The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories Read online

  The Fall of Babbulkund

  I said: 'I will arise now and see Babbulkund, City of Marvel. She isof one age with the earth; the stars are her sisters. Pharaohs ofthe old time coming conquering from Araby first saw her, a solitarymountain in the desert, and cut the mountain into towers andterraces. They destroyed one of the hills of God, but they madeBabbulkund. She is carven, not built; her palaces are one with herterraces, there is neither join nor cleft. Hers is the beauty of theyouth of the world. She deemeth herself to be the middle of Earth,and hath four gates facing outward to the Nations. There sitsoutside her eastern gate a colossal god of stone. His face flusheswith the lights of dawn. When the morning sunlight warms his lipsthey part a little, and he giveth utterance to the words "Oon Oom,"and the language is long since dead in which he speaks, and all hisworshippers are gathered to their tombs, so that none knoweth whatthe words portend that he uttereth at dawn. Some say that he greetsthe sun as one god greets another in the language thereof, andothers say that he proclaims the day, and others that he utterethwarning. And at every gate is a marvel not credible until beholden.'

  And I gathered three friends and said to them: 'We are what we haveseen and known. Let us journey now and behold Babbulkund, that ourminds may be beautified with it and our spirits made holier.'

  So we took ship and travelled over the lifting sea, and rememberednot things done in the towns we knew, but laid away the thoughts ofthem like soiled linen and put them by, and dreamed of Babbulkund.

  But when we came to the land of which Babbulkund is the abidingglory, we hired a caravan of camels and Arab guides, and passedsouthwards in the afternoon on the three days' journey through thedesert that should bring us to the white walls of Babbulkund. Andthe heat of the sun shone upon us out of the bright grey sky, andthe heat of the desert beat up at us from below.

  About sunset we halted and tethered our horses, while the Arabsunloaded the provisions from the camels and prepared a fire out ofthe dry scrub, for at sunset the heat of the desert departs from itsuddenly, like a bird. Then we saw a traveller approaching us on acamel coming from the south. When he was come near we said to him:

  'Come and encamp among us, for in the desert all men are brothers,and we will give thee meat to eat and wine, or, if thou art bound bythy faith, we will give thee some other drink that is not accursedby the prophet.'

  The traveller seated himself beside us on the sand, and crossed hislegs and answered:

  'Hearken, and I will tell you of Babbulkund, City of Marvel.Babbulkund stands just below the meeting of the rivers, whereOonrana, River of Myth, flows into the Waters of Fable, even the oldstream Plegathanees. These, together, enter her northern gaterejoicing. Of old they flowed in the dark through the Hill thatNehemoth, the first of Pharaohs, carved into the City of Marvel.Sterile and desolate they float far through the desert, each in theappointed cleft, with life upon neither bank, but give birth inBabbulkund to the sacred purple garden whereof all nations sing.Thither all the bees come on a pilgrimage at evening by a secret wayof the air. Once, from his twilit kingdom, which he rules equallywith the sun, the moon saw and loved Babbulkund, clad with herpurple garden; and the moon wooed Babbulkund, and she sent himweeping away, for she is more beautiful than all her sisters thestars. Her sisters come to her at night into her maiden chamber.Even the gods speak sometimes of Babbulkund, clad with her purplegarden. Listen, for I perceive by your eyes that ye have not seenBabbulkund; there is a restlessness in them and an unappeasedwonder. Listen. In the garden whereof I spoke there is a lake thathath no twin or fellow in the world; there is no companion for itamong all the lakes. The shores of it are of glass, and the bottomof it. In it are great fish having golden and scarlet scales, andthey swim to and fro. Here it is the wont of the eighty-secondNehemoth (who rules in the city today) to come, after the dusk hasfallen, and sit by the lake alone, and at this hour eight hundredslaves go down by steps through caverns into vaults beneath thelake. Four hundred of them carrying purple lights march one behindthe other, from east to west, and four hundred carrying green lightsmarch one behind the other, from west to east. The two lines crossand re-cross each other in and out as the slaves go round andround, and the fearful fish flash up and down and to and fro.'

  But upon that traveller speaking night descended, solemn and cold,and we wrapped ourselves in our blankets and lay down upon the sandin the sight of the astral sisters of Babbulkund. And all that nightthe desert said many things, softly and in a whisper, but I knew notwhat he said. Only the sand knew and arose and was troubled and laydown again, and the wind knew. Then, as the hours of the night wentby, these two discovered the foot-tracks wherewith we had disturbedthe holy desert, and they troubled over them and covered them up;and then the wind lay down and the sand rested. Then the wind aroseagain and the sand danced. This they did many times. And all thewhile the desert whispered what I shall not know.

  Then I slept awhile and awoke just before sunrise, very cold.Suddenly the sun leapt up and flamed upon our faces; we all threwoff our blankets and stood up. Then we took food, and afterwardsstarted southwards, and in the heat of the day rested, andafterwards pushed on again. And all the while the desert remainedthe same, like a dream that will not cease to trouble a tiredsleeper.

  And often travellers passed us in the desert, coming from the Cityof Marvel, and there was a light and a glory in their eyes fromhaving seen Babbulkund.

  That evening, at sunset, another traveller neared us, and we hailedhim, saying:

  'Wilt thou eat and drink with us, seeing that all men are brothersin the desert?'

  And he descended from his camel and sat by us and said:

  'When morning shines on the colossus Neb and Neb speaks, at once themusicians of King Nehemoth in Babbulkund awake.

  'At first their fingers wander over their golden harps, or theystroke idly their violins. Clearer and clearer the note of eachinstrument ascends like larks arising from the dew, till suddenlythey all blend together and a new melody is born. Thus, everymorning, the musicians of King Nehemoth make a new marvel in theCity of Marvel; for these are no common musicians, but masters ofmelody, raided by conquest long since, and carried away in shipsfrom the Isles of Song. And, at the sound of the music, Nehemothawakes in the eastern chamber of his palace, which is carved in theform of a great crescent, four miles long, on the northern side ofthe city. Full in the windows of its eastern chamber the sun rises,and full in the windows of its western chamber the sun sets.

  'When Nehemoth awakes he summons slaves who bring a palanquin withbells, which the King enters, having lightly robed. Then the slavesrun and bear him to the onyx Chamber of the Bath, with the sound ofsmall bells ringing as they run. And when Nehemoth emerges thence,bathed and anointed, the slaves run on with their ringing palanquinand bear him to the Orient Chamber of Banquets, where the King takesthe first meal of the day. Thence, through the great white corridorwhose windows all face sunwards, Nehemoth, in his palanquin, passeson to the Audience Chamber of Embassies from the North, which is alldecked with Northern wares.

  'All about it are ornaments of amber from the North and carvenchalices of the dark brown Northern crystal, and on its floors liefurs from Baltic shores.

  'In adjoining chambers are stored the wonted food of the hardyNorthern men, and the strong wine of the North, pale but terrible.Therein the King receives barbarian princes from the frigid lands.Thence the slaves bear him swiftly to the Audience Chamber ofEmbassies from the East, where the walls are of turquoise, studdedwith the rubies of Ceylon, where the gods are the gods of the East,where all the hangings have been devised in the gorgeous heart of Ind,and where all the carvings have been wrought with the cunning of theisles. Here, if a caravan hath chanced to have come in from Ind orfrom Cathay, it is the King's wont to converse awhile with Moguls orMandarins, for from the East come the arts and knowledge of the world,and the converse of their people is polite. Thus Nehemoth passes onthrough the other Audience Chambers and receives,
perhaps, someSheikhs of the Arab folk who have crossed the great desert from theWest, or receives an embassy sent to do him homage from the shyjungle people to the South. And all the while the slaves with theringing palanquin run westwards, following the sun, and ever the sunshines straight into the chamber where Nehemoth sits, and all thewhile the music from one or other of his bands of musicians comestinkling to his ears. But when the middle of the day draws near, theslaves run to the cool groves that lie along the verandahs on thenorthern side of the palace, forsaking the sun, and as the heatovercomes the genius of the musicians, one by one their hands fallfrom their instruments, till at last all melody ceases. At thismoment Nehemoth falls asleep, and the slaves put the palanquin downand lie down beside it. At this hour the city becomes quite still,and the palace of Nehemoth and the tombs of the Pharaohs of old faceto the sunlight, all alike in silence. Even the jewellers in themarket-place, selling gems to princes, cease from their bargainingand cease to sing; for in Babbulkund the vendor of rubies sings thesong of the ruby, and the vendor of sapphires sings the song of thesapphire, and each stone hath its song, so that a man, by his song,proclaims and makes known his wares.

  'But all these sounds cease at the meridian hour, the jewellers inthe market-place lie down in what shadow they can find, and theprinces go back to the cool places in their palaces, and a greathush in the gleaming air hangs over Babbulkund. But in the cool ofthe late afternoon, one of the King's musicians will awake fromdreaming of his home and will pass his fingers, perhaps, over thestrings of his harp and, with the music, some memory may arise ofthe wind in the glens of the mountains that stand in the Isles ofSong. Then the musician will wrench great cries out of the soul ofhis harp for the sake of the old memory, and his fellows will awakeand all make a song of home, woven of sayings told in the harbourwhen the ships came in, and of tales in the cottages about thepeople of old time. One by one the other bands of musicians willtake up the song, and Babbulkund, City of Marvel, will throb withthis marvel anew. Just now Nehemoth awakes, the slaves leap to theirfeet and bear the palanquin to the outer side of the great crescentpalace between the south and the west, to behold the sun again. Thepalanquin, with its ringing bells, goes round once more; the voicesof the jewellers sing again, in the market-place, the song of theemerald, the song of the sapphire; men talk on the housetops,beggars wail in the streets, the musicians bend to their work, allthe sounds blend together into one murmur, the voice of Babbulkundspeaking at evening. Lower and lower sinks the sun, till Nehemoth,following it, comes with his panting slaves to the great purplegarden of which surely thine own country has its songs, fromwherever thou art come.

  'There he alights from his palanquin and goes up to a throne ofivory set in the garden's midst, facing full westwards, and sitsthere alone, long regarding the sunlight until it is quite gone. Atthis hour trouble comes into the face of Nehemoth. Men have heardhim muttering at the time of sunset: "Even I too, even I too." Thusdo King Nehemoth and the sun make their glorious ambits aboutBabbulkund.

  'A little later, when the stars come out to envy the beauty of theCity of Marvel, the King walks to another part of the garden andsits in an alcove of opal all alone by the marge of the sacred lake.This is the lake whose shores and floors are of glass, which is litfrom beneath by slaves with purple lights and with green lightsintermingling, and is one of the seven wonders of Babbulkund. Threeof the wonders are in the city's midst and four are at her gates.There is the lake, of which I tell thee, and the purple garden ofwhich I have told thee and which is a wonder even to the stars, andthere is Ong Zwarba, of which I shall tell thee also. And thewonders at the gates are these. At the eastern gate Neb. And at thenorthern gate the wonder of the river and the arches, for the Riverof Myth, which becomes one with the Waters of Fable in the desertoutside the city, floats under a gate of pure gold, rejoicing, andunder many arches fantastically carven that are one with eitherbank. The marvel at the western gate is the marvel of Annolith andthe dog Voth. Annolith sits outside the western gate facing towardsthe city. He is higher than any of the towers or palaces, for hishead was carved from the summit of the old hill; he hath two eyes ofsapphire wherewith he regards Babbulkund, and the wonder of the eyesis that they are today in the same sockets wherein they glowed whenfirst the world began, only the marble that covered them has beencarven away and the light of day let in and the sight of the enviousstars. Larger than a lion is the dog Voth beside him; every hair iscarven upon the back of Voth, his war hackles are erected and histeeth are bared. All the Nehemoths have worshipped the god Annolith,but all their people pray to the dog Voth, for the law of the landis that none but a Nehemoth may worship the god Annolith. The marvelat the southern gate is the marvel of the jungle, for he comes withall his wild untravelled sea of darkness and trees and tigers andsunward-aspiring orchids right through a marble gate in the citywall and enters the city, and there widens and holds a space in itsmidst of many miles across. Moreover, he is older than the City ofMarvel, for he dwelt long since in one of the valleys of themountain which Nehemoth, first of Pharaohs, carved into Babbulkund.

  'Now the opal alcove in which the King sits at evening by the lakestands at the edge of the jungle, and the climbing orchids of thejungle have long since crept from their homes through clefts of theopal alcove, lured by the lights of the lake, and now bloom thereexultingly. Near to this alcove are the hareems of Nehemoth.

  'The King hath four hareems--one for the stalwart women from themountains to the north, one for the dark and furtive jungle women,one for the desert women that have wandering souls and pine inBabbulkund, and one for the princesses of his own kith, whose browncheeks blush with the blood of ancient Pharaohs and who exult withBabbulkund in her surpassing beauty, and who know nought of thedesert or the jungle or the bleak hills to the north. Quiteunadorned and clad in simple garments go all the kith of Nehemoth,for they know well that he grows weary of pomp. Unadorned all saveone, the Princess Linderith, who weareth Ong Zwarba and the threelesser gems of the sea. Such a stone is Ong Zwarba that there arenone like it even in the turban of Nehemoth nor in all thesanctuaries of the sea. The same god that made Linderith made longago Ong Zwarba; she and Ong Zwarba shine together with one light,and beside this marvellous stone gleam the three lesser ones of thesea.

  'Now when the King sitteth in his opal alcove by the sacred lakewith the orchids blooming around him all sounds are become still.The sound of the tramping of the weary slaves as they go round andround never comes to the surface. Long since the musicians sleep,and their hands have fallen dumb upon their instruments, and thevoices in the city have died away. Perhaps a sigh of one of thedesert women has become half a song, or on a hot night in summer oneof the women of the hills sings softly a song of snow; all nightlong in the midst of the purple garden sings one nightingale; all elseis still; the stars that look on Babbulkund arise and set, thecold unhappy moon drifts lonely through them, the night wears on; atlast the dark figure of Nehemoth, eighty-second of his line, risesand moves stealthily away.'

  The traveller ceased to speak. For a long time the clear stars,sisters of Babbulkund, had shone upon him speaking, the desertwind had arisen and whispered to the sand, and the sand had longgone secretly to and fro; none of us had moved, none of us hadfallen asleep, not so much from wonder at his tale as from thethought that we ourselves in two days' time should see that wondrouscity. Then we wrapped our blankets around us and lay down with ourfeet towards the embers of our fire and instantly were asleep, and inour dreams we multiplied the fame of the City of Marvel.

  The sun arose and flamed upon our faces, and all the desert glintedwith its light. Then we stood up and prepared the morning meal, and,when we had eaten, the traveller departed. And we commended his soulto the god of the land whereto he went, of the land of his home tothe northward, and he commended our souls to the God of the peopleof the land wherefrom we had come. Then a traveller overtook usgoing on foot; he wore a brown cloak that was all in rags and heseemed to have been
walking all night, and he walked hurriedly butappeared weary, so we offered him food and drink, of which hepartook thankfully. When we asked him where he was going, heanswered 'Babbulkund.' Then we offered him a camel upon which toride, for we said, 'We also go to Babbulkund.' But he answeredstrangely:

  'Nay, pass on before me, for it is a sore thing never to have seenBabbulkund, having lived while yet she stood. Pass on before me andbehold her, and then flee away at once, returning northwards.'

  Then, though we understood him not, we left him, for he wasinsistent, and passed on our journey southwards through the desert,and we came before the middle of the day to an oasis of palm treesstanding by a well and there we gave water to the haughty camels andreplenished our water-bottles and soothed our eyes with the sight ofgreen things and tarried for many hours in the shade. Some of themen slept, but of those that remained awake each man sang softly thesongs of his own country, telling of Babbulkund. When the afternoonwas far spent we travelled a little way southwards, and went onthrough the cool evening until the sun fell low and we encamped, andas we sat in our encampment the man in rags overtook us, havingtravelled all the day, and we gave him food and drink again, and inthe twilight he spoke, saying:

  'I am the servant of the Lord the God of my people, and I go to dohis work on Babbulkund. She is the most beautiful city in the world;there hath been none like her, even the stars of God go envious ofher beauty. She is all white, yet with streaks of pink that passthrough her streets and houses like flames in the white mind of asculptor, like desire in Paradise. She hath been carved of old outof a holy hill, no slaves wrought the City of Marvel, but artiststoiling at the work they loved. They took no pattern from the housesof men, but each man wrought what his inner eye had seen and carvedin marble the visions of his dream. All over the roof of one of thepalace chambers winged lions flit like bats, the size of every oneis the size of the lions of God, and the wings are larger than anywing created; they are one above the other more than a man cannumber, they are all carven out of one block of marble, the chamberitself is hollowed from it, and it is borne aloft upon the carvenbranches of a grove of clustered tree-ferns wrought by the hand ofsome jungle mason that loved the tall fern well. Over the River ofMyth, which is one with the Waters of Fable, go bridges, fashionedlike the wisteria tree and like the drooping laburnum, and a hundredothers of wonderful devices, the desire of the souls of masons along while dead. Oh! very beautiful is white Babbulkund, verybeautiful she is, but proud; and the Lord the God of my people hathseen her in her pride, and looking towards her hath seen the prayersof Nehemoth going up to the abomination Annolith and all the peoplefollowing after Voth. She is very beautiful, Babbulkund; alas thatI may not bless her. I could live always on one of her innerterraces looking on the mysterious jungle in her midst and theheavenward faces of the orchids that, clambering from the darkness,behold the sun. I could love Babbulkund with a great love, yet am Ithe servant of the Lord the God of my people, and the King hathsinned unto the abomination Annolith, and the people lustexceedingly for Voth. Alas for thee, Babbulkund, alas that I may noteven now turn back, for tomorrow I must prophesy against thee andcry out against thee, Babbulkund. But ye travellers that haveentreated me hospitably, rise and pass on with your camels, for Ican tarry no longer, and I go to do the work on Babbulkund of theLord the God of my people. Go now and see the beauty of Babbulkundbefore I cry out against her, and then flee swiftly northwards.'

  A smouldering fragment fell in upon our camp fire and sent a strangelight into the eyes of the man in rags. He rose at once, and histattered cloak swirled up with him like a great wing; he said nomore, but turned round from us instantly southwards, and strode awayinto the darkness towards Babbulkund. Then a hush fell upon ourencampment, and the smell of the tobacco of those lands arose. Whenthe last flame died down in our camp fire I fell asleep, but my restwas troubled by shifting dreams of doom.

  Morning came, and our guides told us that we should come to the cityere nightfall. Again we passed southwards through the changelessdesert; sometimes we met travellers coming from Babbulkund, with thebeauty of its marvels still fresh in their eyes.

  When we encamped near the middle of the day we saw a great number ofpeople on foot coming towards us running, from the southwards. Thesewe hailed when they were come near, saying, 'What of Babbulkund?'

  They answered: 'We are not of the race of the people ofBabbulkund, but were captured in youth and taken away from the hillsthat are to the northward. Now we have all seen in visions of thestillness the Lord the God of our people calling to us from Hishills, and therefore we all flee northwards. But in Babbulkund KingNehemoth hath been troubled in the nights by unkingly dreams ofdoom, and none may interpret what the dreams portend. Now this isthe dream that King Nehemoth dreamed on the first night of hisdreaming. He saw move through the stillness a bird all black, andbeneath the beatings of his wings Babbulkund gloomed and darkened;and after him flew a bird all white, beneath the beatings of whosewings Babbulkund gleamed and shone; and there flew by four morebirds alternately black and white. And, as the black ones passedBabbulkund darkened, and when the white ones appeared her streetsand houses shone. But after the sixth bird there came no more, andBabbulkund vanished from her place, and there was only the emptydesert where she had stood, and the rivers Oonrana and Plegathaneesmourning alone. Next morning all the prophets of the King gatheredbefore their abominations and questioned them of the dream, and theabominations spake not. But when the second night stepped down fromthe halls of God, dowered with many stars, King Nehemoth dreamedagain; and in this dream King Nehemoth saw four birds only, blackand white alternately as before. And Babbulkund darkened again asthe black ones passed, and shone when the white came by; only afterthe four birds came no more, and Babbulkund vanished from her place,leaving only the forgetful desert and the mourning rivers.

  'Still the abominations spake not, and none could interpret thedream. And when the third night came forth from the divine hallsof her home dowered like her sisters, again King Nehemoth dreamed.And he saw a bird all black go by again, beneath whom Babbulkunddarkened, and then a white bird and Babbulkund shone; and after themcame no more, and Babbulkund passed away. And the golden dayappeared, dispelling dreams, and still the abominations were silent,and the King's prophets answered not to portend the omen of thedream. One prophet only spake before the King, saying: "The sablebirds, O King, are the nights, and the white birds are thedays. . ." This thing the King had feared, and he arose and smote theprophet with his sword, whose soul went crying away and had to do nomore with nights and days.

  'It was last night that the King dreamed his third dream, and thismorning we fled away from Babbulkund. A great heat lies over it, andthe orchids of the jungle droop their heads. All night long thewomen in the hareem of the North have wailed horribly for theirhills. A fear hath fallen upon the city, and a boding. Twice hathNehemoth gone to worship Annolith, and all the people haveprostrated themselves before Voth. Thrice the horologers have lookedinto the great crystal globe wherein are foretold all happenings tobe, and thrice the globe was blank. Yea, though they went a fourthtime yet was no vision revealed; and the people's voice is hushed inBabbulkund.'

  Soon the travellers arose and pushed on northwards again, leaving uswondering. Through the heat of the day we rested as well as wemight, but the air was motionless and sultry and the camels ill atease. The Arabs said that it boded a desert storm, and that a greatwind would arise full of sand. So we arose in the afternoon, andtravelled swiftly, hoping to come to shelter before the storm. Andthe air burned in the stillness between the baked desert and theglaring sky.

  Suddenly a wind arose out of the South, blowing from Babbulkund, andthe sand lifted and went by in great shapes, all whispering. And thewind blew violently, and wailed as it blew, and hundreds of sandyshapes went towering by, and there were little cries among them andthe sounds of a passing away. Soon the wind sank quite suddenly, andits cries died, and the panic cease
d among the driven sands. Andwhen the storm departed the air was cool, and the terriblesultriness and the boding were passed away, and the camels had easeamong them. And the Arabs said that the storm which was to be hadbeen, as was willed of old by God.

  The sun set and the gloaming came, and we neared the junction ofOonrana and Plegathanees, but in the darkness discerned notBabbulkund. We pushed on hurriedly to reach the city ere nightfall,and came to the junction of the River of Myth where he meets withthe Waters of Fable, and still saw not Babbulkund. All round us laythe sand and rocks of the unchanging desert, save to the southwardswhere the jungle stood with its orchids facing skywards. Then weperceived that we had arrived too late, and that her doom had cometo Babbulkund; and by the river in the empty desert on the sand theman in rags was seated, with his face hidden in his hands, weepingbitterly.

  * * * * * * *

  Thus passed away in the hour of her iniquities before Annolith, inthe two thousand and thirty-second year of her being, in the sixthousand and fiftieth year of the building of the World, Babbulkund,City of Marvel, sometime called by those that hated her City of theDog, but hourly mourned in Araby and Ind and wide through jungle anddesert; leaving no memorial in stone to show that she had been, butremembered with an abiding love, in spite of the anger of God, byall that knew her beauty, whereof still they sing.