Tales of Three Hemispheres | Page 8

dwelt
out-of-doors beyond the dells of the bracken, in the cool and heathery
lands, and were now at war with the dwarfs.
Dour and grim were the demi-gods and had the faults of both parents,
and would not mix with men but claimed the right of their fathers, and
would not play human games but forever were prophesying, and yet
were more frivolous than their mothers were, whom the fairies had long

since buried in wild wood gardens with more than human rites.
And being irked at their lack of rights and ill content with the land, and
having no power at all over the wind and snow, and caring little for the
powers they had, the demi-gods became idle, greasy, and slow; and the
contemptuous dwarfs despised them ever.
The dwarfs were contemptuous of all things savouring of heaven, and
of everything that was even partly divine. They were, so it has been
said, of the seed of man; but, being squat and hairy like to the beasts;
they praised all beastly things, and bestiality was shown reverence
among them, so far as reverence was theirs to show. So most of all they
despised the discontent of the demi-gods, who dreamed of the courts of
heaven and power over wind and snow; for what better, said the dwarfs,
could demi-gods do than nose in the earth for roots and cover their
faces with mire, and run with the cheerful goats and be even as they?
Now in their idleness caused by their discontent, the seed of the gods
and the maidens grew more discontented still, and only spake of or
cared for heavenly things; until the contempt of the dwarfs, who heard
of all these doings, was bridled no longer and it must needs be war.
They burned spice, dipped in blood and dried, before the chief of their
witches, sharpening their axes, and made war on the demi-gods.
They passed by night over the Oolnar Mountains, each dwarf with his
good axe, the old flint war-axe of his fathers, a night when no moon
shone, and they went unshod, and swiftly, to come on the demi-gods in
the darkness beyond the dells of Ulk, lying fat and idle and
contemptible.
And before it was light they found the heathery lands, and the
demi-gods lying lazy all over the side of a hill. The dwarfs stole
towards them warily in the darkness.
Now the art that the gods love most is the art of war: and when the seed
of the gods and those nimble maidens awoke and found it was war it
was almost as much to them as the godlike pursuits of heaven, enjoyed
in the marble courts; or power over wind and snow. They all drew out

at once their swords of tempered bronze, cast down to them centuries
since on stormy nights when their fathers, drew them and faced the
dwarfs, and casting their idleness from them, fell on them, sword to axe.
And the dwarfs fought hard that night, and bruised the demi-gods
sorely, hacking with those huge axes that had not spared the oaks. Yet
for all the weight of their blows and the cunning of their adventure, one
point they had overlooked: the demi-gods were immortal.
As the fight rolled on towards morning the fighters were fewer and
fewer, yet for all the blows of the dwarfs men fell upon one side only.
Dawn came and the demi-gods were fighting against no more than six,
and the hour that follows dawn, and the last of the dwarfs was gone.
And when the light was clear on that peak of the Bleaks of Eerie the
eagle left his crag and flew grimly East, and found it was as he had
hoped in the matter of blood.
But the demi-gods lay down in their heathery lands, for once content
though so far from the courts of heaven, and even half forgot their
heavenly rights, and sighed no more for power over wind and snow.

HOW THE GODS AVENGED MEOUL KI NING
Meoul Ki Ning was on his way with a lily from the lotus ponds of Esh
to offer it to the Goddess of Abundance in her temple Aoul Keroon.
And on the road from the pond to the little hill and the temple Aoul
Keroon, Ap Ariph, his enemy, shot him with an arrow from a bow that
he had made out of bamboo, and took his pretty lily up the hill and
offered it to the Goddess of Abundance in her temple Aoul Keroon.
And the Goddess was pleased with the gift, as all women are, and sent
pleasant dreams to Ap Ariph for seven nights straight from the moon.
And on the seventh night the gods held conclave together, on the
cloudy