And so they set forth with their great train of red, snarling camels and little patient donkeys and slender, nervous horses toward the rising sun.

Behind them the green hills of Palestine died out as a rainbow dies out, and now there was sand before them and now bleak mountains, and by day the wind was swift and hot and by night it was black and cold.

And moons were born and died...
And they passed through the land of the King of Armenia, and they passed Ararat, the mountain where Noah brought his ark to anchor, and where it still is, and where it can be seen still, but cannot be reached, so cold and high and terrible is that mountain.
And they passed ruined Babel, that was built of Nimrod, the first king of the world, and now is desolation.

They passed it on a waning moon.
And out of the ruins the dragons came and hissed at them, and strange, obscene birds flapped their wings in the air and cawed and pecked at them, and over the desert the satyr called unto her mate...
And they passed through the Kingdom of Georgia, whose kings are born with the mark of an eagle on their right shoulder.

They passed through Persia, where the magicians worship fire.