NARRATIVE
taken from the conversations between the explorer Marco Polo and the emperor Kublai Khan.
THIN CITIES
If you choose to believe me, good. Now I will tell
how Octavia, the spider-web city, is made. There is
a precipice between two steep mountains: the city is
over the void, bound to the two crests with ropes
and chains and catwalks. You walk on the little
wooden ties, careful not to set your foot in the open
spaces, or you cling to the hempen strands. Below
there is nothing for hundreds and hundreds of feet: a
few clouds glide past; farther down you can glimpse
the chasm's bed.
This is the foundation of the city: a net which
serves as passage and as support. All the rest, instead
of rising up, is hung below: rope ladders, hammocks,
houses made like sacks, clothes hangers, terraces
like gondolas, skins of water, gas jets, spits,
baskets on strings, dumb-waiters, showers, trapezes
and rings for children's games, cable cars, chandeliers,
pots with trailing plants.
Suspended over the abyss, the life of Octavia's inhabitants
is less uncertain than in other cities. They
know the net will last only so long.
how Octavia, the spider-web city, is made. There is
a precipice between two steep mountains: the city is
over the void, bound to the two crests with ropes
and chains and catwalks. You walk on the little
wooden ties, careful not to set your foot in the open
spaces, or you cling to the hempen strands. Below
there is nothing for hundreds and hundreds of feet: a
few clouds glide past; farther down you can glimpse
the chasm's bed.
This is the foundation of the city: a net which
serves as passage and as support. All the rest, instead
of rising up, is hung below: rope ladders, hammocks,
houses made like sacks, clothes hangers, terraces
like gondolas, skins of water, gas jets, spits,
baskets on strings, dumb-waiters, showers, trapezes
and rings for children's games, cable cars, chandeliers,
pots with trailing plants.
Suspended over the abyss, the life of Octavia's inhabitants
is less uncertain than in other cities. They
know the net will last only so long.
