I, "I wot not what place here is, nor what mine errand, nor what I myself
am, nor what has made off with mine other part; I had a head and limbs
and body, but whether I left 'em at home or whether the Fairies, if fair
their deed, have cast me into some deep pit (for I mind my passing over
many a rugged gorge) an' I be hanged, Sir, I know not." "Fairly,
indeed," said he, "they would have dealt with thee, had I not come in
time to save thee from the toasting-forks of the brood of hell. Since
thou hast such a great desire to see the course of this little world, I
am commanded to give thee the opportunity to realize thy wish, so that
thou mayest see the folly of thy discontent with thine own lot and
country. Come now!" he bade, and at the word, with the dawn just
breaking, he snatched me up far away above the castle; and upon a white
cloudledge we rested in the empyrean to see the sun rising, and to look
at my heavenly companion, who was far brighter than the sun, save that
his radiance only shone upwards, being hidden from all beneath by a veil.
When the sun waxed strong, I beheld in the refulgence of the two our
great, encircled earth as a tiny ball in the distance below. "Look
again," said the Angel, and he gave me a better spy-glass than the one I
had on the mountain-side. When I looked through this I saw things in a
different light and clearer than ever before.

I could see one city of enormous magnitude, with thousands of cities and
kingdoms within it, the wide ocean like a whirlpool around it, and other
seas, like rivers, dividing it into parts. After gazing a longwhile, I
observed that it was made up of three tremendously long streets, with a
large and splendid gateway at the lower end of each street; on each
gateway, a magnificent tower, and on each tower, in sight of all the
street, a woman of exceeding beauty; and the three towers at the back of
the ramparts reached to the foot of that great castle. Of the same
length as these immense streets, but running in a contrary direction, I