The White Ship (story) - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

A lighthouse keeper named Basil Elton engages upon a peculiar fantasy in which a bearded man piloting a mystical white ship is found sailing upon a bridge of moonlight. Elton joins the bearded man on this ship, and together they explore a mystical chain of islands unlike anything that can be found on Earth.

They travel past Zur, a green land, where "dwell all the dreams and thoughts of beauty that come to men once and then are forgotten." Then, the majestic city of Thalarian, "City of a Thousand Wonders." They pass Akariel, the huge carven gate of Thalarian, and continue their voyage. At both Elton is informed that those that enter either have never been seen to return. They seem to be following an azure celestial bird. They also pass Xura, the Land of Pleasures Unattained. Seeming appealing from a distance but reeks of plague upon getting nearer. They finally settle in Sona-Nyl, Land of Fancy, where Elton spends a period of time, which he describes as "several eternities" living in what seems to be a perfect society. In his time in Sona-Nyl, Basil learns of Cathuria, the Land of Hope. Though no man truly knows where Cathuria is or what lies there, Elton is thrilled with the idea, fantasizing about it wildly, and urges the bearded man to take him there; a request which the latter reluctantly obliges to. They follow the celestial bird westward. After a perilous journey to where the crew believes Cathuria to be, the ship instead finds itself at the edge of the world, and plummets to its doom.

Elton awakens to find himself on the wet rocks next to his lighthouse, mere moments after he first departed on the white ship - and just in time to witness a catastrophic shipwreck caused by the light having gone out for the first time. The story ends with Elton unsure whether his journey took place in reality, or was a dream.