commanded them to people N'urth with beings in their own image--children of their loins, who should hold their heads high and walk erect with understanding, as befitted the mortal children of gods._ _"And the Mighty Ones knew that Pi-Ruh-Al spoke wisdom, and they obeyed her command. And now, from their far-off home in the sun, they look out upon the fair planet which they formed and peopled with life, and declare that it is good."_ _"Is it not true, Mother, that our own race--my race--came from the greatest of these?"_