<h2 style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, Helv, sans-serif; background-color: #fffff0; line-height: normal; text-align: start;"><a name="A12.0"></a>XII.</h2>
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<td style="font-family: Georgia, 'New York', 'Times New Roman', Times, Palatino, serif; vertical-align: top;" valign="top"><a name="A12.1"></a>12.1</td>
<td style="font-family: Georgia, 'New York', 'Times New Roman', Times, Palatino, serif; vertical-align: top;">It was when I read the first of the books I found in my house that I saw the word "I." And when I understood this word, the book fell from my hands, and I wept, I who had never known tears. I wept in deliverance and in pity for all mankind.</td>
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<td style="font-family: Georgia, 'New York', 'Times New Roman', Times, Palatino, serif; vertical-align: top;" valign="top"><a name="A12.2"></a>12.2</td>
<td style="font-family: Georgia, 'New York', 'Times New Roman', Times, Palatino, serif; vertical-align: top;">I understood the blessed thing which I had called my curse. I understood why the best in me had been my sins and my transgressions; and why I had never felt guilt in my sins. I understood that centuries of chains and lashes will not kill the spirit of man nor the sense of truth within him.</td>
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<td style="font-family: Georgia, 'New York', 'Times New Roman', Times, Palatino, serif; vertical-align: top;" valign="top"><a name="A12.3"></a>12.3</td>
<td style="font-family: Georgia, 'New York', 'Times New Roman', Times, Palatino, serif; vertical-align: top;">I read many books for many days. Then I called the Golden One, and I told her what I had read and what I had learned. She looked at me and the first words she spoke were:</td>
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<td style="font-family: Georgia, 'New York', 'Times New Roman', Times, Palatino, serif; vertical-align: top;" valign="top"><a name="A12.4"></a>12.4</td>
<td style="font-family: Georgia, 'New York', 'Times New Roman', Times, Palatino, serif; vertical-align: top;">"I love you."</td>
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<td style="font-family: Georgia, 'New York', 'Times New Roman', Times, Palatino, serif; vertical-align: top;" valign="top"><a name="A12.5"></a>12.5</td>
<td style="font-family: Georgia, 'New York', 'Times New Roman', Times, Palatino, serif; vertical-align: top;">Then I said:</td>
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<td style="font-family: Georgia, 'New York', 'Times New Roman', Times, Palatino, serif; vertical-align: top;" valign="top"><a name="A12.6"></a>12.6</td>
<td style="font-family: Georgia, 'New York', 'Times New Roman', Times, Palatino, serif; vertical-align: top;">"My dearest one, it is not proper for men to be without names. There was a time when each man had a name of his own to distinguish him from all other men. So let us choose our names. I have read of a man who lived many thousands of years ago, and of all the names in these books, his is the one I wish to bear. He took the light of the gods and he brought it to men, and he taught men to be gods. And he suffered for his deed as all bearers of light must suffer. His name was Prometheus."</td>
