“And Limpang-Tung said: ‘The ways of the gods are strange.The flower groweth up and the flower fadeth away. This may be very clever of the gods. Man groweth from his infancy, and in a while he dieth. This may be very clever too. But the gods play with a strange scheme. I will send jests into the world and a little mirth. And while Death seems to thee as far away as the purple rim of hills; or sorrow as far off as rain in the blue days of summer, then pray to Limpang-Tung. But when thou growest old, or ere thou diest, pray not of Limpang-Tung, for thou becomest part of a scheme that he doth not understand. Go out into the starry night, and Limpang-Tung will dance with thee who danced since the gods were young, the god of mirth and of melodious minstrels. Or offer up a jest to Limpang-Tung; only pray not in thy sorrow to Limpang-Tung, for he saith of sorrow: ‘It may be very clever of the gods,’ but he doth not understand.'”
Alias Limpang-Tung, the God of Mirth and of Melodious Minstrels
First Publisher Elkin Mathews, 1905; Pegana Press, 1937
Appearance List Later editions: The Gods of Pegana with S. H. Sime’s photogravure plates (Pegana Press, 1911), The Gods of Pegana with Sime illustrations (1916), The Gods of Pegana (3rd ed., 1919), Beyond the Fields We Know (Ballantine, 1972) ed. Lin Carter.
Description “And Limpang-Tung said: ‘The ways of the gods are strange.The flower groweth up and the flower fadeth away. This may be very clever of the gods. Man groweth from his infancy, and in a while he dieth. This may be very clever too. But the gods play with a strange scheme. I will send jests into the world and a little mirth. And while Death seems to thee as far away as the purple rim of hills; or sorrow as far off as rain in the blue days of summer, then pray to Limpang-Tung. But when thou growest old, or ere thou diest, pray not of Limpang-Tung, for thou becomest part of a scheme that he doth not understand. Go out into the starry night, and Limpang-Tung will dance with thee who danced since the gods were young, the god of mirth and of melodious minstrels. Or offer up a jest to Limpang-Tung; only pray not in thy sorrow to Limpang-Tung, for he saith of sorrow: ‘It may be very clever of the gods,’ but he doth not understand.'”
