<P> The air is cut away before, And closes from behind . </P> <P> Finally the mariner comes in sight of his homeland, but is initially uncertain as to whether or not he is hallucinating . </P> <P> Oh! Dream of joy! Is this indeed The light - house top I see? Is this the hill? Is this the kirk? Is this mine own countree? We drifted o'er the harbour - bar, And I with sobs did pray--O let me be awake, my God! Or let me sleep alway . </P> <P> The rotten remains of the ship sink in a whirlpool, leaving only the mariner behind . A hermit on the mainland had seen the approaching ship and had come to meet it with a pilot and his boy, in a boat . When they pull him from the water, they think he is dead, but when he opens his mouth, the pilot has a fit . The hermit prays, and the mariner picks up the oars to row . The pilot's boy goes crazy and laughs, thinking the mariner is the devil, and cries, "The Devil knows how to row". As penance for shooting the albatross, the mariner, driven by guilt, is forced to wander the earth, telling his story over and over, and teaching a lesson to those he meets: </P>

What kind of story is the rime of the ancient mariner