At each of the Gates an exactly similar path may be seen. They run in
straight lines to the Fountain and Gardens at the top of the Hill; and
they are laid directly over the tunnels that carry the water from the
Magic Well to the Lake. As a consequence, they serve more than one
purpose. Firstly, they divide the city into four great triangles of
exactly equal dimensions. Next, they give access from the four cardinal
points of the Compass to the Prince’s Palace and to the Fountain
Gardens. Lastly, whilst completely hiding the tunnels from view, they
make them easy to get at in case of accident. To have had any buildings
above or across the water tunnels would have been a very great mistake;
for quite apart from the difficulty of making repairs, if such were
necessary, the weight of the erections might have brought about the
very trouble it was desirable to avoid.
All the other paths run in circles. There are very many of them; but
their number has never been told. Facing all the paths or streets,
Fairy Houses have been built—dainty little dwellings of the quaintest
patterns imaginable; but all of them having a piece of garden ground to
add to the effect. The houses of the Prince’s officers and the Fairy
Leaders are on the four main straight streets; those of the other
Fairies are on what may be termed the circular streets. The Prince has
had reserved for his own use a very fine piece of land facing the
Fountain on the flat top of the Hill. Here his wonderful Palace is
erected, the foundations for which were laid even before the Lake was
made.
But to see the City at its best, it must be viewed at night, when the
artistic lighting arrangements show it up in all its glory.
Before attempting to describe the lights, or the perfectly entrancing
effects they produce, it has to be stated that the streets are, by the
Fairies themselves, called the “streets of the stars.” Hence it is
quite common to hear such names as the “Street of the Southern Cross”;
the “Street of Orion”; the “Street of Canopus”; or the “Street of
Mars.” This arises from the fact that Stars and constellations have
been used as lighting models. The constellations, or groups of stars,
are in use for the broader streets, and at all crossing centres; whilst
the stars have been copied for the narrower streets and for the
watch-towers on the wall.
As an example of many others, the Street of the Southern Cross will do
to illustrate the way in which the City is lighted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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