The Gods of Pegāna - Lord Dunsany (good book recommendations .TXT) 📗

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 gods 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 Pegāna.” ’ ”

“ ‘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 gods, speaking as speak the gods: “Go, back to thy sheep.”

“ ‘But I, who am the fool, had heard it said on earth that whoso seeth the gods upon Pegāna becometh as the gods, 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 gods, and I demand what a man may demand of the gods when he hath seen Them in Pegāna.” And the gods inclined Their heads and Hoodrazai said: “It is the law of the gods.”

“ ‘And I, who was only a shepherd, how could I know?

“ ‘I said: “I will make men rich.” And the gods said: “What is rich?”

“ ‘And I said: “I will send them love.” And the gods 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 gods 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 gods.

“ ‘And now my hand is forever 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 god?’

“He answered: ‘Men have sinned not against the gods as the gods 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 gods, what need hast thou for words from any man?’

“He said: ‘Indeed I am amongst the gods, who speak to me as they speak to other gods, 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.”

Pegāna

The prophet of the gods cried out to the gods: “O! All the gods save One” for none may pray to Māna-Yood-Sushāī, “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 gods answered, speaking through the mist:

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

That night Yoharneth-Lahai came to Aradec, and said unto Imbaun: “Wherefore wouldst thou know the secret of the gods that not the gods 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 pass, and after the passing 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 passed without thee, who art so much afraid of the aeons that shall pass?”

Then said the prophet: “How shall I tell the people that the gods 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 gods have spoken, saying: ‘O Imbaun, Our prophet, it is as the people believe whose wisdom hath discovered the secret of the gods, and the people when they die shall come to Pegāna, and there live with the gods, and there have pleasure without toil. And Pegāna is a place all white with the peaks of mountains, on each of them a god, and the people shall lie upon the slopes of the mountains each under the god 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 forever blue. And there shall be no rain nor no regrets. Only the roses that in highest Pegāna have achieved their prime shall shed their petals in showers at thy feet, and only far away on the forgotten earth shall voices drift