Under the River
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Wenige Augenblicke schien ein feiner Regen durch die Oeffnung der Kuppel hereinzurieseln; der Alte hielt die schöne Lilie fester und sagte zu ihr: Wir sind unter dem Flusse und bald am Ziel. Nicht lange darauf glaubten sie still zu stehn, doch sie betrogen sich; der Tempel stieg aufwärts.
For a few moments a fine rain seemed to trickle in through the opening of the dome; the old man held beautiful Lily more tightly and said to her: We are under the river and soon at the goal. Not long afterward they believed they were standing still, but they were mistaken; the temple was climbing upward.
A fine rain trickles through the dome as the temple passes under the river; it seems to stop, then begins to rise.
<p>The river has divided the two banks for the whole tale, and here the temple passes beneath it rather than over it. The only sign is a fine rain through the opening of the dome, water leaking in from above, and the old man reads it at once: we are under the river. His bald am Ziel, soon at the goal, is the first time anyone in the tale says the journey has an end.</p><p>Then comes a small, true observation about motion. Doch sie betrogen sich, but they deceived themselves: they believed they were standing still while the temple climbed straight up, for when a thing rises vertically you feel nothing at all. Goethe trusts the reader to know that sensation from a boat or a dream. The undercurrent is that the decisive change is the one you cannot feel while it is happening; arrival announces itself as stillness.</p>
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