-LCB- King Prigio on the Flying Horse : p178.jpg -RCB- Through the dark rode King Prigio , into the silver dawn of the moon . All now became clear and silvery ; the coasts of the moon came into sight , with white seas breaking on them ; and at last the king reached the silver walls , and the gate of opal . Before the gate stood two beautiful ladies . One was fair , with yellow locks , the colour of the harvest moon . She had a crown of a golden snake and white water-lilies , and her dress now shone white , now red , now golden ; and in her hand was the golden pitcher that sheds the dew , and a golden wand . The other lady was as dark as night -- dark eyes , dark hair ; her crown was of poppies . She held the ebony Wand of Sleep . Her dress was of the deepest blue , sown with stars . The king knew that they were the maidens of the bright and the dark side of the moon -- of the side you see , and of the side that no one has ever seen , except King Prigio . He stopped the Flying Horse by turning the other knob in the saddle , alighted , and bowed very low to each of the ladies . `` Daring mortal ! what make you here ? '' they asked . And then the king told them about Jaqueline and the Earthquaker , and how he needed a great weight of Stupidity to flatten him out with . The ladies heard him in silence , and then they said : `` Follow us , '' and they flew lightly beside the Flying Horse till they had crossed all the bright side of the moon , above the silver palaces and silver seas , and reached the summit of the Mountains of the Moon which separate the bright from the dark side . `` Here I may go no further , '' said the bright lady ; `` and beyond , as you see , all is darkness and heavy sleep . '' Then she touched Prigio with her golden wand with twisted serpents , and he became luminous , light raying out from him ; and the dark lady , too , shone like silver in the night : and on they flew , over black rocks and black rivers , till they reached a huge mountain , like a mountain of coal , many thousand feet high , for its head was lost in the blackness of darkness . The dark Moon-Lady struck the rock with her ebony wand , and said , `` Open ! '' and the cliffs opened like a door , and they were within the mountain . `` Here , '' said the dark lady , `` is the storehouse of all the Stupidity ; hence it descends in showers like Stardust on the earth whenever this mountain , which is a volcano , is in eruption .
Only a little XXXXX the Stupidity reaches the earth , and that only in invisible dust ; yet you know how weighty it is , even in that form . ''
Before above at by except from like of till with