As the song concluded the stream bore my little boat with a gentle sweep
round a bend of the river; and lo! on a broad lawn, which rose from the
water's edge with a long green slope to a clear elevation from which the
trees receded on all sides, stood a stately palace glimmering ghostly in
the moonshine: it seemed to be built throughout of the whitest marble.
There was no reflection of moonlight from windows--there seemed to be
none; so there was no cold glitter; only, as I said, a ghostly shimmer.
Numberless shadows tempered the shine, from column and balcony and
tower. For everywhere galleries ran along the face of the buildings;
wings were extended in many directions; and numberless openings, through
which the moonbeams vanished into the interior, and which served
both for doors and windows, had their separate balconies in front,
communicating with a common gallery that rose on its own pillars.
Of course, I did not discover all this from the river, and in the
moonlight. But, though I was there for many days, I did not succeed
in mastering the inner topography of the building, so extensive and
complicated was it.
Here I wished to land, but the boat had no oars on board. However, I
found that a plank, serving for a seat, was unfastened, and with that I
brought the boat to the bank and scrambled on shore. Deep soft turf sank
beneath my feet, as I went up the ascent towards the palace.
When I reached it, I saw that it stood on a great platform of marble,
with an ascent, by broad stairs of the same, all round it. Arrived on
the platform, I found there was an extensive outlook over the forest,
which, however, was rather veiled than revealed by the moonlight.
Entering by a wide gateway, but without gates, into an inner court,
surrounded on all sides by great marble pillars supporting galleries
above, I saw a large fountain of porphyry in the middle, throwing up a
lofty column of water, which fell, with a noise as of the fusion of all
sweet sounds, into a basin beneath; overflowing which, it ran into a
single channel towards the interior of the building. Although the moon
was by this time so low in the west, that not a ray of her light fell
into the court, over the height of the surrounding buildings; yet was
the court lighted by a second reflex from the sun of other lands. For
the top of the column of water, just as it spread to fall, caught the
moonbeams, and like a great pale lamp, hung high in the night air, threw
a dim memory of light (as it were) over the court below. This court was
paved in diamonds of white and red marble. According to my custom since
I entered Fairy Land, of taking for a guide whatever I first found
moving in any direction, I followed the stream from the basin of the
fountain. It led me to a great open door, beneath the ascending steps of
which it ran through a low arch and disappeared. Entering here, I found
myself in a great hall, surrounded with white pillars, and paved with
black and white. This I could see by the moonlight, which, from the
other side, streamed through open windows into the hall.