The Fiery Veil 



which pious and polite salutations seemed to strike them 

 with a terrible horror, for a pang of torture twitched the 

 solemn features, and they trembled violently, making a 

 rustling sound with their quivering pinions, like the 

 rustling of a great palm-tree when the simoon is on the 

 desert. « 



Beneath these awful wings I stood and watched the 

 flame. It sunk a little, and left a space of darkness at the 

 top of the doorway, in which the sparks hovered like 

 stars in the mirror of a flowing river. These star-like 

 sparks were gathered like wild geese in the sky, and fell 

 into the form of successive characters one after another. 



K 



n 

 h 



When it came to the Lamed, no more letters were formed, 

 and the flame rose to the top of the doorway again. I was 

 aware that the word which had been spelt means ENTER 

 in the Chaldaic. 



It seemed a dangerous enterprise to go into this flaming 

 fiery furnace, but I remembered the quality of the water, 

 and had an impression that I was someway seasoned against 

 burning ; moreover, the trumpet sounded again behind the 

 veil, and in I dashed, not without a vague suspicion that I 

 might be converting myself into a dish of broiled bones to 

 make a meal for some winged-lion fiend inside. 



I got safe through, however, without a hair of my head 

 being singed, and found myself in a vast circular court, 

 crystal-floored and surrounded by a lofty peristyle of 

 gleaming golden columns. In the centre, a great fountain 

 cast up a glowing volume of what seemed like molten silver. 



