pieces.

After that he made five more gods, and bade me take them and sell
them in the streets of the city; and I saddled the ass, and put them
upon it, and went to the river to sell them; and there I found
merchants coming from Fandana in Syria with camels, on their way to
Egypt to bring papyrus from the Nile. And as I was talking with them
one of their camels belched, and the donkey took fright and ran off,
and the gods fell off its back, and three of them were broken, and
only two remained whole. But when the Syrians saw what had happened,
they said, "Why did you not tell us that you had gods to sell? We
might have bought them before the donkey took fright, and they would
not have been destroyed; at least we will take the gods that remain,
and pay you the price of them all." And they did so; and the broken
gods I cast into the river Gur, and they sank and were seen no more.

But as I returned home, I was bewildered and divided in my mind. I
said to myself, "What an evil trade is this that my father
practises! Is not he in truth the god of his own gods which he makes
with his chisels and lathes and his skill? Ought they not rather to
worship him than he them? Surely it is all deceit. Look at Marumath,
who fell and could not get up again, and these five other gods which
could not punish the donkey for running away with them, nor keep
themselves from being broken and thrown into the river."

And as I was thinking of all these things, I arrived at my father's
house. Then I gave the ass his hay and water, and went in and gave
the price of the gods to my father Terah, and he was pleased and
said, "Blessed be thou of my gods: my labour has not been in vain."
But I said, "It is rather thou, father, that givest blessing to the