THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON THE KING
then did bewilderment possess me, for I found that I was
robed in red garments in place of the white in which I had
dressed myself. And as I wondered, the angel said to me:
‘They have been given thee’ ; therefore again I knelt, and was
endued with a great power.
“ And as the great strength coursed through me I stood up
and the angel gave me a white wand, placing it in my right
hand; then fiery rain fell upon me, bursting into little flames
as it touched me.
“Taller and taller did I grow, striving up and upwards to
reach the face of the great figure. And as I strove, I emerged
from the centre of the crown of mine own head like a white
bird; and so great had been my desire that I shot upwards
past my skull like an arrow from abended bow. And swerv-
ing down, I played around the head of the great image and
kissed it on the lips. But though for many minutes did I fly
about that immense head, the countenance thereof was ever
cloudy as a mountain seen through a storm of snow; yet
nevertheless could I distinguish that the head was like an
Assyrian clean-shaven, like a bull, a hawk, an Egyptian and
myself.
“Intoxicated with rapture, I fluttered about the lips and
then entered the great mouth.
“Up! up! I rise. I am in a chamber with two square
pillars and an eye . . . I bathe
in the light of this eye and the
intense brilliancy of the whole room, which swallows me up.
“ Bigger and bigger do I grow... I fill the room... I
emerge from the top of the mighty head, and kissing once
again the lips, swerve downwards and unite with the red
figure below me.
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