by Lord Dunsany
THE SECRET OF THE GODS
Zyni Moe, the small snake, saw the cool river gleaming before him afaroff and set out over the burning sand to reach it.
Uldoon, the prophet, came out of the desert and followed up the bank ofthe river towards his old home. Thirty years since Uldoon had left thecity, where he was born, to live his life in a silent place where hemight search for the secret of the gods. The name of his home was theCity by the River, and in that city many prophets taught concerningmany gods, and men made many secrets for themselves, but all the whilenone knew the Secret of the gods. Nor might any seek to find it, for ifany sought men said of him:
"This man sins, for he giveth no worship to the gods that speak to ourprophets by starlight when none heareth."
And Uldoon perceived that the mind of a man is as a garden, and thathis thoughts are as the flowers, and the prophets of a man's city areas many gardeners who weed and trim, and who have made in the gardenpaths both smooth and straight, and only along these paths is a man'ssoul permitted to go lest the gardeners say, "This soul transgresseth."And from the paths the gardeners weed out every flower that grows, andin the garden they cut off all flowers that grow tall, saying:
"It is customary," and "it is written," and "this hath ever been," or"that hath not been before."
Therefore Uldoon saw that not in that city might he discover the Secretof the gods. And Uldoon said to the people:
"When the worlds began, the Secret of the gods lay written clear overthe whole earth, but the feet of many prophets have trampled it out.Your prophets are all true men, but I go into the desert to find atruth which is truer than your prophets." Therefore Uldoon went intothe desert and in storm and still he sought for many years. When thethunder roared over the mountains that limited the desert he sought theSecret in the thunder, but the gods spake not by the thunder. When thevoices of the beasts disturbed the stillness under the stars he soughtthe secret there, but the gods spake not by the beasts.
Uldoon grew old and all the voices of the desert had spoken to Uldoon,but not the gods, when one night he heard Them whispering beyond thehills. And the gods whispered one to another, and turning Their facesearthward They all wept. And Uldoon though he saw not the gods yet sawTheir shadows turn as They went back to a great hollow in the hills;and there, all standing in the valley's mouth, They said:
"Oh, Morning Zai, oh, oldest of the gods, the faith of thee is gone,and yesterday for the last time thy name was spoken upon earth." Andturning earthward they all wept again. And the gods tore white cloudsout of the sky and draped them about the body of Morning Zai and borehim forth from his valley behind the hills, and muffled the mountainpeaks with snow, and beat upon their summits with drum sticks carved ofebony, playing the dirge of the gods. And the echoes rolled about thepasses and the winds howled, because the faith of the olden days wasgone, and with it had sped the soul of Morning Zai. So through themountain passes the gods came at night bearing Their dead father. AndUldoon followed. And the gods came to a great sepulchre of onyx thatstood upon four fluted pillars of white marble, each carved out of fourmountains, and therein the gods laid Morning Zai because the old faithwas fallen. And there at the tomb of Their father the gods spake andUldoon heard the Secret of the gods, and it became to him a simplething such as a man might well guess--yet hath not. Then the soul ofthe desert arose and cast over the tomb its wreath of forgetfulnessdevised of drifting sand, and the gods strode home across the mountainsto Their hollow land. But Uldoon left the desert and travelled manydays, and so came to the river where it passes beyond the city to seekthe sea, and following its bank came near to his old home. And thepeople of the City by the River, seeing him far off, cried out:
"Hast thou found the Secret of the gods?"
And he answered:
"I have found it, and the Secret of the gods is this"--:
Zyni Moe, the small snake, seeing the figure and the shadow of a manbetween him and the cool river, raised his head and struck once. Andthe gods are pleased with Zyni Moe, and have called him the protectorof the Secret of the gods.