6
Two women laid hold of me, each taking a hand and dragging me towards herself with great energy and strength; indeed, they almost tore me asunder in their contention. For first one of them would prevail and all but get possession of me, and then I would be plucked away again by her rival. And they screamed in concert, one of them crying that it was her property she wished to get hold of, and the other that the first was vainly striving for what did not belong to her. This first woman was masculine and workmanlike, with rough hair and callous hands. Her garments were girded up and full of marble chips, just as my uncle's were wont to be when he was polishing stone. But the other was of a very fair countenance, and her figure was shapely and her clothing well-ordered. Now at last they left it to me to decide which of them I would fain join. And first the harsh, man-like one spoke:
7
"My child," she said, "I am the Art of Stonecutting, which you began yesterday to learn, friendly to you and a relative by blood, inasmuch as your grandfather"—naming my mother's father-" was a stone-cutter, and your two uncles, and both of them are very well thought of on my account. If you are willing to hold aloof from this woman's folly and nonsense "-pointing to her rival" and to come and dwell with me, you will in the first place be generously nurtured and have strong shoulders, and you will be a stranger to all jealousy; you will never leave your fatherland and family to go out into foreign countries, and it is not for mere words that you will win praise from every one.
