64 The Flame-Flower

flaming along the ground until it came to
a marsh, and it crossed the marsh quickly.
All around, where the marsh was firmer,
were crowds of wolves; these fled from
the trail of fire.

The flame-flower sped onward until it
reached the foot of a tall rock like an island
in the marsh; then the bright petals of the
flower lengthened out, licking the rock, until
they reached the foot of a castle builded
upon it, many a bow’s length above. The
fiery petals wrapped and licked round the
walls, leaping upward toward the sky until the
clouds were red; the stones of the castle
grew red with the heat; and the castle
glowed, filled with bright fire; and in the
midst, at a window, stood one who strove to
escape from the flames; and it seemed to
those who watched that the form of him at
the window changed to that of a wolf. There
went up a great howl as of a wolf; and the
wolf was seen no more. Then the flames
died out ; the castle had fallen; and the rock
it had stood upon was rent from foot to
summit. Thus had the flame-flower rent