The Gods of Pegana

Infobox Book |
name = The Gods of Pegāna
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = cover of "The Gods of Pegāna"
author = Lord Dunsany
illustrator = Sidney Sime
cover_artist = Sidney Sime
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series =
genre = Fantasy short stories
publisher = Elkin Mathews, 1905, Pegana Press, 1911
release_date = 1905
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages = 94 pp
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
followed_by = Time and the Gods

"The Gods of Pegāna" is the first book by Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, published on a commission basis in 1905. It is considered a major influence on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, Ursula LeGuin and many others. The book was reviewed favourably but as an unusual piece; one of the more influential reviews was by Edward Thomas in the London Daily Chronicle.Fact|date=September 2007

The book is a series of short stories linked by Dunsany's invented pantheon of deities who dwell in Pegāna. It was followed by a further collection Time and the Gods and by some stories in The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories .

The book contains a range of illustrations by Sidney Sime, the originals of all of which can be seen at Dunsany Castle.

Contents

:*"Preface":*"The Gods of Pegāna":*"Of Skarl the Drummer":*"Of the Making of the Worlds":*"Of the Game of the Gods":*"The Chaunt of the Gods":*"The Sayings of Kib":*"Concerning Sish":*"The Sayings of Slid":*"The Deeds of Mung":*"The Chaunt of the Priests":*"The Sayings of Limpang-Tung":*"Of Yoharneth-Lahai":*"Of Roon, the God of Going":*"The Revolt of the Home Gods":*"Of Dorozhand":*"The Eye in the Waste":*"Of the Thing That Is Neither God Nor Beast":*"Yonath the Prophet":*"Yug the Prophet":*"Alhireth-Hotep the Prophet":*"Kabok the Prophet":*"Of the Calamity That Befel Yūn-Ilāra by the Sea, and of the Building of the Tower of the Ending of Days":*"Of How the Gods Whelmed Sidith":*"Of How Imbaun Became High Prophet in Aradec of All the Gods Save One":*"Of How Imbaun Met Zodrak":*"Pegāna":*"The Sayings of Imbaun":*"Of How Imbaun Spake of Death to the King":*"Of Ood":*"The River":*"The Bird of Doom and the End"

The pantheon

MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI

The chief of the gods of Pegāna is MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI, who created the other gods and then fell asleep; when he wakes, he "will make again new gods and other worlds, and will destroy the gods whom he hath made." Men may pray to "all the gods but one"; only the gods themselves may pray to MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI. [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gods_of_Peg%C4%81na#The_Gods_of_Pegana_-_Introduction]

karl the Drummer

After MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI "made the gods and Skarl", Skarl made a drum and began to beat on it in order to lull his creator to sleep; he keeps drumming eternally, for "if he cease for an instant then MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI will start awake, and there will be worlds nor gods no more." Dunsany writes that

:Some say that the Worlds and the Suns are but the echoes of the drumming of Skarl, and others say that they be dreams that arise in the mind of MANA because of the drumming of Skarl, as one may dream whose rest is troubled by sound of song, but none knoweth, for who hath heard the voice of MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI, or who hath seen his drummer? [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gods_of_Peg%C4%81na#Of_Skarl_the_Drummer]

The small gods

Besides MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI, there are numerous other gods in Pegāna's pantheon, known as the small gods:

* Kib, The Sender of Life. The creator of beasts and Men. [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gods_of_Peg%C4%81na#The_Sayings_of_Kib_.28Sender_of_Life_in_all_the_Worlds.29]
* Mung, Lord of all Deaths [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gods_of_Peg%C4%81na#The_Deeds_of_Mung_.28Lord_of_all_Deaths_between_Pegana_and_the_Rim.29]
* Sish, the Destroyer of Hours. The god of time. [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gods_of_Peg%C4%81na#Concerning_Sish_.28The_Destroyer_of_Hours.29]
* Dorozhand, Whose Eyes Regard the End. The god of Destiny. [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gods_of_Peg%C4%81na#Of_Dorozhand_.28Whose_Eyes_Regard_the_End.29]
* Slid, Whose Soul is the Sea. The lord of all waters. [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gods_of_Peg%C4%81na#The_Sayings_of_Slid_.28Whose_Soul_is_by_the_Sea.29]
* Limpang-Tung, the God of Mirth and of Melodious Minstrels [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gods_of_Peg%C4%81na#The_Sayings_of_Limpang-Tung_.28The_God_of_Mirth_and_of_Melodious_Minstrels.29]
* Yoharneth-Lahai, the God of Little Dreams and Fancies [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gods_of_Peg%C4%81na#Of_Yoharneth-Lahai_.28_The_God_of_Little_Dreams_and_Fancies.29]
* Roon, the God of Going [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gods_of_Peg%C4%81na#Of_Roon.2C_the_God_of_Going_and_the_Thousand_Home_Gods]
* Hoodrazai, the Eye in the Waste. The mirthless god who knows the secret of MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI. [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gods_of_Peg%C4%81na#The_Eye_in_the_Waste]
* Sirami, the Lord of All Forgetting [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gods_of_Peg%C4%81na#The_River]
*Mosahn, the bird of doom [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gods_of_Peg%C4%81na#The_Bird_of_Doom_and_the_End]

The thousand home gods

According to Roon, the God of Going, "There are a thousand home gods, the little gods that sit before the hearth and mind the fire--there is one Roon." [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gods_of_Peg%C4%81na#Of_Roon.2C_the_God_of_Going_and_the_Thousand_Home_Gods] These home gods include:

* Pitsu, who stroketh the cat
* Hobith who calms the dog
* Habaniah, the lord of glowing embers
* Zumbiboo, the lord of dust (described as "little")
* Gribaun, who sits in the heart of the fire to turn the wood to ash (called "old")
* Kilooloogung, the lord of arising smoke
* Jabim, the Lord of broken things
* Triboogie, the Lord of Dusk
* Hish, the Lord of Silence
* Wohoon, the Lord of Noises in the Night

References

*cite book | last=Bleiler | first=Everett | authorlink=Everett F. Bleiler | title=The Checklist of Fantastic Literature | location=Chicago | publisher=Shasta Publishers | pages=104 | date=1948

External links

* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8395 Project Gutenberg text]