on the darkest of the mighty clouds
which veil the pearly moon
around us lightning flashing
night's blackness to illume
chorus the music of our songs
and our mighty trumpets' swell
and the sounding of our silver
harp no mortal tongue can tell.
When they had finished, there was a dead silence for about half an hour and then the palace began slowly and gradually to vanish till it disappeared entirely and I found myself in the glen surrounded by high mountains, the fountain illuminated by the cold light of the moon springing up in the middle of the valley, and standing close by was the old man who had conducted me to this enchanted place. He turned round and I could see that his countenance had an expression of strange severity which I had not before observed. "Follow me," he said. I obeyed and we began to ascend the mountain. It would be needless to trouble you with a repetition of all my adventures. Suffice it to say that after two months time, we arrived at a large temple. We entered it. The interior as well as the outside had a very gloomy and ominous aspect being entirely built of black marble. The old man suddenly seized me and dragged me to an altar at the upper end of the temple, then, forcing me down on my knees, he made me swear that I would be his servant forever and this promise I faithfully kept notwithstanding the dreadful scenes of magic of which every day of my life I was forced to be a witness. One day he told me that he would discharge me from the oath I had taken and commanded me to leave his service. I obeyed and, after wandering about the world for many years, I one evening laid myself down on a little bank by the roadside intending to pass the night there. Suddenly I felt myself raised in the air by invisible hands. In a short time I lost sight of the earth and continued on my course through the clouds till I became insensible and when I recovered from my swoon, I found myself lying outside this cave. What may be my future destiny I know not——"