shades of laughter

The saint answered: “I make songs and sing them; and when I make songs, I laugh, cry, and hum: thus I praise God.  With singing, crying, and humming, I praise the god who is my god.  But what do you bring us as a gift?”

When Zarathustra had heard these words he bade the saint farewell and said: “What could I have to give you?  But let me go quickly lest I take something from you!”  And thus they separated, the old one and the man, laughing as two boys laugh.

But when Zarathustra was alone he spoke thus to his heart: “Could it be possible?  This old saint in the forest has not yet heard anything of this, that God is dead!“

Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra in The Portable Nietzsche, p. 124