Page:Selections from the Writings of Lord Dunsany.djvu/50

 AGMAR Why then death may come to us ...

THAHN O Master!

AGMAR ... slowly. (All stir uneasily except Slag motionless in the doorway.)

OOGNO Do they believe us, master?

SLAG (half turning his head) Someone comes. (Slag resumes his position.)

AGMAR (putting away his meat) We shall soon know now. (All take up the attitude. Enter one.)

ONE Master, I want the god that does not eat.

AGMAR I am he.

ONE Master, my child was bitten in the throat by a death-adder at noon. Spare him, Master; he still breathes, but slowly.

AGMAR Is he indeed your child?

ONE He is surely my child, Master.

AGMAR Was it your wont to thwart him in his play, while he was strong and well?

ONE I never thwarted him, Master.

AGMAR Whose child is Death?

ONE Death is the child of the gods.

AGMAR Do you that never thwarted your child in his play ask this of the gods?

ONE (with some horror, perceiving Agmar's meaning) Master!

AGMAR Weep not. For all the houses that men