went, theypromised to show him a forest to which there was no other side. But hehad to bathe and be purified first, and they burned incense and did alot of magical things--"
"In circles?"
"I suppose so. And then one night in the darkness, so that he shouldnot see which way they went, they led him along, and in the morning hewas in a very narrow valley with a wall across so that you could not goany farther down the valley, nor could you climb up, because the rockswere so steep. Now, when they came to the wall he saw a little narrowbronze door in it--very low and very narrow--and the door was allcovered with carvings and curious inscriptions--"
"Magic?"
"Yes, very magic. And the man who showed it to him, and who wore acrimson robe, over which his white beard flowed nearly down to theground--I am sure that is right, flowed nearly down to the ground, thatis just what my grandpa said--the old man went to the door and spoke toit in some language he did not understand and a voice answered, and thenhe saw the door open a little way, just a chink. Then he had to go onhis hands and knees, and press his head and neck through the chinkbetween the bronze door and the wall, and he could see over the countrywhich has no other side to it. Though you may wander straight on for athousand years, or ten thousand years, you can never get to the otherside, but you always go on, and go on, and go on--"
"And what was it like?"
"Well, the air was so clear that he was certain he could see over atleast a hundred miles of the plain, just as you can see over twentymiles of sea from the top of a cliff. But this was not a cliff, it wasa level plain, and he could see at least a hundred miles. Now, behindhim he had left the sun shining brightly, and he could feel the hotsunshine on his back--"
"Just as I did on my foot while I was fishing in the shadow?"
"Very likely--he could feel the hot sunshine on his back. But insidethe wall there was no sun--"
"No sun?"
"No. Ever so far away, hung up as our sun looks hung up like a lampwhen you are on the hill by Jack's house--ever so far away and not sovery high up, there was an opal star. It was a very large star and sobright that you could see the beams of light shooting out from it, butso soft and gentle and pleasant that you could look straight at itwithout hurting your eyes, and see the flashes change exactly like anopal--a beautiful great opal star. All the air seemed full of the softlight from the star, so that the trees and plants and the ground evenseemed to float in it, just like an island seems to float in the waterwhen it is very still, and there was no shadow--"
"_No_ shadow?"
"No. Nothing cast any shadow, because the light came all roundeverything, and he put his hand out into it and it did not cast anyshadow, but instead his hand looked transparent, and as if there was alight underneath it--"
"Go on."
"And among the trees," said Bevis, pouring out the story from his memoryword for word, exactly as he had heard it, like water from a pitcherfilled at the spring, "among the trees the blue sky came down and theystood in it, just close by you could not see it, but farther off it wasblue like a mist in the forest, only you could see through it and itshimmered blue like the blue-bells in the copse.
"He could see thousands of flowers, but he forgot what they were likeexcept one which was like a dome of gold and larger than any temple hehad ever seen. The grass grew up round it so tall he could not see thestalk, so that it looked as if it hung from the sky, and though it wasgold he could see through it and see the blue the other side whichlooked purple through the gold, and the opal star was reflected on thedome. Nor could he remember all about the trees, having so much to lookat, except one with a jointed stem like a bamboo which grew not far fromthe bronze door. This one rose up, up, till he could not strain hisneck back to see to the top, and it was as large round as our roundsummer-house at home, but transparent, so that you could see the sapbubbling and rushing up inside in a running stream, and a sweet odourcame down like rain from the boughs above.
"Now, while he was straining his neck to try and see the top of thistree, as his eyes were turned away from the opal sun, he could see thestars of heaven, and immediately heard the flute of an organ. For thesestars--which were like our stars--were not scattered about, but built upin golden pipes or tubes; there were twelve tubes, all of stars, onelarger than the other, and behind these other pipes, and behind theseothers tier on tier. Only there were twelve in front, the rest he couldnot count, and it was from these that the flute sound came and filledhim with such transport that he quite forgot himself, and only lived inthe music. At last his neck wearied of looking up, and he looked downagain, and instantly he did not hear the starry organ, but saw insteadthe opal sun, and the shimmering sky among the trees.
"From the bronze door there was a footpath leading out, out, winding alittle, but always out and out, and so clear was the air, that though itwas only a footpath, he could trace it for nearly half the hundred mileshe could see. The footpath was strewn with leaves fallen from thetrees, oval-pointed leaves, some were crimson, and some were gold, andsome were black, and all had marks on them.
"One of these was lying close to the bronze door, and as he had put hishand through, as you know, he stretched himself and reached it, and whenhe held it up the light of the opal sun came through it--it wastransparent--and he could see words written on it which he read, andthey told him the secret of the tree from which it had fallen.
"Now, all these leaves that were strewn on the footpath each of them hada secret written on it--a magic secret about the trees, and the plants,and the birds, and the stars, and the opal sun--every one had a magicsecret on it, and you might go on first picking up one and then another,till you had travelled a hundred miles, and then another hundred miles,a thousand years, or ten thousand years, and there was always a freshsecret and a fresh leaf.
"Or you might sit down under one of the trees whose branches came to theground like the weeping ash at home, or you might climb up intoanother--but no matter how, if you took hold of the leaves and turnedthem aside, so that the light of the opal sun came through, you couldread a magic secret on every one, and it would take you fifty years toread one tree. Some of the leaves strewed the footpath, and some lay onthe grass, and some floated on the water, but they did not decay, andthe one he held in his hand went throb, throb, like the pulse in yourwrist.
"And from secret to secret you might wander, always a new secret, tillyou went beyond the horizon, and then there was another horizon, andafter that another, and you could go on and on, and on, and though youcould walk for ever without weariness, because the air was so pure anddelicious, still you could never, never, never get to the other side.
"Some have been walking there these millions of years, and some havebeen sitting up in the trees, and some have been lying under the goldendome flowers all that time, and never found and never will find theother side, which is why they are so happy. They do not sleep, becausethey never feel sleepy; they just turn over from the opal sun and lookup at the stars and then the music begins, and as it plays they becomestrong, and then they go on again gathering more of the leaves, andtravelling towards the opal sun, and the nearer they get the happierthey are, and yet they can never get to it.
"While he looked he felt as if he must get through and go on too, and hestruggled and struggled, but the bronze door was hard and the wall hard,so that it was no use. His mind though and soul had gone through; andhe saw a white shoulder, like alabaster, pure, white, and transparentamong the grass by the golden dome flower, and a white arm stretched outtowards him, so white it gleamed polished, and a white hand, soft,warm-looking, delicious, transparent white, beckoning to him. So hestruggled and struggled till it seemed as if he would get through to hissoul, which had gone on down the footpath, when the aged man behinddragged him back, and the bronze door shut with an awful resonance--"
"What was that?"
"Hark!"
"Hark!"
Mark seized his spear; Bevis his bow.
"Is it something coming from
the wave?"
"No, it's in the sky."
"Listen!"
There was a whirr above like wheels in the air, and a creaking soundwith it. They stood up, but could not see what it was, though it grewlouder and came nearer with a rushing noise. Suddenly something whiteappeared above the trees which had concealed its approach, and a swanpassed over descending. It was the noise of its wings and theircreaking which sounded like wheels. The great bird descended aslantquite a quarter of a mile into the water to the south in front of them,and there floated among the glittering ripples.
"I thought it was the roc," said Mark, sitting down again.
"Or a genie," said Bevis. "What a creaking and whirring it made!"Rooks' wings often creak as they go over like stiff leather, but thenoise of a swan's flight is