clasped their hands as men clasp, and chattered prayer and said to one
another that these were the gods of old, and gave the Yozis their
worship--for Snyrg had whispered in their ears that, if they would
worship the Yozis, he would make them men. And the baboons arose from
worshipping, smoother about the face and a little shorter in the arms,
and went away and hid their bodies in clothing, and afterwards galloped
away from the rocky shore and went and herded with men. And men could
not discern what they were, for their bodies were bodies of men, though
their souls were still the souls of beasts and their worship went to
the Yozis, spirits of ill.

And the lords of malice, hatred and madness sailed back to their island
in the sea and sat upon the shore as gods sit, with right hand
uplifted; and at evening foul prayers from the baboons gathered about
them and infested the rocks.

But in Pegana the gods awoke with a start.




THE KING THAT WAS NOT


The land of Runazar hath no King nor ever had one; and this is the law
of the land of Runazar that, seeing that it hath never had a King, it
shall not have one for ever. Therefore in Runazar the priests hold
sway, who tell people that never in Runazar hath there been a King.

Althazar, King of Runazar, and lord of all lands near by, commanded for