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Now one there ho had studied long all the ic known in the world And he grew near the tih summer, when floith yellow and careless heads thrust even fro the sea, he went to one of the ho had shaded his face with er than ht the student whose time was co - have a place a the wise of the city? For I wish to study spells that are not sacred alland carry for bread"

Then the old hed and said, "Do you recall hohen you were hardly ht you the art by which we flesh sons fro all the others! Go now, and flesh such a son, and I will show it to the hooded ones, and you will be as we"

But the student said: "Another season Let pass another season, and I will do everything you advise"

Autumn came, and the sycamores of the city of pale towers, that were sheltered froold eese streae and the laain for him who had been his student, and said: "Now, surely, you must flesh for yourself a creation of drea the hooded ones grow impatient Save for us, you are the eldest in the city, and it may be that if you do not act now they will turn you out by winter"

But the student answered: "I must study further, that I may achieve what I seek Can you not for one season protect ht of the beauty of the trees that had for so hted his eyes like the white liolden autu into the land froe of the world like a truilded ball and the fires that floeen the stars and Urth kindle the sky His touch turned the waves to steel, and the city of thebanners of ice frolaces of snow The old ain, and the student answered as before

Spring ca the city was hung with black; and hatred, and the loathing of one's oers - that eats like a woricians For the city had but one law and one curse, and though the law held sway all the year, the curse ruled the spring In spring, the icians, were clothed in green; and while the soft winds of spring teased their golden hair, they walked unshod through the portal of the city, and down the narrow path that led to the quay, and boarded the black-sailed ship that waited thereen faille, and because it seerain, they were called Corn Maidens

When thebeen the student of the old es and la by, he set aside all his books and began to draw such figures as no es, as his ht hi of the Hero

Day after day he labored When the first light cae alreadythe pale towers, his laht At first it seeht hiht to the ht he was alone in his chambers save for the nia of Death at his undaunted candle flame Then there crept into his dreams, when so who that other elcootten

He labored on, and that which he strove to create gathered about him as smoke collects about the new fuel thrown upon a fire almost dead At times (and particularly when he worked early or late, and when having at long last laid aside all the ith upon the narrow bed provided for those who had not yet earned the many-colored hood) he heard the step, always in another room, of the man he hoped to call into life In tiinally rare, and, indeed, at first lihts when thunder ru the pale towers, becans of the other's presence: a book he had not unshelved in decades lying beside a chair; s and doors that unlocked, as it seee, for years past an ornament hardly more deadly than a tro and newly sharp

One golden afternoon, when the wind played the innocent gaed syca to turn or express even the smallest part of what he felt by his voice, or even to desist from his work, he called: "Enter"

As doors open at an, a thread's width at a tith, so that when it was open (as he judged by the sound) enough that a hand ht have been thrust into the room, it seemed that the playful breeze had come in by theto push life into its wooden heart And when it was open, as he judged again, wider still, so ht have entered with a tray, it seeainst the wall Then he heard strides behind him - quick and resolute - and a voice respectful and youthful, yet deep with a cleanly : "Father, I little like to vex you when you are deep in your art But my heart is sorely troubled and has been so these several days, and I beg you by the love you have for me to suffer my intrusion and counsel me in my difficulties"

Then the student dared turn hi before hihty of thew Coht eyes, and courage in all his face Upon his brow sat that crown that is invisible to every eye, but can be seen even by the blind; the crown beyond price that draws brave men to a paladin, and makes weak men brave Then the student said: "My son, have no fear of disturbingunder Heaven that I should rather see than your face What is it that troubles you?"

"Father," the young hts my sleep has been rent with the screareen serpent called by the notes of a pipe, a colureen slip down the cliff below our city to the quay And soo near, and then I see that all alk in that coluer as they walk, so that Iwind What is theof this dream?"

"My son," said the student, "the time has come when I must tell you what I have concealed fro that in the rashness of your youth you ht dare too much before the tire, who each year dehters, even as you have seen in your drea re, and what form has he, and where does he dwell?"

"His nah His form is that of a naviscaput, which is to say that toupon its deck - which is in truth his shoulders - a single castle, which is his head, and in the castle a single eye But his body swims in the deep waters with the skate and the shark, with ars that reach even to the floor of the sea His harbor is an isle to the west, where a channel with , reaches far inland It is on this isle, so my lore teaches me, that the Corn Maidens are made to dwell; and there he rides at anchor in the ht to watch them in their despair"

Part III