The dance-song with Life

One evening went Zarathustra and his disciples through the forest; and when he sought for a well, lo, he lighted upon a green meadow peacefully surrounded with trees and bushes, where maidens were dancing together. As…

Zarathustra and his disciples find maidens dancing in a meadow. He tells them to keep dancing, since he is no enemy of maidens, and says he will sing a satire on the spirit of gravity.

God’s advocate am I with the devil: he, however, is the spirit of gravity.

Zarathustra says he pleads for God against the devil, and the devil is the spirit of gravity.

And this is the song that Zarathustra sang when Cupid and the maidens danced together: Of late did I gaze into thine eye, O Life! And into the unfathomable did I there seem to sink. But thou pulledst me out with a…

Zarathustra sings of looking into Life's eye and being pulled out by her golden angle. Life denies being profound, and Wisdom accuses him of praising Life only from desire. He admits he loves Wisdom because she resembles Life. Life laughs when he describes Wisdom, and he sinks into her unfathomable eyes again.

In my heart do I love only Life—and verily, most when I hate her!

Zarathustra says he loves only Life, and loves her most when he hates her.

Thus sang Zarathustra. But when the dance was over and the maidens had departed, he became sad. “The sun hath been long set,” said he at last, “the meadow is damp, and from the forest cometh coolness. An unknown…

When the dance ends and the maidens leave, Zarathustra grows sad as evening falls. He asks whether it is folly still to live and asks his friends to forgive his sadness.