LordDunsanysPegana/OftheCalamity
LordDunsanysPegana/KaboktheProphet -LordDunsanysPegana/OfHowtheGodsWhelmedSidith
Of the Calamity that Befel Yun-Ilara by the Sea
and of the Building of the Tower of the Ending of Days
When Kabok and his fears had rest the people sought a
prophet who should have no fear of Mung, whose hand was
against the prophets.
And at last they found Yun-Ilara, who tended sheep and
had no fear of Mung, and the people brought him to the town
that he might be their prophet.
And Yun-Ilara builded a tower towards the sea that looked
upon the setting of the Sun. And he called it the Tower of
the Ending of Days.
And about the ending of the day would Yun-Ilara go up to
his tower's top and look towards the setting of the Sun to
cry his curses against Mung, saying: "O Mung! whose hand is
against the Sun, whom men abhor but worship because they
fear thee, here stands and speaks a man who fears thee not.
Assassin-lord of murder and dark things, abhorrent,
merciless, make thou the sign of Mung against me when thou
wilt, but until silence settles upon my lips, because of the
sign of Mung, I will curse Mung to his face." And the
people in the street below would gaze up with wonder towards
Yun-Ilara, who had no fear of Mung, and brought him gifts;
only in their homes after the falling of the night would
they pray again with reverence to Mung. But Mung said:
"Shall a man curse a god?" And Mung went forth amid the
cities to glean the lives of the People.
And still Mung came not nigh to Yun-Ilara as he cried his
curses against Mung from his tower towards the sea.
And Sish throughout the Worlds hurled Time away, and slew
the Hours that had served him well, and called up more out
of the timeless waste that lieth beyond the Worlds, and
drave them forth to assail all things. And Sish cast a
whiteness over the hairs of Yun-Ilara, and ivy about his
tower, and weariness over his limbs, for Mung passed by him
still.
And when Sish became a god less durable to Yun-Ilara than
ever Mung hath been he ceased at last to cry from his
tower's top his curses against Mung whenever the sun went
down, till there came the day when weariness of the gift of
Kib fell heavily upon Yun-Ilara.
Then from the Tower of the Ending of Days did Yun-Ilara
cry out thus to Mung, crying: "O Mung! O loveliest of the
gods! O Mung, most dearly to be desired! thy gift of Death
is the heritage of Man, with ease and rest and silence and
returning to the Earth. Kib giveth but toil and trouble;
and Sish, he sendeth regrets with each of his hours
wherewith he assails the World. Yoharneth-Lahai cometh nigh
no more. I can no longer be glad with Limpang-Tung. When
the other gods forsake him a man hath only Mung."
But Mung said: "Shall a man curse a god?"
And every day and all night long did Yun-Ilara cry aloud:
"Ah, now for the hour of the mourning of many, and the
pleasant garlands of flowers and the tears, and the moist,
dark earth. Ah, for repose down underneath the grass, where
the firm feet of the trees grip hold upon the world, where
never shall come the wind that now blows through my bones,
and the rain shall come warm and trickling, not driven by
storm, where is the easeful falling asunder of bone from
bone in the dark." Thus prayed Yun-Ilara, who had cursed in
his folly and youth, while never heeded Mung.
Still from a heap of bones that are Yun-Ilara still,
lying about the ruined base of the tower that once he
builded, goes up a shrill voice with the wind crying out for
the mercy of Mung, if any such there be.
