f ye Worm that Gnaws

e nethermost caverns are not for ye fathoming of eyes that see; for their marvels are strange and terrific. Cursed ye ground where dead thoughts live new and oddly bodied, and evil ye mind that is held by no head. Wisely did Ibn Schacabao say, that happy is ye tomb where no wizard hath lain, and happy ye town at night whose wizards are all ashes. For it is of old rumour that the soul of ye devil-bought hastes not from his charnal clay, but fats and instructs ye very worm that gnaws; till out of curruption horrid life springs, and ye dull scavengers of earth wax crafty to vex it and swell monstrous to plague it. Great holes secretly are digged where earth's pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl.