Young Ofeg's Ditties/Ditty 22
XXII.
One summer night as the full moon rose, I wandered into the forest. In an open glade between the alders I found the God of the time napping in the moonshine.
"What are you seeking in the wood at this late hour?" asked he; "you look so thoughtful, and your eyes are full of fear."
"I seek help for humanity," I replied; "the races are listless, deedless, faint-hearted. If they are unconcerned, it is from apathy. If they are fearless, it is fatalism. If they are strong, it is resignation. I seek for the witchwort, whose sap alone can give to mankind lust of existence, joy in the simple fact of living, make their feet light and their spirit bright, create great dreams and incite to deeds of derring-do. I seek the backbone of humanity that is lost to it."
The God lay silent, and gazed out into the endless space that sparkled in mystery ahead of him. It seemed to me that he was laughing, but suddenly I saw him knit his brows into a frown. And from afar a growling rose through the wood, and darkness fell upon us, and the growling rolled nearer and the darkness grew thicker, and in the gloom there was a fantastic shadow-play of indistinct forms with red gleaming eyes. All at once the growling turned into the baying of hounds, and I saw many hundred couples rushing towards me. Instinctively I stood on guard and gripped the knife in my belt.
Then I heard someone chuckle softly, quite close to me, chuckle heartily and quietly. And the bay of the hounds hushed, and the gloom lightened, and the wood about me stood silently in the moonlit summer night, and in the open glade amongst the alders lay the Time God chuckling.
"When the time comes," he said, "when mankind comes seeking for the magic wort, like you, then I will conjure forth the great terror. Then the races will draw their knives from their belts and stiffen their backs—just as you did a while ago, and find again its lost backbone."