lt and toilsome--that the world
was not quite what it appeared to them as they looked forth upon it
from their beauteous home. He spoke to them of the true, the
beautiful, and the good, and told them that these three held together
in the world, and that under the pressure they had to endure they
became hardened into a precious stone, clearer than the water of the
diamond--a jewel whose splendour had value with God, whose brightness
outshone everything, and which was the so-called "Stone of the Wise."
He told them how men could attain by investigation to the knowledge of
the existence of God, and that through men themselves one could attain
to the certainty that such a jewel as the "Stone of the Wise" existed.
This narration would have exceeded the perception of other children,
but these children understood it, and at length other children, too,
will learn to comprehend its meaning.

They questioned their father concerning the true, the beautiful, and
the good; and he explained it to them, told them many things, and told
them also that God, when He made man out of the dust of the earth,
gave five kisses to His work--fiery kisses, heart kisses--which we now
call the five senses. Through these the true, the beautiful, and the
good is seen, perceived, and understood; through these it is valued,
protected, and furthered. Five senses have been given corporeally and
mentally, inwardly and outwardly, to body and soul.

The children reflected deeply upon these things; they meditated upon
them by day and by night. Then the eldest of the brothers dreamt a
splendid dream. Strangely enough, the second brother had the same
dream, and the third, and the fourth brother likewise; all of them
dreamt exactly the same thing--namely, that each went out into the
world and found the "Stone of the Wise," which gleamed like a beaming
light on his forehead when, in the morning dawn, he rode back on his
swift horse over the velvety green meadows of his home into the castle
of his father; and the jewel threw such a heavenly light and radiance
upon the leaves of the book, that everything was illuminated that
stood written concerning the life beyond the grave. But the sister
dreamt nothing about going out into the wide world. It never entered
her mind. Her world was her father's house.

"I shall ride forth into the wide world," said the eldest brother. "I
must try what life is like there, and go to and fro among men. I will
practise only the good