I could see in the affectionate greetings which they exchanged an
indication of a family life and ties similar to those which are most
common upon Earth, while their gracious and hospitable reception of
me marked them as people of highly refined sensibilities. First of
all they must hear Moh-goh’s story, and then, after having
congratulated us and praised us, they set about preparing baths and
fresh apparel for us, in which they were assisted by a corps of
servants, descendants, I was told, of the faithful servitors who had
remained loyal to the noble classes and accompanied them in their
exile.
We rested for a short time after our baths, and then Moh-goh
announced that he must go before Ko-tah, to whom it was necessary
that he report, and that he would take me with him. I was appareled
now in raiment befitting my supposed rank and carried the weapons of
a Laythean gentleman—a short lance, or javelin, a dagger and a sword,
but with my relatively darker skin and my blond hair, I could never
hope to be aught than an object of remark in any Laythean company.
Owing to the color of my hair, some of them thought that I was a
Kalkar, but upon this score my complexion set them right.
Ko-tah’s dwelling was, indeed, princely, stretching along a broad
terrace for fully a quarter of a mile, with its two stories and its
numerous towers and minarets. The entire face of the building was
elaborately and beautifully carved, the decorations in their entirety
recording pictographically the salient features of the lives of Ko-
tah’s ancestors.
Armed nobles stood on either side of the massive entrance way, and
long before we reached this lunar prince I realized that possibly he
was more difficult to approach than one of earthly origin, but at
last we were ushered into his presence, and Moh-goh, with the utmost
deference, presented me to Ko-tah the Javadar. Having assumed a
princely title and princely raiment, I chose to assume princely
prerogatives as well, believing that my position among the Laytheans
would be better assured and all my interests furthered if they
thought me of royal blood, and so I acknowledged my introduction to
Ko-tah as though we were equals and that he was being presented to me
upon the same footing that I was being presented to him.
I found him, like all his fellows, a handsome man, but with a
slightly sinister expression which I did not like. Possibly I was
prejudiced against him from what Nah-ee-lah had told me, but be that
as it may, I conceived a dislike and distrust for him the moment that
I laid eyes upon him, and I think, too, that he must have sensed my
attitude, for, though he was outwardly gracious and courteous, I
believe that Ko-tah the Javadar never liked me.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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