the open window--came to the
Pilgrim clearer and sweeter than the sweetest notes from clear toned
bells.

And after a little there was in the music of the waves a Voice.

Said the Voice: "To thee, O Hadji, I come from the Beautiful Sea; the
interminable, unfathomable sea, that begins at the Outer-Edge-Of-Things
and stretches away into Neverness. I speak from out the Deeps Beneath. I
tell of the Great That Is. I am a Voice of Life, O Hadji, and mine it is
to begin for you The Tale of The Uncrowned King."

And this is the beginning of the Tale that the Voice of the Waves began.

Very great and very wonderful, O Hadji, is the Land of Allthetime. Very
great and very wonderful is the Royal City Daybyday. Beautiful in
Allthetime are the lakes and rivers, the mountains, plains and streams.
Beautiful in Daybyday are the groves and gardens, the drives and parks,
the harbors and canals. Countless, in this Royal City, are the palaces.
Without number are the people--without number and of many races,
languages, and names.

But amid the countless palaces in this marvelous city Daybyday, there is
one Temple only--only one. For the numberless people of the many races,
languages, and names, there is but one God--only one. About this Royal
City there is no Wall. For the King of Allthetime, who dwells in
Daybyday, there is no Crown.

But the days that were were not as the days that are, O Hadji, and
therefore is this Tale.

In the long ago olden days, when King What-Soever-Youthink ruled over
the Land of Allthetime, there were, in this Royal City Daybyday,
religions many--as many quite as the races, languages and names of the
people. Many then were the temples built by the many followers of the
many religions to their many gods. For you must know that King
What-Soever-You-think was, of all wise kings that ever were or will be,
the very wisest and, therefore, permitted his subjects to worship whom
they would.

Always in the city streets there were vast throngs of people passing to
and fro among the temples, bearing offerings and singing praises to the
gods of their choice; for the chiefest occupation of the dwellers in
Daybyday was then, as it is now, the old, old, occupation of worship.
Some of the temples, it is true, were at times quite deserted, while in
others there was not room for the multitudes; but even in the nearly
empty temples the priests and beggars always remained, for, in that age,
the people of Daybyday changed