A terrible, tightening sensation took hold of my heart.
The air seemed too heavy to breathe.
I gasped like a fish thrown up on dry land.
“Let the marriage ceremony begin this instant, and move apace!” roared Bô-gôô-gôô.
“Make ready, Tôô-tôô-lō!” cried one of the royal councillors.
I turned to survey the multitude, and then prostrated myself upon the platform under which the princess Rōlâ-Bōlâ was to pass.
“She has started! She comes like the wind! She is here!” Such were the cries which arose from the vast multitude.
With head and shoulders thrust through the opening in the platform, I awaited my bride with bated breath and thumping heart.
Imagine my amazement when I saw her flash beneath me and disappear in the crowd of Roundbodies, almost like a ball from a cannon.
I had scarcely felt her body as it had rolled beneath me.