THE SAYINGS OF SLID

(Whose Soul is by the Sea)


Slid said: "Let no man pray to MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI, for who shall
trouble MANA with mortal woes or irk him with the sorrows of all
the houses of Earth?

"Nor let any sacrifice to MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI, for what glory shall
he find in sacrifices or altars who hath made the gods themselves?

"Pray to the small gods, who are the gods of Doing; but MANA is
the god of Having Done--the god of Having Done and of the Resting.

"Pray to the small gods and hope that they may hear thee. Yet what
mercy should the small gods have, who themselves made Death and
Pain; or shall they restrain their old hound Time for thee?

"Slid is but a small god. Yet Slid is Slid--it is written and hath
been said.

"Pray, thou, therefore, to Slid, and forget not Slid, and it may
be that Slid will not forget to send thee Death when most thou
needest it."

And the People of Earth said: "There is a melody upon the Earth as
though ten thousand streams all sang together for their homes that
they had forsaken in the hills."