prophesying war and the necessity of making the invisible wall strong and
high by good works. He met with greatest success in the villages and
towns, but when he entered the region of the high castles, where the
knights and ladies dwelt, he was much laughed at and some would have had
him locked up at once.

Now, being a Wizard, he knew how powerful fashion is in this world, and
how a wandering breath may bring it into being, so he said to himself: "I
will go direct to the court of the Princess Myrtle, who has married the
Prince Merlin, and will gain her ear. When she knows the invisible wall
is to protect her kingdom, she will be gracious and set the fashion of
providing stones."

So he journeyed all day and all night and came at last to the grim city
of green stones with towers like aged fingers of gnarled wood in the
midst of which the Princess Myrtle held her court in an old red castle
set about with small, stiff trees. Now the Princess had not long been
married to the Prince Merlin. So full of love were they for each other
that for them many days had drifted away like the dreams of a night; and
so sweet was their converse, and so softly the minstrels sang that all
the court lived in a kind of trance.

The day the Wizard reached the castle it was drowsy noon; and the
golden-woven curtains were softly swaying in the breeze; while upon the
dim walls the greenish tapestries looked like mysterious forests. The
Prince and Princess sat upon their thrones like painted figures, and all
around them sat their courtiers in their golden dreams while the
minstrels sang:

"The waves are beating on the yellow sands,