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 of 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 . So comfortable and home-like did it seem , that Telephassa and her three companions could not help sighing , to think that they must still roam about the world , instead of spending the remainder of their lives in some such cheerful abode as they had here built for Phoenix . But , when they bade him farewell , Phoenix shed tears , and probably regretted that he was no longer to keep them company . However , he had fixed upon an admirable place to dwell in .
And by and by there came other people , who chanced to have no homes ; and , seeing how pleasant a spot it was , they built themselves huts in the neighborhood XXXXX Phoenix 's habitation .
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