LordDunsanysPegana/OfRoontheGodofGoing
/OfYoharnethLahai - /TheRevoltoftheHomeGods
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! Go!"
Roon met the Worlds all in the morning of Things, before
there was light upon Pegana, and Roon danced before them in
the Void, since when they are never still. Roon sendeth all
streams to the Sea, and all the rivers down to the soul of
Slid.
Roon maketh the sign of Roon before the waters, and lo!
they have left the hills; and Roon hath spoken in the ear of
the North Wind that he may be still no more.
The footfall of Roon hath been heard at evening outside
the houses of men, and thenceforth comfort and abiding know
them no more. Before them stretcheth travel over all the
lands, long miles, and never resting between their homes and
their graves -- and all at the bidding of Roon.
The Mountains have set no limit against Roon nor all the
seas a boundary.
Whither Roon hath desired there must Roon's people go,
and the worlds and their streams and the winds.
I heard the whisper of Roon at evening, saying: "There
are islands of spices to the South," and the voice of Roon
saying: "Go."
And Roon said: "There are a thousand home gods, the
little gods that sit before the hearth and mind the fire --
there is *one* Roon."
Roon saith in a whisper, in a whisper when none heareth,
when the sun is low: "What *doeth* MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI?" Roon
is no god that thou mayest worship by the hearth, nor will
he be benignant to thy home.
Offer to Roon thy toiling and thy speed, whose incense is
the smoke of a camp fire to the South, whose song is the
sound of going, whose temples stand beyond the farthest
hills in his lands behind the East.
Yarinareth, ...Yarinareth, ...Yarinareth, which
signifieth Beyond --- these words be carved in letters of
gold upon the arch of the great portal of the Temple of Roon
that men have builded looking towards the East upon the Sea,
where Roon is carved as a giant trumpeteer, with his trumpet
pointing towards the East beyond the Seas.
Whoso heareth his voice, the voice of Roon at evening, he
at once forsaketh the home gods that sit beside the hearth.
These be the gods of the hearth: Pitsu, who stroketh the
cat; Hobith, who calms the dog; and Habaniah, the lord of
glowing embers; and little Zumbiboo, the lord of dust; and
old Gribaun, who sits in the heart of the fire to turn the
wood to ash -- all these be home gods, and live not in
Pegana and be lesser than Roon.
There is also Kilooloogung, the lord of arising smoke,
who taketh the smoke from the hearth and sendeth it to the
sky, who is pleased if it reacheth Pegana, so that the gods
of Pegana, speaking to the gods, say: "There is Kilooloogung
doing the work on earth of Kilooloogung."
All these are gods so small that they be lesser than men,
but pleasant gods to have beside the hearth; and often men
have prayed to Kilooloogung, saying: "Thou whose smoke
ascendeth to Pegana send up with it our prayers, that the
gods may hear." And Kilooloogung, who is pleased that men
should pray, stretches himself up all grey and lean, with
his arms above his head, and sendeth his servant the smoke
to seek Pegana, that the gods of Pegana may know that the
people pray.
And Jabim is the Lord of broken things, who sitteth
behind the house to lament the things that are cast away.
And there he sitteth lamenting the broken things until the
worlds be ended, or until someone cometh to mend the broken
things. Or sometimes he sitteth by the river's edge to
lament the forgotten things that drift upon it.
A kindly god is Jabim, whose heart is sore if anything be
lost.
There is also Triboogie, the Lord of Dusk, whose children
are the shadows, who sitteth in a corner far off from
Habaniah and speaketh to none. But after Habaniah hath gone
to sleep and old Gribaun hath blinked a hundred times, until
he forgetteth which be wood or ash, then doth Triboogie send
his children to run about the room and dance upon the walls,
but never disturb the silence.
But when there is light again upon the worlds, and dawn
comes dancing down the highway from Pegana, then does
Triboogie retire into his corner, with his children all
around him, as though they had never danced about the room.
And the slaves of Habaniah and old Gribaun come and awake
them from their sleep upon the hearth, and Pitsu strokes the
cat, and Hobith calms the dog, and Kilooloogung stretches
aloft his arms towards Pegana, and Triboogie is very still,
and his children sleep.
And when it is dark, all in the hour of Triboogie, Hish
creepeth forth from the forest, the Lord of Silence, whose
children are the bats, that have broke the command of their
father, but in a voice that is ever so low. Hish husheth
the mouse and all the whispers in the night; he maketh all
noises still. Only the cricket rebelleth. But Hish hath
set against him such a spell that after he hath cried a
thousand times his voice may be heard no more but becometh
part of the silence.
And when he hath slain all sound Hish boweth low to the
ground; then cometh into the house, with never a sound of
feet, the god Yoharneth-Lahai.
But away in the forest where Hish hath come, Wohoon, the
Lord of Noises in the Night, awaketh in his lair and
creepeth round the forest to see whether it be true that
Hish hath gone.
Then in some glade Wohoon lifts up his voice and cries
aloud, that all the night may hear, that it is he, Wohoon,
who is abroad in all the forest. And the wolf and the fox
and the owl, and the great beasts and the small, lift up
their voices to acclaim Wohoon. And there arise the sounds
of voices and the stirring of leaves.
Comments
"Triboogie" is a great name for a god -Dorchadas
