by Lord Dunsany
THE JEST OF THE GODS
Once the Older gods had need of laughter. Therefore They made the soulof a king, and set in it ambitions greater than kings should have, andlust for territories beyond the lust of other kings, and in this soulThey set strength beyond the strength of others and fierce desire forpower and a strong pride. Then the gods pointed earthward and sent thatsoul into the fields of men to live in the body of a slave. And theslave grew, and the pride and lust for power began to arise in hisheart, and he wore shackles on his arms. Then in the Fields of Twilightthe gods prepared to laugh.
But the slave went down to the shore of the great sea, and cast hisbody away and the shackles that were upon it, and strode back to theFields of Twilight and stood up before the gods and looked Them inTheir faces. This thing the gods, when They had prepared to laugh, hadnot foreseen. Lust for power burned strong in that King's soul, andthere was all the strength and pride in it that the gods had placedtherein, and he was too strong for the Older gods. He whose body hadborne the lashes of men could brook no longer the dominion of the gods,and standing before Them he bade the gods to go. Up to Their lips leaptall the anger of the Older gods, being for the first time commanded,but the King's soul faced Them still, and Their anger died away andThey averted Their eyes. Then Their thrones became empty, and theFields of Twilight bare as the gods slunk far away. But the soul chosenew companions.
