Zarathustra descended his mountain, seeking the source of the cry of distress.
He came upon a glacial peak he seldom visited, and there saw a witch turning snow into fortresses and icicles into watchtowers.
Not wishing to disturb the witch, who shrieked with all her female might, Zarathustra ducked behind a great boulder.
But the witch saw the swishing of his cloak, and pushed him from behind the heavy stone with a short wave of her hand. A gust of icy air carried Zarathustra to her.
Such was Zarathustra's courage that he looked into the woman's eyes and told her: "You may be a woman, but you are possessed of a spirit most masculine! What gale has carried you to this frozen peak?"
"I am the witch of loneliness!" the witch cried. "I am a great queen, exiled from my kingdom by my own command, for my rank and magic separates me from the rabble, who oppress my power"
"-it is only here with ice for company that I am free of my loneliness, for solitude is blissful and tender compared to the bad breath of my courtiers."
"Eagerly they preach to me to be good, and kind, but they are ignorant of my power and condemn it"
"-here, my loneliness can dance in fractal patterns, repeating and shattering a thousand times before settling into crystal palaces."
Zarathustra regarded the witch, and felt his passion swell for this icy queen, who was so full of the spirit of clean mountain air and so opposed to the dirt of the ruling mob. "Truly", he addressed her, "You are a great queen to know you are no queen at all, to know that the mob rule above and below"
"-and honest are you to admit your distaste for your petty court, with its prohibitions and flattery."
"But surely, to find company in ice and snow men is not truly solitude, the most constant companion I have known. Your vain ballgown, tousled hair, and grand spires betray your longing soul. You seek the heat of embrace only a man's company can provide!"
The witch threw up her hands. "You have seen through my cold anger! Here, I seek the death of good and evil! I look for company in the one man who has always preached the death of God, for he has truly died of pity for man's smallness!"
"I seek Zarathustra, who lives somewhere here abouts!"
Zarathustra inwardly beamed with joy, for he had not known that women had overcome their own long ears to hear his message. "Woman, use your eyes to overcome your longing! For I, Zarathustra, who have long announced the obituary of evil and its twin, stand before you!"
"Truly you are pregnant with grief, and such disgust will give rise to the higher man. You are free from the dependency of your feeble sex, and strike out with your truth at a higher design!"
"Seek your company among my animals. On the next peak, yonder, lies my cave: seek their comfort there, for now a cry of distress carries me away from you!"
And Zarathustra hurried from the plane of ice to seek the cry of distress