`` What , then , shall I do ? '' asked Cadmus . For , ever since he was a child , you know , it had been the great object of his life to find his sister . From the very hour that he left following the butterfly in the meadow , near his father 's palace , he had done his best to follow Europa , over land and sea . And now , if he must give up the search , he seemed to have no more business in the world . But again the sighing gust of air grew into something like a hoarse voice . `` Follow the cow ! '' it said . `` Follow the cow ! Follow the cow ! '' And when these words had been repeated until Cadmus was tired of hearing them -LRB- especially as he could not imagine what cow it was , or why he was to follow her -RRB- , the gusty hole gave vent to another sentence . `` Where the stray cow lies down , there is your home . '' These words were pronounced but a single time , and died away into a whisper before Cadmus was fully satisfied that he had caught the meaning . He put other questions , but received no answer ; only the gust of wind sighed continually out of the cavity , and blew the withered leaves rustling along the ground before it . `` Did there really come any words out of the hole ? '' thought Cadmus ; `` or have I been dreaming all this while ? '' He turned away from the oracle , and thought himself no wiser than when he came thither . Caring little what might happen to him , he took the first path that offered itself , and went along at a sluggish pace ; for , having no object in view , nor any reason to go one way more than another , it would certainly have been foolish to make haste . Whenever he met anybody , the old question was at his tongue 's end . `` Have you seen a beautiful maiden , dressed like a king 's daughter , and mounted on a snow-white bull , that gallops as swiftly as the wind ? ''
But , remembering what the oracle had said , he only half uttered the words , and then mumbled the rest indistinctly ; and XXXXX his confusion , people must have imagined that this handsome young man had lost his wits .
at before from like near on over since than while