about my clothes asking if they were not unsuitable to so august an
occasion and he swore by the spear that had slain the destroyer of
Perdóndaris that Singanee would think it a shameful thing that any
stranger not unknown to the gods should enter the dancing hall
unsuitably clad; and therefore he led me to another room and took
silken robes out of an old sea-chest of black and seamy oak with green
copper hasps that were set with a few pale sapphires, and requested me
to choose a suitable robe. And I chose a bright green robe, with an
under-robe of light blue which was seen here and there, and a light
blue sword-belt. I also wore a cloak that was dark purple with two
thin strips of dark-blue along the border and a row of large dark
sapphires sewn along the purple between them; it hung down from my
shoulders behind me. Nor would the chamberlain of Singanee let me
take any less than this, for he said that not even a stranger, on that
night, could be allowed to stand in the way of his master's
munificence which he was pleased to exercise in honour of his victory.
As soon as I was attired we went to the dancing hall and the first
thing that I saw in that tall, scintillant chamber was the huge form
of Singanee standing among the dancers and the heads of the men no
higher than his waist. Bare were the huge arms that had held the
spear that had avenged Perdóndaris. The chamberlain led me to him and
I bowed, and said that I gave thanks to the gods to whom he looked for
protection; and he said that he had heard my gods well spoken of by
those accustomed to pray but this he said only of courtesy, for he
knew not whom they were.

Singanee was simply dressed and only wore on his head a plain gold
band to keep his hair from falling over his forehead, the ends of the
gold were tied in the back with a bow of purple silk. But all his
queens wore crowns of great magnificence, though whether they were