There now ensued a series of incidents which transported me to the opposite extremes of ecstasy and horror;
incidents which I tremble to recall and dare not seek to interpret.
No sooner had I crawled beneath the overhanging foliage of the palm, than there dropped from its branches a young child of such beauty as I never beheld before.
Though ragged and dusty, this being bore the features of a faun or demigod, and seemed almost to diffuse a radiance in the dense shadow of the tree.
It smiled and extended its hand, but before I could arise and speak I heard in the upper air the exquisite melody of singing;
notes high and low blend with a sublime and ethereal harmoniousness.
The sun had by this time sunk below the horizon, and in the twilight I saw that an aureola of lambent light encircled the child"s head.
Then in a tone of silver it addressed me:
'It is the end. They have come down through the gloaming from the stars. Now all is over, and beyond the Arinurian streams we shall dwell blissfully in Teloe.'
'Come, child, you have heard the voices, and all is well.
In Teloe beyond the Milky Way and the Arinurian streams are cities all of amber and chalcedony.
And upon their domes of many facets glisten the images of strange and beautiful stars.
Under the ivory bridges of Teloe flow rivers of liquid gold bearing pleasure-barges bound for blossomy Cytharion of the Seven Suns.
And in Teloe and Cytharion abide only youth, beauty, and pleasure, nor are any sounds heard, save of laughter, song, and the lute.
Only the gods dwell in Teloe of the golden rivers, but among them shalt thou dwell.'