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5 The first floor explained how foolish the other floors had become.

6 The second awarded certificates to those who understood the explanation.

7 The third charged for a better view of the first two.

8 On the fourth, a committee ranked the independence of persons who had purchased no certificate, thereby making refusal into a more exclusive certificate.

9 Laman entered to ask a question and was directed to the floor upon which questions had already been answered.

10 Lemuel asked whether he might simply use the stairs. The attendant inquired what the climbing would signify.

11 Sariah asked where the workers took their rest. No floor had been assigned to this concern.

12 Then Nephi saw a reflection in the glass and perceived that he, also, enjoyed being the person who understood what everyone else had missed.

13 This revelation was less comfortable than pointing at the balcony.

14 He therefore declined to build a second building whose only purpose was to prove the first one foolish.

15 They opened a door at ground level, set out water, and placed chairs where people could sit without displaying a conclusion.

16 Some remained in the building. Some came outside. Some visited both places and explained themselves to neither.

17 The old balconies did not vanish, nor did all judgment cease.

18 But for an hour the travelers had somewhere to be without becoming an exhibit.

19 And the serpent found shade beneath the lowest step, which had been overlooked in every ranking.