Uldoon, the prophet, came out of the desert and followed up the bank of
the river towards his old home. Thirty years since Uldoon had left the
city, where he was born, to live his life in a silent place where he
might search for the secret of the gods. The name of his home was the
City by the River, and in that city many prophets taught concerning
many gods, and men made many secrets for themselves, but all the while
none knew the Secret of the gods. Nor might any seek to find it, for if
any sought men said of him:

"This man sins, for he giveth no worship to the gods that speak to our
prophets by starlight when none heareth."

And Uldoon perceived that the mind of a man is as a garden, and that
his thoughts are as the flowers, and the prophets of a man's city are
as many gardeners who weed and trim, and who have made in the garden
paths both smooth and straight, and only along these paths is a man's
soul permitted to go lest the gardeners say, "This soul transgresseth."
And from the paths the gardeners weed out every flower that grows, and
in the garden they cut off all flowers that grow tall, saying:

"It is customary," and "it is written," and "this hath ever been," or
"that hath not been before."

Therefore Uldoon saw that not in that city might he discover the Secret
of the gods. And Uldoon said to the people:

"When the worlds began, the Secret of the gods lay written clear over
the whole earth, but the feet of many prophets have trampled it out.
Your prophets are all true men, but I go into the desert to find a