half a
mile away, the being of the sand was altered. It had become a field of plants,
thick upon the ground, as if each grain of sand had changed into a thing of
leaves and petals. Jasmine and hyacinths bloomed by night, lilies twined with
roses, myrtle and clematis coiled between. Treading on them, they were not crushed.
They exuded their fragrances at every footfall, and sprang straight again.
Moths with fluttering wings like panes of thin crystal soared over these
meadows. Tinselly chimings and harmonics came from their horned eyes, like
stamens, which gave you to believe they were nothing but flying musical boxes.
From a quarter
of a mile away, you became aware that there was much activity on the levels of
the tower, much coming and going, and wide-pinioned creatures flew round it.
Also, at this point on the ground, a forest had sprung up, and as they went on,
magnetized toward the tower, the people passed into the forest. The trees were
tall, but not of bark or leaves. The stems were of crimson glass and magenta
glass and glass the tint of an emerald, and all lit within. And the foliage of
the trees was in each case cluster on cluster of phosphorescent birds whose
mauve eyes blinked and dazzled, and whose leafy wings stirred the strings of
silver harps that lay between the boughs, causing strange whirring glissandi.
Coming from
the forest, the tower lay only a hundred paces away, and automatically the
crowd, trained to observe such a margin, hesitated, piling up on itself like
water behind a dam.
As they
paused, they saw the uncountable windows and the countless doorways of the
edifice dripping out their glows. They saw fountains of colored liquids which
arced down the tiers. They saw the nature of the traffic which flew about the
tower. There were horses black as ink with manes and wings of milky blue, there
were lions black as coal with manes like chrysanthemums and wings like furnace
blasts. There were slender dragons with scales of bronze. And nearer the earth,
perhaps some twelve or fourteen feet in the air, there was suspended a broad
carpet of crimson and silver weave, and on the carpet white shapes flickered,
as though the wind blew them.
The tower,
which was like Baybhelu, which was also like Bhelsheved, which was unlike and
surpassing both, continued to compel. Presently, the crowd spilled over the
invisible dam, and poured to the foot of the tower, to the area where the first
gargantuan tier sheered up. There they stood gaping, conscious of sin or
bewitchment, unable to go away or even to repent.
The first
carpet sailed by, and after this carpet, others. Tassels cascaded, silks
flowed. White women danced slowly to the beat of the many musics. Their bodies
were now masked, and now revealed, through curtains of beads like rain. They
lifted their arms, which were swans’ necks, which were serpents. Their burnished
limbs rubbed and brushed and stroked together. The black grape-curls of their
hair were wound with sinuous silver ornaments. Their long nails were like
crescent moons. The tips of their breasts were like rosebuds.
While the
thousands of mortals gazed, a sudden tremor raced over the ground.
The people
found that the world was rising up into the atmosphere. There was again some
shouting, some collapsing on the knees, but by now they were mesmerized. These
protestations of terror were no longer genuine, but mere habit, for to be
afraid in such a situation was surely human etiquette, the done thing.
As they had
abruptly come to understand, the fields of flowers, the forest of stained
glass, that entire half mile of land which made the radius about the tower, and
on which the mass of the people were now standing, was nothing except one more
flying carpet. A carpet with a hole at its center, through which the tower
protruded. And now the carpet ascended smoothly and quite leisurely up the
tower, as a ring is drawn up a finger.
As the carpet
caught up to them, the dancing women—who were, of course,
mile away, the being of the sand was altered. It had become a field of plants,
thick upon the ground, as if each grain of sand had changed into a thing of
leaves and petals. Jasmine and hyacinths bloomed by night, lilies twined with
roses, myrtle and clematis coiled between. Treading on them, they were not crushed.
They exuded their fragrances at every footfall, and sprang straight again.
Moths with fluttering wings like panes of thin crystal soared over these
meadows. Tinselly chimings and harmonics came from their horned eyes, like
stamens, which gave you to believe they were nothing but flying musical boxes.
From a quarter
of a mile away, you became aware that there was much activity on the levels of
the tower, much coming and going, and wide-pinioned creatures flew round it.
Also, at this point on the ground, a forest had sprung up, and as they went on,
magnetized toward the tower, the people passed into the forest. The trees were
tall, but not of bark or leaves. The stems were of crimson glass and magenta
glass and glass the tint of an emerald, and all lit within. And the foliage of
the trees was in each case cluster on cluster of phosphorescent birds whose
mauve eyes blinked and dazzled, and whose leafy wings stirred the strings of
silver harps that lay between the boughs, causing strange whirring glissandi.
Coming from
the forest, the tower lay only a hundred paces away, and automatically the
crowd, trained to observe such a margin, hesitated, piling up on itself like
water behind a dam.
As they
paused, they saw the uncountable windows and the countless doorways of the
edifice dripping out their glows. They saw fountains of colored liquids which
arced down the tiers. They saw the nature of the traffic which flew about the
tower. There were horses black as ink with manes and wings of milky blue, there
were lions black as coal with manes like chrysanthemums and wings like furnace
blasts. There were slender dragons with scales of bronze. And nearer the earth,
perhaps some twelve or fourteen feet in the air, there was suspended a broad
carpet of crimson and silver weave, and on the carpet white shapes flickered,
as though the wind blew them.
The tower,
which was like Baybhelu, which was also like Bhelsheved, which was unlike and
surpassing both, continued to compel. Presently, the crowd spilled over the
invisible dam, and poured to the foot of the tower, to the area where the first
gargantuan tier sheered up. There they stood gaping, conscious of sin or
bewitchment, unable to go away or even to repent.
The first
carpet sailed by, and after this carpet, others. Tassels cascaded, silks
flowed. White women danced slowly to the beat of the many musics. Their bodies
were now masked, and now revealed, through curtains of beads like rain. They
lifted their arms, which were swans’ necks, which were serpents. Their burnished
limbs rubbed and brushed and stroked together. The black grape-curls of their
hair were wound with sinuous silver ornaments. Their long nails were like
crescent moons. The tips of their breasts were like rosebuds.
While the
thousands of mortals gazed, a sudden tremor raced over the ground.
The people
found that the world was rising up into the atmosphere. There was again some
shouting, some collapsing on the knees, but by now they were mesmerized. These
protestations of terror were no longer genuine, but mere habit, for to be
afraid in such a situation was surely human etiquette, the done thing.
As they had
abruptly come to understand, the fields of flowers, the forest of stained
glass, that entire half mile of land which made the radius about the tower, and
on which the mass of the people were now standing, was nothing except one more
flying carpet. A carpet with a hole at its center, through which the tower
protruded. And now the carpet ascended smoothly and quite leisurely up the
tower, as a ring is drawn up a finger.
As the carpet
caught up to them, the dancing women—who were, of course,
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