Althazar, King of Runazar, and lord of all lands near by, commanded for the closer knowledge of the gods that Their images should be carven in Runazar, and in all lands near by. And when Althazar's command, wafted¹ abroad by trumpets², came tinkling³ in the ear of all the gods, right glad were They at the sound of it. Therefore men quarried⁴ marble from the earth, and sculptors⁵ busied themselves in Runazar to obey the edict of the King. But the gods stood by starlight on the hills where the sculptors might see Them, and draped the clouds about Them, and put upon Them Their divinest air, that sculptors might do justice to Pegana's gods. Then the gods strode back into Pegana and the sculptors hammered and wrought⁶, and there came a day when the Master of Sculptors took audience of the King, saying:

 

"Althazar, King of Runazar, High Lord moreover of all the lands near by, to whom be the gods benignant, humbly⁷ have we completed the images of all such gods as were in thine edict named."

 

Then the King commanded a great space to be cleared among the houses in his city, and there the images of all the gods were borne and set before the King, and there were assembled the Master of Sculptors and all his men; and before each stood a soldier bearing a pile of gold upon a jewelled tray, and behind each stood a soldier with a drawn⁸ sword pointing against their necks, and the King looked upon the images. And lo! they stood as gods with the clouds all draped about them, making the sign of the gods, but their bodies were those of men, and lo! their faces were very like the King's, and their beards were as the King's beard. And the King said:

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