I don’t know how we managed last night to walk so far and advance so little; I believe now that we marked time while these moving hills changed positions under our feet and that this plateau, this valley were but the effect of the spell cast by the sirens.”

They tried then through discussion to determine how many sirens there were and marveled over their having escaped from the wily creatures.

“But tell us,” said Odinel, “what were they like?”

“They were lying in the sea-weeds,” said Agloval, “and their glowing green and brown tresses, which covered them entirely, blended with the vegetation around them; but we ran away too quickly to see them distinctly.”

“They had webbed hands,” said Cabilor, “and their steely, scaly thighs glistened. I ran away because I was terrified.”

“I thought they were like birds,” said Paride, “like giant red-billed sea-birds. Didn’t they have wings?”

“O no! no!” said Morgain. “They were just like women, and very beautiful. That’s why I ran away.”

“But their voices, their voices! Tell us, what were their voices like?” (And each one vowed that he had heard them.)

“They were like a shaded valley and cool water to the sick,” said Morgain.

Then each spoke of the nature of the sirens and of their charms; Morgain fell silent and I understood that he regretted the sirens.

We did not bathe that day for fear of them.

IV

It was the thirteenth day; on this plain where we had been lost since morning, constantly walking but never knowing the route, we were beginning to become bored when we met a young girl. Stark naked in a field of alfalfa and still awaiting nubility, the dark lass guarded placid dromedaries. We asked directions of her; weeping, she pointed to the town.

… One hour later we saw the town; it was large but dead. We were gripped by a solemn sadness; for the ruined mosques, with their broken minarets, the great walls reduced to rubble, the columns, gave to this city a forlorn, monumental appearance. The broad street that we were following as we made our way over piles of debris finally disappeared in the countryside, under some almond-trees, near some abandoned marabouts.

For still another hour we walked. The plain came to an end; a hill appeared, which we climbed. At the top of the hill could be seen a new village. We walked through the streets; all the houses were closed; and for some unknown reason, we could see no one. Angaire said that, perhaps, the residents were working in the fields. The stifling heat that fell on the street from the yellow walls was unbearable. Big flies vibrated in the sun against the white doors. In front of one door, seated on the threshold, a child fondled his hideous phallus. We left the village.

The open land again stretched out before us. For another hour still we walked through the heat and dust. A square monument suddenly and inexplicably emerged on the landscape and shouts coming through an open door attracted us from a considerable distance. We quickened our steps, thinking that we would finally see something. We entered a vast room. A large crowd raised such a clamor that we were at first dumbfounded. We wanted to speak, to ask questions, but no one was listening and everyone, with frenzied gestures, pointed and looked toward the middle of the room.

Standing with our backs to the wall, we were able to see, in the center of the crowd, two howling dervishes beginning their ecstasy. They turned slowly to the sound of music produced by four squatting men but not heard because of the shouts of the crowd; and periodically, at the end of a musical couplet, they released a very high guttural howl to which the crowd responded with an enthusiastic stamp. Aside from headdresses half the height of their bodies, they wore only long, very wide robes. As the music urged them on, they began to whirl more rapidly; their robes fanned out and revealed their feet as they leaped about in their sandals; as they whirled more rapidly still, they threw off their sandals and danced barefoot on the stone floor; their robes spreading out and rising, exposed their pivoting legs; their headdresses tilted at an angle and their beards became unbearable to see; they slavered and their eyes were white with joy. The crowd went out of control and oscillated as if drunk. Then the dervishes became frantic and, screaming wildly, whirled at such a dizzying speed that their robes, stiffer than ever, became almost horizontal, revealed them stark naked, obscene.… We departed.*

And again we were in the open; it was evening. For an hour we walked, then we found the ship once more.

The sailors bathed in the warm water; the searing air dried their skins. Evening came, but without the coolness that brings repose; without the coolness of night like a kiss on the eyelids.