pure love. Interpenetrating Faceny's world of Nature,
therefore, we have Amfuse's world of Love, or Relation."

"What grounds have you for assuming that this so-called second world is
not contained in the first?"

"They are contradictory. A natural man lives for himself; a lover lives
for others."

"It may be so. It's rather mystical. But go on--who is Thire?"

"Length and breadth together without depth give flatness. Life and love
without feeling produce shallow, superficial natures. Feeling is the
need of men to stretch out toward their creator."

"You mean prayer and worship?"

"I mean intimacy with Thire. This feeling is not to be found in either
the first or second world, therefore it is a third world. Just as depth
is the line between object and subject, feeling is the line between
Thire and man."

"But what is Thire himself?"

"Thire is the afterworld."

"I still don't understand," said Maskull. "Do you believe in three
separate gods, or are these merely three ways of regarding one God?"

"There are three gods, for they are mutually antagonistic. Yet they are
somehow united."

Maskull reflected a while. "How have you arrived at these conclusions?"

"None other are possible in Threal, Maskull."

"Why in Threal--what is there peculiar here?"

"I will show you presently."

They walked on for above a mile in silence, while Maskull digested what
had been said. When they came to the first trees, which grew along the
banks of a small stream of transparent water, Corpang halted.

"That bandage around your forehead has long been unnecessary," he
remarked.

Maskull removed it. He found that the line of his brow was smooth and
uninterrupted, as it had never yet been since his arrival in Tormance.

"How has this come about--and how did you know it?"

"They were Faceny's organs. They have vanished, just as the phaen's body
vanished."

Maskull kept rubbing his forehead. "I feel more human without them. But
why isn't the rest of my body affected?"

"Because its living will contains the element of Thire."

"Why are we stopping here?"

Corpang broke off the tip of one of the aerial roots of a tree, and
proffered it to him. "Eat this, Maskull."

"For food, or something else?"

"Food for body and soul."

Maskull bit into the root. It was white and hard; its white sap was
bleeding. It had no taste, but after eating it, he experienced a change
of perception. The landscape, without alteration of ligh