Yet, your pardon, look again." Hugh obeyed, and this time, for a second only, perceived that the Man's head was surrounded by a multitude of doves.

Two endless lines of doves, one line black and the other line white, stretched from his right shoulder and from his left shoulder, till miles away they melted into the lofty gloom of the sky that was full of the soughing sound of their wings.
Now he knew, and for the first time in his life fell upon his knees to a man, or to what bore the semblance of man.
"You are named Murgh, Gate of the Gods," he said.

"Murgh, whom old Sir Andrew saw in that courtyard over which the iron dragons watch in the country called Cathay, that courtyard with the pool of water and the many doors." "Ay," answered the Man in a new voice, a great voice that seemed to fill the air like the mutter of distant thunder.

"I am Murgh, Gateway of the Gods, and since you have striven to defend Murgh, he who is the friend of all men, although they know it not, will above all be your friend and the friend of those you love." He stretched out his long arms and laid his white-gloved hands for an instant, one of them upon Hugh's head and one on the shoulder of Grey Dick, who sat upon the pillar of stone.
Hugh muttered, "I thank you," not knowing what else to say.

But in his heart he wondered what kind of friendship this mighty and awful being would show to him and his.