I once looked around into the spiritual world, and saw at a distance a palace surrounded, one might almost say besieged, by a crowd; and I saw many people hurrying towards it. Being surprised at this, I quickly left home and asked one of those hurrying what was going on there.

He replied that three newcomers from the world had been taken up into heaven and seen magnificent sights there, including maidens and wives of amazing beauty; and now that they had been sent down from that heaven, they had gone into the palace, and were reporting what they had seen. In particular they said that the beauties there were such as they had never set eyes on, nor could they see them, except when enlightened by the light of heavenly aura. They said that they themselves had been in the world orators from the kingdom of France. They had made eloquence their business, and were now overcome by a desire to make a speech about the source of beauty. When this became known in the neighbourhood, a large number of people had gathered to listen.

On hearing this I too made haste and entered the palace. I saw the three men standing in the middle, wearing robes of sapphire colour with gold thread interwoven, which made them glitter like gold as they turned. They stood behind a platform, ready to speak. Then someone got up on a step behind the platform to make a speech about the source of the beauty of the female sex. What he said was this.