25.2 The girl turned her boat the opposite direction. Her thought was to sail away from the edge of the world for two days and then change course ninety degrees. (Not that she knew geometry, but that was the basic form of her idea.) As the second day dawned, she suddenly saw before her a great vast wall, emerald green yet scintillating with every color that is in the rainbow, and a few that aren't, stretching as far as she could see. And suddenly a great black hole opened in that wall, that widening, resolved into the eye of a serpent as large as the world.

"Greetings." Said a voice that seemed to rise up from the depths of the ocean. "What brings you to the edge of the world."

"This is the edge of the world? I was trying to sail away from the edge of the world."

"That's common enough."

"Who are you?"

"I am the world serpent, the barrier serpent. I seperate the world from the unworld, and prevent reality from leaking out into unreality, and being lost forever."

"I suppose it was pretty silly to worry about sailing off the edge of the world."

"Oh, I don't know." Said the world serpent. "But you could have done that just as easily staying at home. And speaking of which, what are you doing here?"

>If she says; "I am looking for a husband", go to 30.1

>If she asks the serpent what is on the other side of him, go to 36.2