The Gods of Pegāna is the first book by Anglo-

English literature

English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....

Irish

Irish literature

For a comparatively small island, Ireland has made a disproportionately large contribution to world literature. Irish literature encompasses the Irish and English languages.-The beginning of writing in Irish:...

 fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 writer Lord Dunsany

Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany

Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany was an Irish writer and dramatist, notable for his work, mostly in fantasy, published under the name Lord Dunsany...

, published on a commission basis in 1905. It is considered a major influence on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

, H. P. Lovecraft

H. P. Lovecraft

Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....

, Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...

and many others. The book was reviewed favourably but as an unusual piece. One of the more influential reviews was by Edward Thomas in the London Daily Chronicle.

The book is a series of short stories linked by Dunsany's invented pantheon

Pantheon (gods)

A pantheon is a set of all the gods of a particular polytheistic religion or mythology.Max Weber's 1922 opus, Economy and Society discusses the link between a...

 of deities who dwell in Pegāna. It was followed by a further collection Time and the Gods

Time and the Gods

Time and the Gods is the second book by Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, considered a major influence on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, Ursula K. Le Guin and others....

 and by some stories in The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories

The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories

The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories is the third book by Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, considered a major influence on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, Ursula K. Le Guin and others. It was first published in hardcover by George Allen & Sons in October, 1908, and has been...

.

The book contains a range of illustrations by Sidney Sime

Sidney Sime

Sidney Sime was an English artist in the late Victorian and succeeding periods, mostly remembered for his fantastic and satirical artwork, especially his story illustrations for Irish author Lord Dunsany.-Early life:...

, the originals of all of which can be seen at Dunsany Castle.

Contents

• "Preface"
• "The Gods of Pegāna"
• "Of Skarl the Drummer"
• "Of the Making of the Worlds"
• "Of the Game of the Gods"
• "The Chaunt of the Gods"
• "The Sayings of Kib"
• "Concerning Sish"
• "The Sayings of Slid"
• "The Deeds of Mung"
• "The Chaunt of the Priests"
• "The Sayings of Limpang-Tung"
• "Of Yoharneth-Lahai"
• "Of Roon, the God of Going"
• "The Revolt of the Home Gods"
• "Of Dorozhand"
• "The Eye in the Waste"
• "Of the Thing That Is Neither God Nor Beast"
• "Yonath the Prophet"
• "Yug the Prophet"
• "Alhireth-Hotep the Prophet"
• "Kabok the Prophet"
• "Of the Calamity That Befel Yūn-Ilāra by the Sea, and of the Building of the Tower of the Ending of Days"
• "Of How the Gods Whelmed Sidith"
• "Of How Imbaun Became High Prophet in Aradec of All the Gods Save One"
• "Of How Imbaun Met Zodrak"
• "Pegāna"
• "The Sayings of Imbaun"
• "Of How Imbaun Spake of Death to the King"
• "Of Ood"
• "The River"
• "The Bird of Doom and the End"

Mana-Yood-Sushai

The chief of the gods of Pegāna is Mana-Yood-Sushai

Mana-Yood-Sushai

MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI is a fictional deity in the works of Lord Dunsany, mainly The Gods of Pegana, but also mentioned in a later work, Time and the Gods...

, who created the other gods and then fell asleep; when he wakes, he "will make again new gods and other worlds, and will destroy the gods whom he hath made." Men may pray to "all the gods but one"; only the gods themselves may pray to Mana-Yood-Sushai.

Skarl the Drummer

After Mana-Yood-Sushai "made the gods and Skarl", Skarl made a drum and began to beat on it in order to lull his creator to sleep; he keeps drumming eternally, for "if he cease for an instant then Mana-Yood-Sushai will start awake, and there will be worlds nor gods no more." Dunsany writes that

Some say that the Worlds and the Suns are but the echoes of the drumming of Skarl, and others say that they be dreams that arise in the mind of MANA because of the drumming of Skarl, as one may dream whose rest is troubled by sound of song, but none knoweth, for who hath heard the voice of Mana-Yood-Sushai, or who hath seen his drummer?

The small gods

Besides MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI, there are numerous other gods in Pegāna's pantheon, known as the small gods:

• Kib, The Sender of Life. The creator of beasts and Men.
• Mung, Lord of all Deaths
• Sish, the Destroyer of Hours. The god of time.
• Dorozhand, Whose Eyes Regard the End. The god of Destiny.
• Slid, Whose Soul is the Sea. The lord of all waters.
• Limpang-Tung, the God of Mirth and of Melodious Minstrels.
• Yoharneth-Lahai, the God of Little Dreams and Fancies.
• Roon, the God of Going.
• Hoodrazai, the Eye in the Waste. The mirthless god who knows the secret of MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI.
• Sirami, the Lord of All Forgetting
• Mosahn, the bird of doom

The thousand home gods

According to Roon, the God of Going, "There are a thousand home gods, the little gods that sit before the hearth and mind the fire--there is one Roon." These home gods include:

• Pitsu, who stroketh the cat
• Hobith who calms the dog
• Habaniah, the lord of glowing embers
• Zumbiboo, the lord of dust (described as "little")
• Gribaun, who sits in the heart of the fire to turn the wood to ash (called "old")
• Kilooloogung, the lord of arising smoke
• Jabim, the Lord of broken things
• Triboogie, the Lord of Dusk
• Hish, the Lord of Silence
• Wohoon, the Lord of Noises in the Night

External links

• The Gods of Pegana on the official Dunsany website
• Project Gutenberg text
• The Gods of Pegana, Lord Dunsany; complete text at Wikisource