t the lost moon's ghost returned with me
Through the high noon.

----

Where is your soul then,
Naia?
Lost at high noon--
Where is your soul then?

It wanders East--or West--I think--
Or near the Pole, then--
Or died--perhaps there on the dune's dry brink
Seeking the moon.

THE DARK STAR

"The dying star grew dark; the last light faded from it; went out.
Prince Erlik laughed.

"And suddenly the old order of things began to pass away more
swiftly.

"Between earth and outer space--between Creator and created, confusing
and confounding their identities,--a rushing darkness grew--the
hurrying wrack of immemorial storms heralding whirlwinds through which
Truth alone survives.

"Awaiting the inevitable reestablishment of such temporary conventions
as render the incident of human existence possible, the brooding Demon
which men call Truth stares steadily at Tengri under the high stars
which are passing too, and which at last shall pass away and leave the
Demon watching all alone amid the ruins of eternity."

The Prophet of the Kiot Bordjiguen

CONTENTS

Preface. Children of the Star

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Wonder-Box 1

II. Brookhollow 18

III. In Embryo 30

IV. The Trodden Way 38

V. Ex Machina 47

VI. The End of Solitude 60

VII. Obsession 71

VIII. A Change Impends 80

IX. Nonresistance 88

X. Driving Head-on 102

XI. The Breakers 112

XII. A Life Line 122

XIII. Letters from a Little Girl 137

XIV. A Journey Begins 157

XV. The Locked House 162

XVI. Scheherazade 180

XVII. A White Skirt