turn the crystal again. Now I behold two diverting themselves with dice
at the table before the cross-bench. One is well-looking enough, well
knit, of a noble port, with curly brown hair and beard and keen eyes
like a sailor. The other seemeth younger in years, younger than any
of you, my lords. He is smooth shaved, of a fresh complexion and fair
curling hair, and his brow is wreathed with a festal garland. A most
big broad strong and seemly young man. Yet is there a somewhat maketh
me ill at ease beholding him; and for all his fair countenance and
royal bearing he seemeth displeasing in mine eyes.
“There is a damosel there too, watching them while they play. Showily
dressed she is, and hath some beauty. Yet scarce can I commend her—”
and, ill at ease on a sudden, the Queen suddenly put down the crystal.
The eye of Lord Brandoch Daha twinkled, but he kept silence. Lord Juss
said, “More, I entreat thee, O Queen, ere the reek be gone and the
vision fade. If this be all within the banquet hall, seest thou nought
without?”
Queen Sophonisba looked again, and in a while said, “There is a terrace
facing to the west under the inner wall of that fortress of old night,
and walking on it in the torchlight a man crowned like a King. Very
tall he is: lean of body, and long of limb. He weareth a black doublet
bedizened o’er with diamonds, and his crown is in the figure of a
crab-fish, and the jewels thereof out-face the sun in splendour. But
scarce may I mark his apparel for looking on the face of him, which is
more terrible than the face of any man that ever I saw. And the whole
aspect of the man is full of darkness and power and terror and stern
command, that spirits from below earth must tremble at and do his
bidding.”
Juss said, “Heaven forfend that this should prove but a sweet and
golden dream, and we wake to-morrow to find it flown.”
“There walketh with him,” said the Queen, “in intimate converse, as
of a servant talking to his lord, one with a long black beard curly
as the sheep’s wool and glossy as the raven’s wing. Pale he is as the
moon in daylight hours, slender, with fine-cut features and great dark
eyes, and his nose hooked like a reaping-hook; gentle-looking and
melancholy-looking, yet noble.”
Lord Brandoch Daha said, “Seest thou none, O Queen, in the lodgings
that be in the eastern gallery above the inner court of the palace?”
The Queen answered, “I see a lofty bed-chamber hung with arras. It is
dark, save for two branching candlesticks of lights burning before a
great mirror. I see a lady standing before the mirror, crowned with
a queen’s crown of purple amethysts on her deep hair that hath the
colour of the tipmost tongues of a flame. A man cometh through the
door behind her, parting the heavy hangings left and right. A big man
he is, and looketh like a king, in his great wolf-skin mantle and his
kirtle of russet velvet with ornaments of gold. His bald head set about
with grizzled curls and his bushy beard flecked with gray speak him
something past his prime; but the light of youth burns in his eager
eyes and the vigour of youth is in his tread. She turneth to greet him.
Tall she is, and young she is, and beautiful, and proud-faced, and
sweet-faced, and most gallant-hearted too, and merry of heart too, if
her looks belie her not.”
Queen Sophonisba covered her eyes, saying, “My lords, I see no more.
The crystal curdles within like foam in a whirlpool under a high force
in rainy weather. Mine eyes grow sore with watching. Let us row back,
for the night is far spent and I am weary.”
But Juss stayed her and said, “Let me dream yet awhile. The double
pillar of the world, that member thereof which we, blind instruments of
inscrutable Heaven, did shatter, restored again? From this time forth
to maintain, I and he, his and mine, ageless and deathless for ever,
for ever our high contention whether he or we should be great masters
of all the earth? If this be but phantoms, O Queen, thou’st ’ticed us
to the very heart of bitterness. This we could have missed, unseen
and unimagined: but not now. Yet how were it possible the Gods should
relent and the years return?”
But the Queen spake, and her voice was like the falling shades of
evening, pulsing with hidden splendour, as of a sense of wakening
starlight alive behind the fading blue. “This King,” she said, “in the
wickedness of his impious pride did wear on his thumb the likeness of
that worm Ouroboros, as much as to say his kingdom should never end.
Yet was he, when the appointed hour did come, thundered down into the
depths of Hell. And if now he be raised again and his days continued,
’tis not for his virtue but for your sake, my lords, whom the Almighty
Gods do love. Therefore I pray you possess your hearts awhile with
humility before the most high Gods, and speak no unprofitable words.
Let us row back.”
• • • • •
Dawn came golden-fingered, but the lords of Demonland lay along abed
after their watch in the night. About the third hour before noon,
the presence was filled in the high presence chamber, and the three
brethren sat upon their thrones, as four years ago they sat, between
the golden hippogriffs, and beside them were thrones set for Queen
Sophonisba and Lord Brandoch Daha. All else of beauty and splendour
in Galing Castle had the Queen beheld, but not till now this presence
chamber; and much she marvelled at its matchless beauties and rarities,
the hangings and the carvings on the walls, the fair pictures, the
lamps of moonstone and escarbuncle self-effulgent, the monsters on the
four-and-twenty pillars, carved in precious stones so great that two
men might scarce circle them with their arms, and the constellations
burning in that firmament of lapis lazuli below the golden canopy. And
when they drank unto Lord Juss the cup of glory to be, wishing him long
years and joy and greatness for ever more, the Queen took a little
cithern saying, “O my lord, I will sing a sonnet to thee and to you my
lords and to sea-girt Demonland.” So saying, she smote the strings, and
sang in that crystal voice of hers, so true and delicate that all that
were in that hall were ravished by its beauty:
Shall I compare thee to a Summers day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough windes do shake the darling buds of Maie,
And Sommers lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimn’d;
And every faire from faire some-time declines,
By chance or natures changing course untrim’d;
But thy eternall Sommer shall not fade
Nor loose possession of that faire thou ow’st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wandr’st in his shade.
When in eternall lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breath, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
When she had done, Lord Juss rose up very nobly and kissed her hand,
saying, “O Queen Sophonisba, fosterling of the Gods, shame us not with
praises that be too high for mortal men. For well thou knowest what
thing alone might bring us content. And ’tis not to be thought that
that which was seen at Moonmere Head last night was very truth indeed,
but rather the dream of a night vision.”
But Queen Sophonisba answered and said, “My Lord Juss, blaspheme not
the bounty of the blessed Gods, lest They be angry and withdraw it,
Who have granted unto you of Demonland from this day forth youth
everlasting and unwaning strength and skill in arms, and—but hark!” she
said, for a trumpet sounded at the gate, three strident blasts.
At the sound of that trumpet blown, the lords Goldry and Spitfire
sprang from their seats, clapping hand to sword. Lord Juss stood like a
stag at gaze. Lord Brandoch Daha sat still in his golden chair, scarce
changing his pose of easeful grace. But all his frame seemed alight
with action near to birth, as the active principle of light pulses and
grows in the sky at sunrise. He looked at the Queen, his eyes filled
with a wild surmise. A serving man, obedient to Juss’s nod, hastened
from the chamber.
No sound was there in that high presence chamber in Galing till in a
minute’s space the serving man returned with startled countenance,
and, bowing before Lord Juss, said, “Lord, it is an Ambassador from
Witchland and his train. He craveth present audience.”
[Illustration:
THE WORM
OUROBOROS]
ARGUMENT: WITH DATES
[Dates _Anno Carces Conditae_. The action of the story covers
exactly four years: from the 22nd April 399 to 22nd April 403
A.C.C.].
Year
A.C.C.
171. Queen Sophonisba born in Morna Moruna.
187. Gorice III. eat up with mantichores beyond the Bhavinan.
188. Morna Moruna sacked by Gorice IV. Queen Sophonisba lodged by
divine agency in Koshtra Belorn.
337. Gorice VII., conjuring in Carcë, slain by evil spirits.
341. Birth of Zeldornius.
344. Birth of Corsus in Tenemos.
353. Corund born in Carcë.
354. Birth of Zenambria, duchess to Corsus.
357. Birth of Helteranius.
360. Volle born at Darklairstead in Demonland.
361. Birth of Jalcanaius Fostus.
363. Birth of Vizz at Darklairstead.
364. Gro born in Goblinland at the court of Zajë Zaculo, the
foster-brother of Gaslark the King.
Gaslark born in Zajë Zaculo.
366. Laxus, high Admiral of Witchland and after king of Pixyland, born
in Estremerine.
367. Birth of Gallandus in Buteny.
369. Zigg born at Many Bushes in Amadardale.
370. Juss born in Galing.
371. Goldry Bluszco born in Galing.
Dekalajus, eldest of the sons of Corsus, born in Witchland.
372. Spitfire born in Galing.
Brandoch Daha born in Krothering.
374. La Fireez born in Norvasp of Pixyland.
Gorius, second of Corsus’s sons, born in Witchland.
375. Corinius born in Carcë.
376. Prezmyra, sister to the Prince La Fireez, second wife to Corund,
and after Queen of Impland, born in Norvasp.
379. Birth of Hacmon, eldest of the sons of Corund.
Mevrian, sister to Lord Brandoch Daha, born in Krothering.
380. Heming born, second of Corund’s sons.
381. Dormanes born, third of Corund’s sons.
382. Birth of Viglus, Corund’s fourth son, in Carcë.
Recedor, King of Goblinland, privily poisoned by Corsus: Gaslark
reigns in his stead in Zajë Zaculo.
Sriva, daughter to Corsus and Zenambria, born in Carcë.
383. Armelline, cousin-german to King Gaslark, after betrothed and
wed to Goldry Bluszco, born in Goblinland.
384. Cargo, youngest of the sons of Corund, born in Carcë.
388. Goblinland invaded by the Ghouls: the flight out of Zajë
Zaculo: Tenemos burnt: the power of the Ghouls crushed by
Corsus.
389. Zeldornius, Helteranius, and Jalcanaius Fostus sent by Gaslark
with an armament into Impland, and there ensorcelled.
390. The Witches harry in Goblinland: their defeat by the help of
Demonland on Lormeron field: the slaying of Gorice X. by
Brandoch Daha: Corsus taken captive and shamed by the Demons:
Gro, abandoning the Goblin cause, dwells in exile at the court
of Witchland.
393. La Fireez, besieged by Fax Fay Faz at Lida Nanguna in Outer
Impland, delivered by the Demons: Goldry Bluszco repulsed by
Corsus before Harquem.
395. Corund weds in Norvasp with the Princess Prezmyra.
398. The Ghouls burst forth in unimagined ferocity: their harrying
in Demonland and burning of Goldry’s house at Drepaby.
399. Holy war of Witchland, Demonland, Goblinland, and other polite
nations against the Ghouls: Laxus, with the countenance of
his master Gorice XI. and by the counsel of Gro, deserts with
all his fleet in the battle off Kartadza (eastern seaboard
of Demonland): the Ghouls nevertheless overwhelmed by the
Demons in Kartadza Sound, and their whole race exterminated:
Gorice XI. demands homage of Demonland, wrastles with Goldry
Bluszco, and is in that encounter slain. Gorice XII., renewing
with happier fortune the artificial practices of Gorice VII.
in Carcë, takes Goldry with a sending magical: Juss and
Brandoch Daha, partly straught of their wits, unadvisedly go
up with Gaslark against Carcë and are there clapped up: their
delivery by the agency of La Fireez, and return to their own
country: Juss’s dream: the council in Krothering: the first
expedition to Impland. The King’s revenge on Pixyland executed
by Corinius, and La Fireez dispossessed and driven into exile:
Corund’s great march over Akra Skabranth, sudden irruption
into Outer Impland, and conquest of that country: shipwreck
of the Demon fleet: carnage at Salapanta: march of the Demons
into Upper Impland: amorous commerce of Brandoch Daha with the
Lady of Ishnain Nemartra, who lays a weird upon him: Corund
besieges and captures Eshgrar Ogo: Juss and Brandoch Daha
escape across the Moruna and winter by the Bhavinan.
400. News of Eshgrar Ogo brought to Carcë: Corund honoured by the
King therefor with the style of king of Impland. Juss and
Brandoch Daha cross the Zia Pass: fight with the mantichore:
ascent of Koshtra Pivrarcha, entrance into Koshtra Belorn, and
entertainment by Queen Sophonisba: Juss’s vision of Goldry
bound on Zora: the Queen’s furtherance of their designs: the
hippogriff hatched beside the Lake of Ravary: the fatal folly
of Mivarsh: Juss in despite of the Queen’s admonitions assays
Zora Rach on foot and comes within a little of losing his
life. Prezmyra Queen of Impland and Laxus king of Pixyland
crowned in Carcë: the King sends an expedition to put down
Demonland, setting Corsus in chief command thereof: Laxus
defeats Volle by sea off Lookinghaven, and Corsus Vizz by
land at Crossby Outsikes, Vizz slain on the field: cruel and
despiteful policy of Corsus: dissensions betwixt him and
Gallandus: great reversal of these disasters by Spitfire,
Corsus’s army cut in pieces by him on the Rapes of Brima and
the survivors besieged in Owlswick: discontent of the army:
Corsus with his own hands murthers Gallandus in Owlswick:
tidings brought by Gro to Carcë: Corsus degraded by the King,
who commissions Corinius as king of Demonland to retrieve
the matter: battle of Thremnir’s Heugh, with the overthrow
of Spitfire’s power: Corinius crowned in Owlswick: arrest of
Corsus and his sons and their despatch home to Witchland.
401. Reduction of eastern Demonland by Corinius, save only Galing
which Bremery holds with seventy men: Corinius moves west over
the Stile: his insolent demands to Mevrian: miscarriage of
Gaslark’s expedition to the relief of Krothering, his defeat
at Aurwath: masterly retreat of Corinius from Krothering
before superior numbers: his ambushing and destroying of
Spitfire’s army on the shores of Switchwater: fall of
Krothering and surrender of Mevrian: her escape by the counsel
of Gro, the help of Corund’s sons, and the connivance of
Laxus: her flight to Westmark and thence east again into
Neverdale: Gro abandons the cause of Witchland for that of
Demonland: his and Mevrian’s meeting with Juss and Brandoch
Daha on their return home after two years: revolt of the
east and relief of Galing: masterly dispositions both by
Corinius and by the Demons for a decisive encounter: battle of
Krothering Side and expulsion of the Witches from Demonland.
402. Second expedition to Impland, in which Gaslark and La Fireez
join the Demons, lands at Muelva on the Didornian Sea:
Juss, Spitfire, Brandoch Daha, Gro, Zigg, and Astar cross
the Moruna: Juss’s riding of the hippogriff to Zora Rach
and deliverance of Goldry: Laxus sent by the King with an
overwhelming power of ships to close Melikaphkhaz Straits
against the Demons on their homeward voyage: battle off
Melikaphkhaz: destruction of the Witchland armada: Laxus and
La Fireez slain: a single surviving ship brings the tidings
to Carcë: Corund called captain general in Carcë: gathering
of the Witchland armies and their subject allies: landing
of the Demons in the south: parley before Carcë: the King’s
warning to Juss: implacable enmity between them: signs and
prognosticks in the heavens: the King’s desperate resolution
if the fight should go against him: battle before Carcë:
slaying of Gro and Corund: defeat of the King’s forces:
council of war in Carcë, Corinius the second time captain
general: Corsus, counselling surrender, falls greatly into
the King’s displeasure and is by him shamed and dismissed: in
despair he compasses the taking off of Corinius and the sons
of Corund, and unhappily of his own son too and his duchess,
by poison, but is himself slain by Corinius: blasting of the
Iron Tower in the miscarriage of the King’s last conjuring:
the Demons enter into Carcë: their encounter there with Queen
Prezmyra: her tragical end and triumph: in all of which is
completed the fall of the empire and kingdom of the house of
Gorice in Carcë.
403. Queen Sophonisba in Demonland: the marvel of marvels that
restored the world on Lord Juss’s natal day, the thirty-third
year of his life in Galing.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE ON THE VERSES
CHAP.
III. The Funeral dirge on King William Dunbar (late 15th
Gorice XI. century) “Lament for the
Makaris: quhen he wes
seik.”
„ Lampoon on Gro Epigram in memory of
William Parrie, “a capital
traitor,” executed for
treason in 1584: quoted
by Holinshed.
IV. Prophecy concerning the last ——
three Kings of the house of
Gorice in Carcë
VII. Song in praise of Prezmyra Thomas Carew (1598–1639).
„ Corund’s Song of the Chine “An Antidote against
Melancholy” (1661).
„ Corsus’s “Whene’er I bib Anacreonta xxv.; transl.
the wine down” from the Greek, E. R. E.
„ Corsus’s other ditties From the “Roxburgh
Ballads” (collected
1774).
IX. Mivarsh’s staves on Salapanta Herrick (1591–1674),
“Hesperides.”
XV. Prezmyra’s song of Lovers Donne (1573–1631).
„ Corinius’s love ditty: “What
an Ass is he” “Merry Drollerie” (1691).
„ Corinius’s song on his
Mistress _Ibid._
XVI. Laxus’s Serenade Anacreonta ii.; transl.
from the Greek, E. R. E.
XVII. March of Corsus’s veterans ——
XXII. Mevrian’s ballad of the Ravens Old Ballad: “The Three
Ravens.”
XXIV. Mevrian’s quotation on the Robert Greene (1560–92),
asbeston stone “Alphonsus, King of
Arragon.”
XXX. Gro’s serenade to Prezmyra Sir Henry Wotton (1568–1639),
verses to Elizabeth,
Queen of Bohemia.
XXXI. Prophecy concerning conjuring ——
XXXIII. Lines quoted by Queen Webster (beginning of
Sophonisba on the fall of 17th century); “The
Witchland Duchess of Malfi,” Act
V. v.
„ Queen Sophonisba’s Sonnet Shakespeare, Sonnet xviii.
The text here printed of Wotton’s poem is that of “Reliquiae
Wottonianae,” 1st ed., 1651, edited by Izaak Walton; except that I
read (with the earlier texts) l. 5 _Moone_, l. 8 _Passions_, l. 16
_Princess_, instead of _Sun_, _Voyces_, _Mistris_ of the 1651 edition.
Shakespeare’s Sonnet is from the Quarto of 1609.
The passage from Njal’s Saga in the Induction is quoted from the late
Sir George Dasent’s classic translation.
_Printed in Great Britain by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_.
[Illustration]
Transcriber’s Notes:
- Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
- Text enclosed by equals is in bold (=bold=).
- Blank pages have been removed.
- Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.
- Decorative images removed from text version.