"And after that did men slay men with mists.

"Then, because the slaying exceeded their desire, there came peace upon the world that was brought by the hand of the slayer, and men slew men no more.

"And cities multiplied, and overthrew the desert and conquered its repose.

"And suddenly I beheld that THE END was near, for there was a stirring above Pegana as of One who grows weary of resting, and I saw the hound Time crouch to spring, with his eyes upon the throats of the G.o.ds, shifting from throat to throat, and the drumming of Skarl grew faint.

"And if a G.o.d may fear, it seemed that there was fear upon the face of Dorozhand, and he seized me by the hand and led me back along the paths of Time that I might not see THE END.

"Then I saw cities rise out of the dust again and fall back into the desert whence they had arisen; and again I slept in the Temple of All the G.o.ds save One, with my head against the altar of Dorozhand.

"Then again the Temple was alight, but not with light from the eyes of Dorozhand; only dawn came all blue out of the East and shone through the arches of the Temple. Then I awoke and performed the morning rites and mysteries of All the G.o.ds save One, lest any of the G.o.ds be angry in the day and take away the Sun.

"And I knew that because I who had been so near to it had not beheld THE END that a man should never behold it or know the doom of the G.o.ds. This They have hidden."

OF HOW IMBAUN MET ZODRAK

The prophet of the G.o.ds lay resting by the river to watch the stream run by.

And as he lay he pondered on the Scheme of Things and the works of all the G.o.ds. And it seemed to the prophet of the G.o.ds as he watched the stream run by that the Scheme was a right scheme and the G.o.ds benignant G.o.ds; yet there was sorrow in the Worlds. It seemed that Kib was bountiful, that Mung calmed all who suffer, that Sish dealt not too harshly with the hours, and that all the G.o.ds were good; yet there was sorrow in the Worlds.

Then said the prophet of the G.o.ds as he watched the stream run by: "There is some other G.o.d of whom naught is writ." And suddenly the prophet was aware of an old man who bemoaned beside the river, crying: "Alas! alas!"

His face was marked by the sign and the seal of exceeding many years, and there was yet vigour in his frame. These be the words of the prophet that he wrote in his book: "I said: 'Who art thou that bemoans beside the river?' And he answered: 'I am the fool.'

I said: 'Upon thy brow are the marks of wisdom such as is stored in books.' He said: 'I am Zodrak. Thousands of years ago I tended sheep upon a hill that sloped towards the sea. The G.o.ds have many moods. Thousands of years ago They were in a mirthful mood. They said: 'Let Us call up a man before Us that We may laugh in Pegana.'"

"'And Their eyes that looked on me saw not me alone but also saw THE BEGINNING and THE END and all the Worlds besides. Then said the G.o.ds, speaking as speak the G.o.ds: "Go, back to thy sheep."

"'But I, who am the fool, had heard it said on earth that whoso seeth the G.o.ds upon Pegana becometh as the G.o.ds, if so he demand to Their faces, who may not slay him who hath looked them in the eyes.

"'And I, the fool, said: "I have looked in the eyes of the G.o.ds, and I demand what a man may demand of the G.o.ds when he hath seen Them in Pegana." And the G.o.ds inclined Their heads and Hoodrazai said: "It is the law of the G.o.ds."

"'And I, who was only a shepherd, how could I know?

"'I said: "I will make men rich." And the G.o.ds said: "What is rich?"

"'And I said: "I will send them love." And the G.o.ds said: "What is love?" And I sent gold into the Worlds, and, alas! I sent with it poverty and strife. And I sent love into the Worlds, and with it grief.

"'And now I have mixed gold and love most woefully together, and I can never remedy what I have done, for the deeds of the G.o.ds are done, and nothing may undo them.

"'Then I said: "I will give men wisdom that they may be glad." And those who got my wisdom found that they knew nothing, and from having been happy became glad no more.

"'And I, who would make men happy, have made them sad, and I have spoiled the beautiful scheme of the G.o.ds.

"'And now my hand is for ever on the handle of Their plough. I was only a shepherd, and how should I have known?

"'Now I come to thee as thou restest by the river to ask of thee thy forgiveness, for I would fain have the forgiveness of a man.'

"And I answered: 'O Lord of seven skies, whose children are the storms, shall a man forgive a G.o.d?'

"He answered: 'Men have sinned not against the G.o.ds as the G.o.ds have sinned against men since I came into Their councils.'

"And I, the prophet, answered: 'O Lord of seven skies, whose plaything is the thunder, thou art amongst the G.o.ds, what need hast thou for words from any man?'

"He said: 'Indeed I am amongst the G.o.ds, who speak to me as they speak to other G.o.ds, yet is there always a smile about Their mouths, and a look in Their eyes that saith: "Thou wert a man."'

"I said: 'O Lord of seven skies, about whose feet the Worlds are as drifted sand, because thou biddest me, I, a man, forgive thee.'

"And he answered: 'I was but a shepherd, and I could not know.'

Then he was gone."

PEGANA

The prophet of the G.o.ds cried out to the G.o.ds: "O! All the G.o.ds save One" for none may pray to MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI, "where shall the life of a man abide when Mung hath made against his body the sign of Mung?--for the people with whom ye play have sought to know."

But the G.o.ds answered, speaking through the mist:

"Though thou shouldst tell thy secrets to the beasts, even that the beasts should understand, yet will not the G.o.ds divulge the secret of the G.o.ds to thee, that G.o.ds and beasts and men shall be all the same, all knowing the same things."

That night Yoharneth-Lahai same to Aradec, and said unto Imbaun: "Wherefore wouldst thou know the secret of the G.o.ds that not the G.o.ds may tell thee?

"When the wind blows not, where, then, is the wind?

"Or when thou art not living, where art thou?

"What should the wind care for the hours of calm or thou for death?

"Thy life is long, Eternity is short.

"So short that, shouldst thou die and Eternity should pa.s.s, and after the pa.s.sing of Eternity thou shouldst live again, thou wouldst say: 'I closed mine eyes but for an instant.'

"There is an eternity behind thee as well as one before. Hast thou bewailed the aeons that pa.s.sed without thee, who art so much afraid of the aeons that shall pa.s.s?"

Then said the prophet: "How shall I tell the people that the G.o.ds have not spoken and their prophet doth not know? For then should I be prophet no longer, and another would take the people's gifts instead of me."

Then said Imbaun to the people: "The G.o.ds have spoken, saying: 'O Imbaun, Our prophet, it is as the people believe whose wisdom hath discovered the secret of the G.o.ds, and the people when they die shall come to Pegana, and there live with the G.o.ds, and there have pleasure without toil. And Pegana is a place all white with the peaks of mountains, on each of them a G.o.d, and the people shall lie upon the slopes of the mountains each under the G.o.d that he hath worshipped most when his lot was in the Worlds. And there shall music beyond thy dreaming come drifting through the scent of all the orchards in the Worlds, with somewhere someone singing an old song that shall be as a half-remembered thing. And there shall be gardens that have always sunlight, and streams that are lost in no sea beneath skies for ever blue. And there shall be no rain nor no regrets. Only the roses that in highest Pegana have achieved their prime shall shed their petals in showers at thy feet, and only far away on the forgotten earth shall voices drift up to thee that cheered thee in thy childhood about the gardens of thy youth. And if thou sighest for any memory of earth because thou hearest unforgotten voices, then will the G.o.ds send messengers on wings to soothe thee in Pegana, saying to them: "There one sigheth who hath remembered Earth." And they shall make Pegana more seductive for thee still, and they shall take thee by the hand and whisper in thine ear till the old voices are forgot.

"'And besides the flowers of Pegana there shall have climbed by then until it hath reached to Pegana the rose that clambered about the house where thou wast born. Thither shall also come the wandering echoes of all such music as charmed thee long ago.

"'Moreover, as thou sittest on the orchard lawns that clothe Pegana's mountains, and as thou hearkenest to melody that sways the souls of the G.o.ds, there shall stretch away far down beneath thee the great unhappy Earth, till gazing from rapture upon sorrows thou shalt be glad that thou wert dead.

"'And from the three great mountains that stand aloof and over all the others--Grimbol, Zeebol, and Trehagobol--shall blow the wind of the morning and the wind of all the day, borne upon the wings of all the b.u.t.terflies that have died upon the Worlds, to cool the G.o.ds and Pegana.