[Cover Illustration]
=_THE NOVELS OF_=
=_L. ADAMS BECK_=
=The Key of Dreams=
=The Perfume of the Rainbow=
=The Treasure of Ho=
=The Ninth Vibration=
=The Way of Stars=
=The Splendour of Asia=
=Dreams and Delights=
=DREAMS=
=AND DELIGHTS=
=BY=
=L. ADAMS BECK=
=NEW YORK=
=DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY=
=1926=
Copyright, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926
BY DODD, MEAD, & COMPANY, INC.
Printed in U. S. A.
THE VAIL-BALLOU PRESS
BINGHAMTON AND NEW YORK
PREFACE
These stories of dreams and delights in breathless jungles of Ceylon,
among Himalayan mountains, by Chinese seas, in ancientries beneath dead
suns and withered moons, are in truth the soul’s longing to behold the
White Swan of the World when in dim twilights of dawn and evening she
spreads her wings for flight. And because to such wings time and
distance are nothing I have gathered one feather dropped on Dartmoor as
she soared to Gaurisankar where on the highest peak of earth, circled by
great stars, the Mystic Mother of India dreams her divine dream as the
ages unroll beneath her feet. The Snowy Goddess, She who is Very Woman
of very woman, knows that whether by Thames or Ganges, Mississippi,
Yang-tze, or rolling Nile, Her daughters are the same, yesterday, to-day
and for ever, and holding in their hands the hearts of men, so fulfil
Her purpose. And because no true story can be told without this
knowledge, I set Her name at the beginning of these dreams and delights,
invoking devoutly the protection and inspiration of Her who is at once
Eve and Lilith, Athene and Aphrodite, Parwati and Kali, Virgin, Mother,
and Destroyer, but in all forms and incarnations, Enchantress and
Conqueror of men.