These are the tales of Ateria, a country which long ago lay on the distant borderlands; of the pagan King Thyaterion and his daughter the Princess Alaeia; of the Hermit in the forest, and of the stranger who came to live for a while as the Hermit's disciple. And also these are the tales of those who lived in the village, and of those who lived in the City, and lastly of the Forest itself, and of the Gardens of the King. There has been found in the ruins of the Monastery that once stood between the City and the Forest a map, which makes plain the seemingly convicting stories of the ancient chroniclers. Kahras, the scholar, wrote of a great city of many thousand souls; of paved streets, temples of marble, and buildings of stone. He said that the King's domain lay directly against the boundary of the City, divided from it by a wall of massive stone, with watch towers set at equal distances, and at the base a moat, wide as a river. Originally published 1908.