“Where is there to go after that? I had built my city and it enclosed me. Stone and sky became my obsession. And the words I had heard deep in the stillness of my mind began to echo there as if they could not escape. “Open your wings, O king.” Did I hear them or imagine them? I began to ponder, and I began to experiment. I tried various woods to find the lightest and most pliable. I crafted them into wings, and then I climbed onto the high downs and called on the birds to offer m...e their help. By sorcery I brought them to my hands, the eagle, the sparrow, the crow, the kingfisher. Each gave me the ransom of a feather. I bound these in bunches, fixed them with pitch and resin. I sewed them with needles of bone. I had been king for twenty years and there was no more work for me to do here. But the sky is limitless, and I would launch myself into it and I would fly. Of all men, I would be the first to soar into whatever lies beyond.MoreLessRead More Read Less
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