The secrets of life and death are his, and the stars in the sky and the lands beneath the seas.” “Great king, seek Tuzun Thune, the wizard. Then to Kull stole a girl of the court and whispered: Go!”īrule went forth in a doubtful mood, leaving the king brooding upon his throne. There is a strangeness upon me and a longing beyond life’s longings. No more do the green woodlands beckon me as of old. I hear no more the sea-songs I heard when I lay as a boy on the booming crags of Atlantis, and the night was alive with blazing stars. The cities hold no lure for me-and the borders are quiet. “Nay.” Kull rested his chin moodily upon his mighty hand. Come with me upon my galley and let us roam the tides for a space.” “Lord king, you are tired of the life of the court. At his bidding there came to him Brule the Spear-slayer, warrior of Pictland, from the islands beyond the West. An unrest stirred in him and strange, luminous dreams roamed his soul. There was a longing in him for things beyond himself and beyond the Valusian court. But like shadows they came and went, leaving no trace upon his consciousness, save that of a great mental fatigue. They moved before him in an endless, meaningless panorama, men, women, priests, events and shadows of events things seen and things to be attained. Kull sat upon the throne of Valusia and the hour of weariness was upon him. The gems in the diadem and upon the fingers of the women sparkle drearily like the ice of the white seas the speech of men is as the empty rattle of a jester’s bell and the feel comes of things unreal even the sun is copper in the sky and the breath of the green ocean is no longer fresh. Then the gold of the throne is brass, the silk of the palace becomes drab. THERE comes, even to kings, the time of great weariness.
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