‘Fashioned in the shadow-land, Out into darkness hurled; Trusted to the Storm-wind’s hand, By the Passion-tempest whirled! Ever straining, Never gaining, Never keeping, Young or old! Whither going Never knowing, Wherefore weeping, Never told! Rising, falling, disappearing, Seeking, calling, hating, fearing; Blasted by the lightning shock, Trampled in the earthquake rock; Were I man I would not plead In the roll of fate to read!’ “Then Cedric shuddered, but he said again, ‘I seek the fate,’ and the witch waved her hand; And straight a peal of thunder shook the ground, And clanged and battered on the cavern walls, Like some huge boulder leaping down the cliff. And blinding light flashed out, and seething fire Shattered the seamy crags and heaving floor.” And so in a vision of terror Cedric saw the little vale, and the cot “fringed round with tender green”; and upon the lawn he saw Eileen, lying as one dead. “And Cedric sprang, and cried, ‘My love! Eileen!’ And on the instant came a thunder-crash Like to the sound of old primeval days, Of mountain-heaving shock and earthquake roar, Of whirling planets shattered in the dark.” And so, half wild with grief and despair, Cedric wandered forth into the world; and after great suffering, the birds took pity upon him, and gave him advice--that he should seek Caradrion. “‘Caradrion?’ cried Cedric, starting up, ‘Speak swiftly, ere too late, where dwelleth he?’ ‘Ah, that I know not,’ spake the little voice, ‘Yet keep thy courage, seek thou out the stork, The ancient stork that saw from earliest days, Sitting in primal contemplation lost, Sphinx-like, seraphic, and oracular, Watching the strange procession of men’s dreams.’” But the stork was cruel and would not heed him, and led Cedric a weary chase through the marshes and the brakes. But Cedric pursued, and finally seized the bird by the throat, and forced the secret from him-- “‘Fare southward still, Fronting the sun’s midnoon, all-piercing shaft, Unto the land where daylight burns as fire; Where the rank earth in choking vapor steams, And fierce luxurious vegetation reeks. So shalt thou come upon a seamèd rock, Towering to meet the sun’s fierce-flashing might, Baring its granite forehead to the sky. There on its summit, in a cavern deep, Dwells what thou seekest, half a bird, half man, Caradrion, the consecrate to pain.’” Then came the long journey and the search for the seamèd rock.