The Lights of Mens Lives

When Death saw that for a second time he was defrauded of his own property, he walked up to the physician with long strides, and said, All is over with thee, and now the lot falls on thee, and seized him so firmly with his ice-cold hand, that he could not resist, and led him into a cave below the earth. There he saw how thousands and thousands of candles were burning in countless rows, some large, others half-sized, others small. Every instant some were extinguished, and others again burnt up, so that the flames seemed to leap hither and thither in perpetual change. See, said Death, these are the lights of mens lives. The large ones belong to children, the half-sized ones to married people in their prime, the little ones belong to old people; but children and young folks likewise have often only a tiny candle. Show me the light of my life, said the physician, and he thought that it would be still very tall. Death pointed to a little end which was just threatening to go out, and said, Behold, it is there. The wax and smoke of millions upon millions of candles illuminating the walls of Deaths shadowy cave: some tall, straight, and strong, blazing with the fire of life, others dim and guttering.