And suddenly the Spirits of the Sap made their appearance on the scene. Short they were, and squat, and their loins were as large as the great barrel of Heidelberg itself. And their thighs were fat like hogsheads of wine, and their muscles so strangely strong and powerful that one would have said that their bodies were made of naught but eggs, eggs big and little, joined up to one another, and covered over with a kind of ruddy skin, strong and glistening like their scanty beards and tawny hair. And they carried great tankards or goblets that were filled with a strange liquor. When the other spirits saw them coming, there at once arose among them a great flutter of joy. The trees and the plants became the victims of a strange restlessness, and the thirsty earth opened in a thousand fissures that it might drink of the liquor. And the Spirits of the Sap poured out their wine, and at the same moment everything began to bud, and to grow green, and to come into flower; and the sward was alive with buzzing insects, and the sky was filled with birds and butterflies. The spirits, meanwhile, continued pouring out their sap, and those below them received the wine as they best were able: the girl-flowers opening their mouths and leaping upon the tawny cup-bearers and kissing them for more; others clasping their hands in prayer; yet others, in their delight, allowing the precious liquid to rain upon them as it would; but all alike, hungry and thirsty, flying, standing still, running, or motionless, all greedy for the wine, and more alive for every drop they were able to get. And none was there so old, whether he were plain or handsome, but he was filled with fresh force and with new and lusty youth. And with great shouting and laughing they pursued each other among the trees like squirrels, or in the air like birds, each male seeking his female, and acting out beneath God's open sky the sacred task of nature. And the Spirits of the Sap brought to the King and Queen a mighty bowl brimming with their wine. And the King and the Queen drank thereof, and embraced one another. And the King, holding the Queen fast in his arms, threw the dregs of that bowl far away upon the trees and flowers and all the other spirits that were there. And loud did he raise his voice, crying: "Glory to Life! Glory to the free air! Glory to Force!" And all with one voice cried aloud: "Glory to Nature! Glory to Life!"