And the people stood in awe.
The High Prophet went up to the Tower beneath the
sky whereupon beat the eyes of all the gods by starlight.
There in the sight of the gods he spake in the ear
of the gods, saying: “High gods! Ye
have made mock of men. Know therefore that it
is writ in ancient lore and found by prophecy that
there is an End that waiteth for the gods, who
shall go down from Pegana in galleons of gold all
down the Silent River and into the Silent Sea, and
there Their galleons shall go up in mist and They
shall be gods no more. And men shall gain harbour
from the mocking of the gods at last in the warm moist
earth, but to the gods shall no ceasing ever come
from being the Things that were the gods. When
Time and worlds and death are gone away nought shall
then remain but worn regrets and Things that were
once gods.
“In the sight of the gods.
“In the ear of the gods.”
Then the gods shouted all together and pointed with
Their hands at the High Prophet’s throat, and
the Pestilence sprang.
Long since the High Prophet is dead and his words
are forgotten by men, but the gods know not yet whether
it be true that The End is waiting for the
gods, and him who might have told Them They have slain.
And the gods of Pegana are fearing the fear that hath
fallen upon the gods because of the vengeance of men,
for They know not when The End shall be, or
whether it shall come.
All the gods were sitting in Pegana, and Their slave,
Time, lay idle at Pegana’s gate with nothing
to destroy, when They thought of worlds, worlds large
and round and gleaming, and little silver moons.
Then (who knoweth when?), as the gods raised Their
hands making the sign of the gods, the thoughts of
the gods became worlds and silver moons. And the
worlds swam by Pegana’s gate to take their places
in the sky, to ride at anchor for ever, each where
the gods had bidden. And because they were round
and big and gleamed all over the sky, the gods laughed
and shouted and all clapped Their hands. Then
upon earth the gods played out the game of the gods,
the game of life and death, and on the other worlds
They did a secret thing, playing a game that is hidden.
At last They mocked no more at life and laughed at
death no more, and cried aloud in Pegana: “Will
no new thing be? Must those four march for ever
round the world till our eyes are wearied with the
treading of the feet of the Seasons that will not
cease, while Night and Day and Life and Death drearily
rise and fall?”
And as a child stares at the bare walls of a narrow
hut, so the gods looked all listlessly upon the worlds,
saying:
“Will no new thing be?”
And in Their weariness the gods said: “Ah!
to be young again. Ah! to be fresh once more
from the brain of Mana-Yood-Sushai.”
And They turned away Their eyes in weariness from
all the gleaming worlds and laid Them down upon Pegana’s
floor, for They said:
