The wind has carried him in his belly.

original: "Portavit eum ventus in ventre ſuo." This is a famous line from the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, a foundational text of alchemy. It suggests that the "Philosophical Child" or the Stone must be nourished by the air or spirit.

A hand-colored copperplate engraving. In the center stands a monumental, muscular male figure representing the wind (Boreas). His head is surrounded by a mass of swirling grey and white clouds that extend to the upper corners of the frame. The figure's torso is semi-transparent, revealing a small human fetus nestled within his abdomen. He is partially draped in a billowing red cloth. He stands on a grassy patch in a detailed landscape featuring a river with a small sailboat, and a shoreline in the background with architectural ruins and a town nestled among trees. The entire scene is enclosed in a simple rectangular border. A small red circular library stamp with the initials "B.R" is visible just below the image on the left.

EPIGRAM I.

The embryo which is enclosed in the windy womb of BOREAS original: "Boreæ." Boreas is the Greek personification of the cold North Wind.,
If it should once be born alive into this light;
He alone can surpass all the labors of Heroes
By art, by hand, by a strong body, and by his mind.
Let him not be a Caeso original: "Cæso." A Roman term for a child cut from the mother's womb (the root of Caesarean). for you, nor that useless abortion,
Nor an Agrippa original: "Agrippa." A Latin term for a child born feet-first, traditionally considered a difficult or ill-omened birth., but one born under a favorable star.

The following section translates the text provided in the previous page's musical context, which repeats the theme of the Epigram.

The embryo which is enclosed in the windy belly of Boreas, if once it shall have come forth alive into this light, it shall have come forth.

The embryo which is enclosed in the windy belly of Boreas, if once it shall have come forth alive into this light, it shall have come forth.

The embryo which is enclosed in the windy belly of Boreas, if once it shall have come forth alive into this light.

I. English version of the German Epigram.

The fruit in the belly of the wind, which still lives hidden,
If it should be raised into this light,
Can far surpass the counsel and deeds of all high heroes
Through art and strong power and the labor of its body;
See to it that he is not born unsuitably before his time,
But comes living onto the earth in the proper manner.