I think I should find death, but I might see some queer things first." Then Shalah spoke:-- "There was once a man of my own people who, when he came to man's strength, journeyed westward with a wife.

He travelled all his days, and when his eyes were dim with age he saw a great water.

His spirit left him on its shore, but on his road he had begotten a son, and that son journeyed back towards the rising sun, and came after many years to his people again.

I have spoken with him of what he had seen." "And what was that ?" asked Ringan, with eager eyes.
"He told of plains so great that it is a lifetime to travel over them, and of deserts where the eagle flying from the dawn dies of drought by midday, and of mountains so high that birds cannot cross them but are changed by cold into stone, and of rivers to which our little waters are as reeds to a forest cedar.

But especially he spoke of the fierce warriors that ride like the wind on horses.