The Gods of Pegana | Page 6

that he doth not understand.
"Go out into the starry night, and Limpang-Tung will dance with thee
who danced since the gods were young, the god of mirth and of
melodious minstrels. Or offer up a jest to Limpang-Tung; only pray not
in thy sorrow to Limpang-Tung, for he saith of sorrow: 'It may be very
clever of the gods,' but he doth not understand."
And Limpang-Tung said: "I am lesser than the gods; pray, therefore, to
the small gods and not to Limpang-Tung.
"Natheless between Pegana and the Earth flutter ten thousand thousand
prayers that beat their wings against the face of Death, and never for
one of them hath the hand of the Striker been stayed, nor yet have
tarried the feet of the Relentless One.
"Utter thy prayer! It may accomplish where failed ten thousand
thousand.
"Limpang-Tung is lesser than the gods, and doth not understand."
And Limpang-Tung said: "Lest men grow weary down on the great
Worlds through gazing always at a changeless sky, I will paint my
pictures in the sky. And I will paint them twice in every day for so long
as days shall be. Once as the day ariseth out of the homes of dawn will
I paint the Blue, that men may see and rejoice; and ere day falleth under
into the night will I paint upon the Blue again, lest men be sad.
"It is a little," said Limpang-Tung, "it is a little even for a god to give
some pleasure to men upon the Worlds."
And Limpang-Tung hath sworn that the pictures that he paints shall
never be the same for so long as the days shall be, and this he hath
sworn by the oath of the gods of Pegana that the gods may never break,
laying his hand upon the shoulder of each of the gods and swearing by
the light behind Their eyes.
Limpang-Tung hath lured a melody out of the stream and stolen its
anthem from the forest; for him the wind hath cried in lonely places
and the ocean sung its dirges. There is music for Limpang-Tung in the
sounds of the moving of grass and in the voices of the people that
lament or in the cry of them that rejoice.
In an inner mountain land where none hath come he hath carved his
organ pipes out of the mountains, and there when the winds, his
servants, come in from all the world he maketh the melody of

Limpang-Tung. But the song, arising at night, goeth forth like a river,
winding through all the world, and here and there amid the peoples of
earth one heareth, and straightaway all that hath voice to sing crieth
aloud in music to his soul.
Or sometimes walking through the dusk with steps unheard by men, in
a form unseen by the people, Limpang-Tung goeth abroad, and,
standing behind the minstrels in cities of song, waveth his hands above
them to and fro, and the minstrels bend to their work, and the voice of
the music ariseth; and mirth and melody abound in that city of song,
and no one seeth Limpang-Tung as he standeth behind the minstrels.
But through the mists towards morning, in the dark when the minstrels
sleep and mirth and melody have sunk to rest, Limpang-Tung goeth
back again to his mountain land.

OF YOHARNETH-LAHAI
(The God of Little Dreams and Fancies)
Yaoharneth-Lahai is the god of little dreams and fancies.
All night he sendeth little dreams out of Pegana to please the people of
Earth.
He sendeth little dreams to the poor man and to The King.
He is so busy to send his dreams to all before the night be ended that
oft he forgetteth which be the poor man and which be The King.
To whom Yoharneth-Lahai cometh not with little dreams and sleep he
must endure all night the laughter of the gods, with highest mockery, in
Pegana.
All night long Yoharneth-Lahai giveth peace to cities until the dawn
hour and the departing of Yoharneth-Lahai, when it is time for the gods
to play with men again.
Whether the dreams and the fancies of Yoharneth-Lahai be false and
the Things that are done in the Day be real, or the Things that are done
in the Day be false and the dreams and the fancies of Yoharneth-Lahai
be true, none knoweth saving only MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI, who hath
not spoken.

OF ROON, THE GOD OF GOING, AND THE THOUSAND HOME
GODS

Roon said: "There be gods of moving and gods of standing still, but I
am the god of Going."
It is because of Roon that the worlds are never still, for the moons and
the worlds and the comet are stirred by the spirit of Roon, which saith:
"Go! Go!