where the caravans end and all the drivers of the camels rest, how
once the gods hewed Ranorada from the living hill, hammering all
night long beyond the deserts. Moreover, they say that Ranorada is
carved in the likeness of the god Hoodrazai, who hath found the
secret of MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI, and knoweth the wherefore of the making
of the gods.

They say that Hoodrazai stands all alone in Pegana and speaks to
none because he knows what is hidden from the gods.

Therefore the gods have made his image in a lonely land as one who
thinks and is silent--the eye in the waste.

They say that Hoodrazai had heard the murmers of MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI
as he muttered to himself, and gleaned the meaning, and knew; and
that he was the god of mirth and of abundant joy, but became from
the moment of his knowing a mirthless god, even as his image,
which regards the deserts beyond the track of man.

But the camel drivers, as they sit and listen to the tales of the
old men in the market-place of Bodrahan, at evening, while the
camels rest, say:

"If Hoodrazai is so very wise and yet is sad, let us drink wine,
and banish wisdom to the wastes that lie beyond Bodrahan."
Therefore is there feasting and laughter all night long in the
city where the caravans end.

All this the camel drivers tell when the caravans come in from
Bodrahan; but who shall credit tales that camel drivers have heard