I dreamed I spoke in another’s language,
I dreamed I lived in another’s skin,
I dreamed I was my own beloved,
I dreamed I was a tiger’s kin.
I dreamed that Eden lived inside me,
And when I breathed a garden came,
I dreamed I knew all of Creation,
I dreamed I knew the Creator’s name.
I dreamed—and this dream was the finest—
That all I dreamed was real and true,
And we would live in joy forever,
You in me, and me in you.
C.B.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
PROLOGUE HUNGER
PART ONE FREAKS, FOOLS AND FUGITIVES
1 PORTRAIT OF GIRL AND GESHRAT
2 WHAT THERE IS TO SEE
3 ON THE PARROTO PARROTO
4 THE SCAVENGERS
5 THE SPEAKING OF A WORD
6 TWO CONVERSATIONS
7 SOMETHING OF BABILONIUM
8 A LIFE IN THE THEATRE
9 AGAIN, THE CRISS-CROSS MAN
10 “THE FREAKS ARE OUT! THE FREAKS ARE OUT!”
PART TWO THINGS NEGLECTED, THINGS FORGOTTEN
11 TRAVELING NORTH
12 DARKNESS AND ANTICIPATION
13 THE SACBROOD
14 LAMENT (THE MUNKEE’S TALE)
15 THE PURSUER
16 THE WUNDERKAMMEN
17 THE STAR-STRIKER
18 DEPARTURE
19 LIFE AND DEATH IN CHICKENTOWN
20 MALINGO ALONE
21 NIGHT CONVERSATIONS
22 A DEATH SENTENCE
23 DREAMER TO DREAMER
24 HUSBAND AND WIFE
25 FATES
26 KASPAR IS VISITED
27 ABDUCTION
28 A SUMMONING
PART THREE A TIME OF MONSTERS
29 THE CAPTAIN CONVERSES
30 THE BEASTS OF EFREET
31 NEWS IN NONCE
32 EVENTS AT THE THRESHOLD
33 A VISIT TO MARAPOZSA STREET
34 SECRETS AND MEAT LOAF
35 TWO IN NINETEEN
36 THE BRIDEGROOM UNEARTHED
37 THE OWNER OF THE DEAD MAN’S HOUSE
38 MIDNIGHT’S HEART
39 DRAGON BONES
40 A TALE OF ENDLESS PARTINGS
41 AN AMBITIOUS CONJURATION
