And the mysteries of the Church were also food for his gold fancy, which by reshaping them stripped them of all terrors.

He was extraordinarily happy, for he had the power to make again each fresh experience in a select inner world in which he walked as king, since he was its creator.
He was a child of many fancies, but one especially stayed with him.

When still very small, he slept in a cot in his grandmother's room, the walls of which were hung with tapestry from the Arras looms.

One picture caught his eye, for the morning sun struck it, and when he woke early it glowed invitingly before him.

It represented a little river twining about a coppice.