at were blackened with scorched feathers of the vulture and the
eagle and the rook and the raven and the hawk, and other birds, sacred
and obscene; so was the triumph of Shagpat made manifest to men and the
end of the world by the burning of the Identical three days and three
nights.

THE FLASHES OF THE BLADE

Now, it was the morning of the fourth day, and lo! at the first leap of
the sun of that day the flame of the Identical abated in its fierceness,
and it dwindled and darkened, and tapered and flickered feebly,
descending from its altitude in the heavens and through the ceiling of
the Hall, and lay down to sleep among the intricate lengths and frizzled
convolutions and undulating weights flowing from Shagpat, an
undistinguished hair, even as the common hairs of his head. So, upon
that, the four fasting Kings breathed, and from the people of the City
there went up a mighty shout of gladness and congratulation at the glory
they had witnessed; and they took the air deeply into their chests, and
were as divers that have been long fathoms-deep under water, and ascend
and puff hard and press the water from their eyes, that yet refuse to
acknowledge with a recognition the things that be and the sights above,
so mazed are they with those unmentionable marvels and treasures and
profusion of jewels, and splendid lazy growths and lavish filmy
illuminations, and multitudinous pearls and sheering shells, that lie
heaped in the beds of the ocean. As the poet has said:

After too strong a beam,
Too bright a glory,
We ask, Is this a dream
Or magic story?

And he says:

When I've had rapturous visions such as make
The sun turn pale, and suddenly awake,
Long must I pull at memory in this beard,
Ere I remember men and things revered.

So was it with the people of the City, and they stood in the Hall and
winked staringly at one another, shouting and dancing at intervals,
capering with mad gravity, exclaiming on the greatness of that they had
witnessed. And Zeel the garlic-seller fell upon Mob the confectioner, and
cried, 'Was this so, O Dob? Wullahy! this glory, was it verily?' And Dob
peered dimly upon Zeel, whispering solemnly, 'Say, now, art thou of a
surety that Zeel the garlic-seller known to me, my boon-fellow?' And the
twain turned to Sallap the broker, and exchanged interjections with him,
and with Azawool the builder, and with Krooz el Krazawik the carrier; a