im lay upon his
couch staring with blank, unseeing eyes into a blackness wherein there
was not even a spot of gray to show where the window was.

And after a little there came out of the heavy darkness the sad, sad
Voice of the Night.

Said the Voice: "To thee, O Hadji, I come from the Limitless Realm of
the Past that begins this moment and reaches back even beyond the day of
all beginnings. I speak from the Deeps Above. I tell of the Great That
Was. I also am a Voice of Life, and mine it is to tell you yet more of
The Tale of The Uncrowned King."

And this is the part of the Tale that was told by the Voice of the
Night.

Now it happened, as things sometime so happen, that Really-Is lingered
over long, saying good-bye to his friends in the City Sometime in the
Land of Yettocome; and that when he had lingered long with his friends
he stayed yet longer with the beautiful princess, Imagination.

So it was that, while the prince was promising many promises and
receiving in turn promises as many, his brother, Seemsto-Be, mounted and
was well started on his journey before the heir to the throne of
Allthetime was in the saddle. With the last good-bye spoken to his royal
friends, the last promise promised to the fair princess, and the last
farewell waved to the charming people, Really-Is urged his horse fast
and faster, thinking thus to overtake his brother. But very soon
Really-Is found that, fast as he rode his good horse Reality, Seemsto-Be
on Appearance rode faster. Greater and greater grew the distance between
the two princes--farther and farther ahead rode Seemsto-Be; until at
last, when the distance between them was such that he could, no longer
see his brother, Really-Is, the rightful heir to the throne of
Allthetime, understood that Seemsto-Be was riding to win the Crown.

"For you must not forget, O Hadji," said the sad Voice of the Night,
"that no one in Daybyday could tell the twins, Really-Is and Seemsto-Be,
one from the other, and therefore, you see, the prince who first reached
the Royal City would surely be proclaimed king."

Hard and fast, fast and hard, rode the two who raced for the Crown of
Allthetime. But always Appearance the horse of Seemsto-Be, proved faster
than Reality, the horse of Really-Is, and so the prince who was first
born rode far behind.

Now just this side of the river that marks the end of the Land of
Allthetime the road divides, the way to the left leading to the Brazen
Gate calle