When they reached the plain he saw in front of them an interminable forest of tall trees, the shapes of which were extraordinarily foreign looking.  The leaves were crystalline and, looking upward, it was as if he were gazing through a roof of glass.  The moment they got underneath the trees the light rays of the sun continued to come through—­white, savage, and blazing—­but they were gelded of heat.  Then it was not hard to imagine that they were wandering through cool, bright elfin glades.

Through the forest, beginning at their very feet an avenue, perfectly straight and not very wide, went forward as far as the eye could see.

Maskull wanted to talk to his travelling companion, but was somehow unable to find words.  Panawe glanced at him with an inscrutable smile—­stern, yet enchanting and half feminine.  He then broke the silence, but, strangely enough, Maskull could not make out whether he was singing or speaking.  From his lips issued a slow musical recitative, exactly like a bewitching adagio from a low toned stringed instrument—­but there was a difference.  Instead of the repetition and variation of one or two short themes, as in music, Panawe’s theme was prolonged—­it never came to an end, but rather resembled a conversation in rhythm and melody.  And, at the same time, it was no recitative, for it was not declamatory.  It was a long, quiet stream of lovely emotion.

Maskull listened entranced, yet agitated.  The song, if it might be termed song, seemed to be always just on the point of becoming clear and intelligible—­not with the intelligibility of words, but in the way one sympathises with another’s moods and feelings; and Maskull felt that something important was about to be uttered, which would explain all that had gone before.  But it was invariably postponed, he never understood—­and yet somehow he did understand.

Late in the afternoon they came to a clearing, and there Panawe ceased his recitative.  He slowed his pace and stopped, in the fashion of a man who wishes to convey that he intends to go no farther.

“What is the name of this country?” asked Maskull.

“It is the Lusion Plain.”

“Was that music in the nature of a temptation—­do you wish me not to go on?”

“Your work lies before you, and not behind you.”

“What was it, then?  What work do you allude to?”

“It must have seemed like something to you, Maskull.”

“It seemed like Shaping music to me.”

The instant he had absently uttered these words, Maskull wondered why he had done so, as they now appeared meaningless to him.

Panawe, however, showed no surprise.  “Shaping you will find everywhere.”

“Am I dreaming, or awake?”

“You are awake.”

Maskull fell into deep thought.  “So be it,” he said, rousing himself.  “Now I will go on.  But where must I sleep tonight?”

“You will reach a broad river.  On that you can travel to the foot of the Marest tomorrow; but tonight you had better sleep where the forest and river meet.”