When the husbandmen , at whose farmhouses they sought hospitality , needed their assistance in the harvest field , they gave it willingly ; and Queen Telephassa -LRB- who had done no work in her palace , save to braid silk threads with golden ones -RRB- came behind them to bind the sheaves . If payment was offered , they shook their heads , and only asked for tidings of Europa . `` There are bulls enough in my pasture , '' the old farmers would reply ; `` but I never heard of one like this you tell me of . A snow-white bull with a little princess on his back ! Ho ! ho ! I ask your pardon , good folks ; but there never such a sight seen hereabouts . '' At last , when his upper lip began to have the down on it , Phoenix grew weary of rambling hither and thither to no purpose . So one day , when they happened to be passing through a pleasant and solitary tract of country , he sat himself down on a heap of moss . `` I can go no farther , '' said Phoenix . `` It is a mere foolish waste of life , to spend it as we do , always wandering up and down , and never coming to any home at nightfall . Our sister is lost , and never will be found . She probably perished in the sea ; or , to whatever shore the white bull may have carried her , it is now so many years ago , that there would be neither love nor acquaintance between us , should we meet again . My father has forbidden us to return to his palace , so I shall build me a hut of branches , and dwell here . '' `` Well , son Phoenix , '' said Telephassa , sorrowfully , `` you have grown to be a man , and must do as you judge best . But , for my part , I will still go in quest of my poor child . '' `` And we three will go along with you ! '' cried Cadmus and Cilix , and their faithful friend Thasus . But , before setting out , they all helped Phoenix to build a habitation . When completed , it was a sweet rural bower , roofed overhead with an arch of living boughs .
Inside there were two pleasant rooms , one XXXXX which had a soft heap of moss for a bed , while the other was furnished with a rustic seat or two , curiously fashioned out of the crooked roots of trees .
At If as between for in like of that to