City of Marvel, the King walks to another part of the garden and
sits in an alcove of opal all alone by the marge of the sacred lake.
This is the lake whose shores and floors are of glass, which is lit
from beneath by slaves with purple lights and with green lights
intermingling, and is one of the seven wonders of Babbulkund. Three
of the wonders are in the city's midst and four are at her gates.
There is the lake, of which I tell thee, and the purple garden of
which I have told thee and which is a wonder even to the stars, and
there is Ong Zwarba, of which I shall tell thee also. And the
wonders at the gates are these. At the eastern gate Neb. And at the
northern gate the wonder of the river and the arches, for the River
of Myth, which becomes one with the Waters of Fable in the desert
outside the city, floats under a gate of pure gold, rejoicing, and
under many arches fantastically carven that are one with either
bank. The marvel at the western gate is the marvel of Annolith and
the dog Voth. Annolith sits outside the western gate facing towards
the city. He is higher than any of the towers or palaces, for his
head was carved from the summit of the old hill; he hath two eyes of
sapphire wherewith he regards Babbulkund, and the wonder of the eyes
is that they are today in the same sockets wherein they glowed when
first the world began, only the marble that covered them has been
carven away and the light of day let in and the sight of the envious
stars. Larger than a lion is the dog Voth beside him; every hair is
carven upon the back of Voth, his war hackles are erected and his
teeth are bared. All the Nehemoths have worshipped the god Annolith,
but all their people pray to the dog Voth, for the law of the land
is that none but a Nehemoth may worship the god Annolith. The marvel
at the southern gate is the marvel of the jungle, for he comes with
all his wild untravelled sea of darkness and trees and tigers and
sunward-aspiring orchids right through a marble gate in the city