Around the court were
a few trees--a poisonous yew or twain, or a deadly cypress, and in these
owls, ravens, vampires and the like, make their nests, and cry
unceasingly for flesh, although the whole place is but one vast, putrid
shamble. The pillars of the hall were made of thighbones, and those of
the parlour of shinbones, while the floors were formed of layer upon
layer of all manner of charnel.
I had not to wait a longwhile ere I came in view of a tremendous altar,
where we could see the King of Terrors devouring human flesh and blood,
while a thousand impish deaths, from every hole, were continually feeding
him with warm, fresh meat. "Here is a rogue," said the Death that led me
thither, "whom I found in the midst of the land of Oblivion, having
approached so light-footed that your majesty never tasted a bite of him,"
"How can that be?" demanded the king, opening his jaws, wide as a chasm,
to swallow me. Whereupon I turned trembling to Sleep. "It was I who
brought him hither," said he. "Well then, for my brother Sleep's sake,"
said the awful and lanky monarch, "you can retrace your steps for the
nonce; but beware of me the next time.
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