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The Gods of Pegana

Chapter 14: OF YOHARNETH-LAHAI
By Lord Dunsany
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British LiteratureMythology, Legends & FolklorePoetryScience-Fiction & Fantasy

About This Book

A sequence of brief mythic prose poems constructs an invented pantheon centered on a supreme maker who rests while lesser gods fashion worlds, creatures and human-like beings. Episodic pieces orbit figures such as a tireless drummer, rival deities, prophets and omens, and revolts of smaller gods; recurring motifs include the gods' playfulness, the fragility of creation, cyclical endings when the maker may awaken, and the inscrutability of divine purpose. Tone ranges from solemn to wry, and the work assembles cosmogony, parable and lyric meditation into compact, fable-like vignettes that evoke ritual chant and imagined folklore.

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.