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Add to this the statement that it took twenty thousand men seventeen years to complete the work, at a cost variously estimated at from $17,000,000 to $20,000,000, and you may form an idea of the delicate workmanship and artistic skill which the Taj represents. But simplicity is, after all, the keynote, and there is also a rare personality in its outlines reflecting feminine grace.
She was quite alone. "No time so dark but through its woof there run Some blessed threads of gold." It is difficult no, it is impossible to describe the wonder of Deir el-Bahari under the moon, just as it is impossible to describe "the light that never was, on land or sea," or the Taj Mahal, or a mother's love. To our eyes it is the picture of desolation.
This was the voice of decadence, Taj Lamor told himself; and he had grown to hate that voice. There were other men, men who had gone to that other solar system, men who had seen vast oceans of sparkling water, showering from their ruffled surfaces the brilliant light of a great, hot sun.
At this the Prince rejoiced, and they ceased not faring forwards till they drew near the city and, as they approached it, Taj al-Muluk joyed with exceeding joy, and his care ceased from him. They entered in trader guise, the King's son being habited as a merchant of importance; and repaired to a great Khan, known as the Merchants' Lodging.
In Jahan's plan for a somber reproduction of the Taj, a monumental bridge was to span the Jumna and link the shrines of emperor and empress. Instead of this fair dream, there is now only a flat, sandcovered shore, upon which lazy tortoises range themselves under the warming sun, and long-legged water fowl indulge in peaceful meditation and slumber.
India has been to me, as the average American, a dream of terraced ghauts, of banyans and bungalows, of Taj Mahals and tigers, of sacred rivers and subterranean temples, and and that sort of thing. I come here and land in a big cotton-yard. I ask myself, 'Have I left Jonesville dear Jonesville! on the other side of the world, in order to sit on an antipodal cotton-bale?"
"The law of demand and supply reaches into subtler realms than I had supposed." Ananta spoke with a spiritual enthusiasm never before noticeable. "I understand for the first time your indifference to the vaults and vulgar accumulations of the world." Breakfast the following morning was eaten in a harmony absent the day before. I smiled at Jitendra. "You shall not be cheated of the Taj.
But when thy sire heard of this he mustered his forces; then we came to this land and indeed our coming hath brought to thee relief in extreme case and to us great joy." Quoth he, "Good fortune hath attended your every action, first and last." While this was doing King Shahriman went in to his daughter Princess Dunya, and found her wailing and weeping for Taj al-Muluk.
When Taj el Mulouk heard the young merchant's account of the princess Dunya and her beauty, fires raged in his bosom and his heart and thought were occupied with love for her; passion and longing were sore upon him and he knew not what to do.
In the centre of the Taj, beneath the glorious dome, are two raised and ornamented marble frames, covering the resting-place of the emperor and his wife. How appropriate is the inscription at the threshold: "To the memory of an undying love."
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