Raphael and the sea horse swam through the gateway, which was guarded by two gray octopi, and entered a huge amphitheater. On all sides rose black hills covered with brown ooze. The floor was coral, whose pink-and-white branches were laced into miniature caves and grottoes in which lived strange crabs and small beautifully tinted fish. Clinging to the coral, brown sea fans waved in the pulse of the ocean, while here and there sea anemones bloomed like giant white chrysanthemums. Through this garden swam silver moonfish, striped black-and-white angel fish, and the spotted red and green rockhind. After a quick glance Raphael paid them little attention as he moved across the uneven floor. Instead he stared at the indistinct forms which circled like shadows in the center of the immense arena. He had never seen such gigantic creatures. ‘Come with me,’ said the sea horse, and piloted him toward a magnificent black whale who swam sedately about in the center of a group of admirers. Cabinet ministers, Admiralty, and Senators, thought Raphael. When they were quite close, the sea horse stopped. ‘Mr. President,’ he announced in his thin small voice, ‘may I introduce Mr. Raphael, Commander of the Elements, and General of All the Armies Above and Below the Sea, Emissary Extraordinary of Gæa, the Earth Mother.’ The sea horse paused and asked Raphael in an aside whether he had any more titles. ‘For,’ he said, ‘they are very fond of titles in this democracy.’ The President smiled heavily, dropping his huge lower jaw and exposing the whalebone strainers in his mouth. ‘Pleased to meet you, Mr. Raphael. We have had word about you.’ And he held out an immense fluke toward the boy. Raphael’s hand seemed ridiculously small, but he grasped the outer edge of the rough, oily flipper manfully. ‘Martha,’ called the President to a slightly smaller black whale, ‘meet Mr. Raphael.’ At this the First Lady of the Ocean bustled up, quivering with anxiety to please. ‘Glad to meet any friend of my husband’s,’ she gurgled. ‘You’re a real stranger round these parts.’ Raphael bowed. ‘Mr. President,’ he said, ‘might I have a word with you in private, if Mrs. Whale will excuse us?’ ‘Certainly,’ said the President. ‘My dear, will you pardon us?’ Again they bowed to one another. When Mrs. Whale and the sea horse had withdrawn, Raphael turned to the President. ‘Mr. President,’ he said very fast and without drawing breath, ‘I have come to ask a favor of you as the Leading Citizen of the Ocean.’ His Excellency smiled, flattered. Then Raphael told him about Cassandra, the Sorcerer, and the blind castle on the island. ‘I have come,’ he concluded, ‘to find a door to the castle and to ask your help.’ ‘Since you come from Gæa, the Queen Mother,’ replied the President in his best official manner, speaking very carefully, ‘you are more than welcome to the Sea. But here we are ignorant of the Earth, and such people as this Giant Sorcerer.