male, who is thus
constantly rescued on the very ridges of defeat. She said to Seumas
that his fatal day would dawn when he loved a woman, because he would
sacrifice his destiny to her caprice, and she begged him for love of her
to beware of all that twisty sex. To Brigid she revealed that a woman's
terrible day is upon her when she knows that a man loves her, for a man
in love submits only to a woman, a partial, individual and temporary
submission, but a woman who is loved surrenders more fully to the
very god of love himself, and so she becomes a slave, and is not alone
deprived of her personal liberty, but is even infected in her mental
processes by this crafty obsession. The fates work for man, and
therefore, she averred, woman must be victorious, for those who dare to
war against the gods are already assured of victory: this being the
law of life, that only the weak shall conquer. The limit of strength
is petrifaction and immobility, but there is no limit to weakness, and
cunning or fluidity is its counsellor. For these reasons, and in order
that life might not cease, women should seek to turn their husbands into
women; then they would be tyrants and their husbands would be slaves,
and life would be renewed for a further period.

As the Thin Woman proceeded with this lesson it became at last so
extremely complicated that she was brought to a stand by the knots, so
she decided to resume their journey and disentangle her argument when
the weather became cooler.

They were repacking the cakes in their wallets when they observed a
stout, comely female coming towards the well. This woman, when she drew
near, saluted the Thin Woman, and her the Thin Woman saluted again,
whereupon the stranger sat down.

"It's hot weather, surely," said she, "and I'm thinking it's as much as
a body's life is worth to be travelling this day and the sun the way it
is. Did you come far, now, ma'am, or is it that you are used to going
the roads and don't mind it?"

"Not far," said the Thin Woman.

"Far or near," said the stranger, "a perch is as much as I'd like to
travel this time of the year. That's a fine pair of children you have
with you now, ma'am."

"They are," said the Thin Woman.

"I've ten of them myself," the other continued, "and I often wondered
where they came from. It's queer to think of one woman making ten new
creatures and she not getting a penny for it, nor any thanks itself."

"It is," said the Thin Woman.

"D