LordDunsanysPegana/TheSayingsofImbaun
LordDunsanysPegana/Pegana -LordDunsanysPegana/OfHowImbaunSpakeofDeathtotheKing
The Sayings of Imbaun
The Prophet of the gods said: "Yonder beside the road there
sitteth a false prophet; and to all who seek to know the
hidden days he saith: `Upon the morrow the King shall speak
to thee as his chariot goeth by.'
"Moreover, all the people bring him gifts, and the false
prophet hath more to listen to his words than hath the
Prophet of the gods."
Then said Imbaun: "What knoweth the Prophet of the gods?
I know only that I and men know naught concerning the gods
or aught concerning men. Shall I, who am their prophet,
tell the people this?
"For wherefore have the people chosen prophets but that
they should speak the hopes of the people, and tell the
people that their hopes be true?
"The false prophet saith: `Upon the morrow the king shall
speak to thee.'
"Shall not I say: `Upon The Morrow the gods shall speak
with thee as thou restest upon Pegana?'
"So shall the people be happy, and know that their hopes
be true who have believed the words that they have chosen a
prophet to say.
"But what shall know the Prophet of the gods, to whom
none may come to say: `Thy hopes are true,' for whom none
may make strange signs before his eyes to quench his fear of
death, for whom alone the chaunt of the priests availeth
naught?
"The Prophet of the gods hath sold his happiness for
wisdom, and hath given his hopes for the people."
Said also Imbaun: "When thou art angry at night observe
how calm be the stars; and shall small ones rail when there
is such a calm among the great ones? Or when thou art angry
by day regard the distant hills, and see the calm that doth
adorn their faces. Shalt thou be angry while they stand so
serene?
"Be not angry with men, for they are driven as thou art
by Dorozhand. Do bullocks goad one another on whom the same
yoke rests?
"And be not angry with Dorozhand, for then thou beatest
thy bare fingers against iron cliffs.
"All that is is so because it was to be. Rail not,
therefore, against what is, for it was all to be.
And Imbaun said: "The Sun ariseth and maketh a glory
about all the things that he seeth, and drop by drop he
turneth the common dew to every kind of gem. And he maketh
a splendour in the hills.
"And also man is born. And there rests a glory about the
gardens of his youth. Both travel afar to do what Dorozhand
would have them do.
"Soon now the sun will set, and very softly come
twinkling in the stillness all the stars.
"Also man dieth. And quietly about his grave will all
the mourners weep.
"Will not his life arise again somewhere in all the
worlds? Shall he not again behold the gardens of his
youth? Or does he set to end?"