“He answered: ‘Men have sinned not against the gods as the gods have sinned against men since I came into Their councils.’ “And I, the prophet, answered: ‘O Lord of seven skies, whose plaything is the thunder, thou art amongst the gods, what need hast thou for words from any man?’ “He said: ‘Indeed I am amongst the gods, who speak to me as they speak to other gods, yet is there always a smile about Their mouths, and a look in Their eyes that saith: “Thou wert a man.”’ “I said: ‘O Lord of seven skies, about whose feet the Worlds are as drifted sand, because thou biddest me, I, a man, forgive thee.’ “And he answered: ‘I was but a shepherd, and I could not know.’ Then he was gone.” PEGANA The prophet of the gods cried out to the gods: “O! All the gods save One” for none may pray to MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI, “where shall the life of a man abide when Mung hath made against his body the sign of Mung?--for the people with whom ye play have sought to know.” But the gods answered, speaking through the mist: “Though thou shouldst tell thy secrets to the beasts, even that the beasts should understand, yet will not the gods divulge the secret of the gods to thee, that gods and beasts and men shall be all the same, all knowing the same things.” That night Yoharneth-Lahai came to Aradec, and said unto Imbaun: “Wherefore wouldst thou know the secret of the gods that not the gods may tell thee? “When the wind blows not, where, then, is the wind? “Or when thou art not living, where art thou? “What should the wind care for the hours of calm or thou for death? “Thy life is long, Eternity is short. “So short that, shouldst thou die and Eternity should pass, and after the passing of Eternity thou shouldst live again, thou wouldst say: ‘I closed mine eyes but for an instant.’ “There is an eternity behind thee as well as one before. Hast thou bewailed the aeons that passed without thee, who art so much afraid of the aeons that shall pass?” Then said the prophet: “How shall I tell the people that the gods have not spoken and their prophet doth not know? For then should I be prophet no longer, and another would take the people’s gifts instead of me.”