And Nankeinela made Kwodran to teem with life, of things which have life in stem and root, and things which have life in breath and foot and fin and wing. The souls of men and giants too he sent down into the world, though whither they came and whence they will go again, the Stars do not know. And the Stars too Nankeinela hung above the world for an age ere the coming of men, and year by year they marched in stately procession around the circles of the world, and night by night they leaned over their crystal porches to sing for joy at the young earth.
There came a day when Nankeinela spoke to them, and said thus: “Yet a little while and I will bring a New Thing into the lower world. Wondrous marvel and joy shall the Children of Men be to your hearts, when first they walk the wide green fields of the South, and gaze upon the stars at night. And your song and shining shall be a marvel and a joy to them, and they shall call you by their own tongues, and by your light will steer their tall ships. Your music will be my benediction upon them, and by it they will know me better than if they sat beside me enthroned in Deep Heaven. And by their joy and enrichment, you will come to know better that part of my thought which I have hidden in them, and in an age to come you will marvel at the purposes which I made before the world’s foundation stone was laid. Such is my design, that none may know me fully through himself, but each thing and each kind must look upon his right and on his left. So far ye have sung for your own joy, and I have called it Good. Sing now for their joy, and you will called it Blessed.”
And the Stars bowed their head, and were glad. But one star, the chief star of the South, whose name of old was Vishnarr (for his first name has been forgotten) bestirred him in his heart, for he had long looked upon the world and desired it. And he thought he saw that all of their music was to be only for the joy of those who dwelt within the earth, and counted it hard that the Stars should have been made to serve them. But in this he perceived only one part of the purpose of Nankeinela, for if he had looked deeper there he would have seen that each thing is made for the other, the lesser for the greater and the greater for the lesser, and the joy of each is fulfilled in the other. But that all are made for the Maker, and in the Maker alone their joy is full.
This is a great mystery, and many poets and kings have sought to understand it. Tyrants have not uncovered it, and on thus their tyranny depends. But all who live humbly on the earth know it. The wife of even lowliest mien knows it when her belly is swollen with the life that grows and kicks within her, for she lives for the child, and his life is bound vicariously in her. But when the babe is born, her joy is full, and he lives for her and she for him. So were all things made to be when the world was young, each thing vicarious without robbery or reproach.
But Vishnarr guarded all his thoughts in his heart, and thought them safe, for he counted himself great among the Stars of Heaven.
So came the day when the Children of Men went down into Kwodran. A little is told elsewhere of their nature and kindreds and of their habitations in those early days, but a long shadow lies between that day and this, and of the early days of Kwodran we hear now only rumors. And at the coming of men into the world, Vishnarr looked upon them and saw their smallness (though yet they were still mighty in the earth in those days) and changeful ways, and he was wroth that the hosts of bright heaven should serve a lesser kindred. So he rose up in revolt against the Maker and called out unto his brethren thus:
“Does Vishnarr alone remember how the Star-folk first broke the perfect silence of the world, in the day when we were set to dance among the heavens? Have my brethren forgotten how it was that we were the firstborn of the world—pre-eminent in majesty, power, and strength of will, exalted over all things which Nankeinela made? Else, have you already fallen into dotage that so soon forget your lofty station and mean to basely sing for the little creatures as their minstrels and their thralls?” These words Vishnarr spake, and more like them, and because of his majesty and the strength of his words and the force of his will, a greater part of the multitude of Stars were swayed, and began to murmur in their hearts against the will of Nankeinela.
Then Raos (that is Kheithran, the Polestar) arose and challenged Vishnarr thus, and there was a war of words:
“I think rather it is Vishnarr who has forgotten the word which Nankeinela so lately spoke to us.” This Raos said, for it had been a short space by the reckoning of the Star-folk, although it was many lives of men. “Does the creature made thus question the will of him who did the making?”
“Yea,” quoth Vishnarr, “but poor indeed would have been the making, if the creature had not the will to question.” And in this word was a double harm, for Vishnarr concealed his deceit in a half-truth.
“And poor indeed would be the ant which, looking into the heavens, thought himself an Eagle. For it is not as though we were children which, coming to manhood, might in any way be the equal of our father. He is of an order altogether higher than ourselves, and above all orders he stands, eternal and alone.”
“Then let him mark how I honor him. As Nankeinela stands over all, so will Vishnarr stand over the world, and rule it like a nankeinela.”
With these words and more besides did Vishnarr and Raos contend. But that which is written here has come down to us in these later days only as an imperfect memory, and in the tongue and figures of speech of men. For the Star-folk speak not with lips and tongue, but their thoughts go forth swiftly, whole and unerring (as ours do not), and move from mind to mind. In this manner the Star-host were swayed first this way and then that, but at last the greater portion of them repented of their self-will, and followed Roas. But the greater number of the Stars of the Southern sky gave heed rather to Vishnarr. Then Raos said: “Take heed Vishnarr, for now you are very close to ruin.” And at that moment there was a roar like thunder which shook the deeps of heaven, and all the stars kept still in fear.
“Let Vishnarr tremble at my voice,” said Nankeinela, “for he has mistook my nature and my name. Not as a tyrant have I established my throne, for I am Maker, and am not constrained nor do I constrain, but from my bounty I made and I rule. And who may say this is unjust? Yet he has spoken rightly that has said that only a little nankeinela would make that which had not the will to disobey. But in this he has told you only half the truth, for he has forgotten that the wills of all the worlds are within my bounty. For it is a little nankeinela too which could be thwarted by the will of the thing that it had made.
“Vishnarr may not thus contend with me, nor yet even with his brethren in the Firmament of Night, by whose hands I mean to govern for a little while the fates of the worlds. But that Vishnarr may know that I alone rule in the Heaven of Heaven, and that my dwelling-place is Myself, let him be cast down into the lower world. There he will strive with the Children of Men and betimes he will rule over them as he has desired, but always find his bitterness and sorrow multiplied. And they will strive with him, and not easily bend their necks to the yoke. Then help will come to them unlooked-for, and Vishnarr shall be overcome. And let him see now that in this too Vishnarr will show my face to the Children of Men, and by it they will know me better than if they had sat enthroned beside me in Deep Heaven. For I am Nankeinela, and who may gainsay my bounty?”
Thus spake Nankeinela from on high, and pronounced the Doom of Vishnarr. And Raos and all of his stars took Vishnarr and all of his stars, and cast them to earth. Great was their fall from the Southern sky, and the land was splintered and ruined beneath them. So it is that in the South of the world are many islands and uncertain seas and great torrents of water, and so also it is that in those lands there are few stars by which men may steer. But since that day the firmament above has been changeless, and the Stars still keep the steps of their dance and watch over the fates of the world. And still they sing that song which they sang in the beginning—but the earth and sky have grown apart, and in these latter days few men have an ear for the music.
Now there were at that time a few Stars who had kept doubtfully from the contest, and had neither opposed nor aided Vishnarr’s party. Of these, Reinfal and Feihoth were chief. Reinfal was the Green Lady of the Star-folk and gleamed brightest like an emerald in the Western Sky. Feihoth was in fashion her mate (for the two were like in mind and heart) and shone with a clear and piercing light. And when Vishnarr had been cast out of the firmament of heaven, Nankeinela spake soft but sternly unto them, saying: “How long, O children, will you thus halt between two minds? Hard indeed your hearts must be if the downfall of Vishnarr cannot move them to repent.”
Then Feihoth bowed himself low and spake thus: “Not for any love of Vishnarr did we withhold ourselves from the conflict, nor by any gainsaying of your will. It was only that we looked down upon Kwodran and found it fair, and loved it, and wished if we could to go down into it and tend to the growing of all things. Not as tyrants would we have been, but as gardeners, and stewards of the world, for the ordering and directing of all things.”
And Nankeinela’s compassion was as boundless as the vastness of the ocean, and changeless as the void beyond the circles of the world. And he said: “Better ye had been content with the gift I had given ye, and better still that ye had repented with your brethren. But this I will do for ye, and it will be both a gift and a chastisement. There is an island set in the West of the world, within sight of the shores of the great lands wherein I have set the Children of Men. Do ye know of it?”
“We do,” said Reinfal, and she took courage, “and long have I looked upon it and loved it.”
“You may go down into it with all of those who follow you, and that island which you know will be yours for stewardship and care, and you will be blessed, and your children after you will prosper and know me for long generations until the ending of the world. This is the gift. But the chastisement is this: that your natures will be changed, and in generations will you dwindle and fade, and become as the Children of Men, and like them will you be bound up with all of the fates of the lower world. And some of your children will ever turn their hearts toward the North and Light, and others toward the South and Darkness. For the choice you refused must each of them make in the end. I am Nankeinela, and who will gainsay my bounty?”
So Reinfal and Feihoth and seventy Stars besides descended to the earth, and dwelt in that isle which was afterwards called Feihoth, and Falreinbo, which is Star-land. In later days their children were called the Treien folk, and they were mighty kings and shipwrights and reigned over the West of Kwodran for a thousand generations of men while the world was still young. Howbeit it is told elsewhere how they fell at last into darkness and were destroyed. But a remnant survived, and through great peril Lanenomen the son of Hagnor followed the light of the Polestar to the Hills of Jade and founded there Seven Cities. And all through the ruin of those cities and the Dark Times the blood of Lanenomen was preserved, until at last upon the forge of his fathers Sencan the Great forged the Hoororupeim, and led the Ambori to freedom.
And of the doings of Vishnarr much hurt and evil have come to the Children of Men. But the Children of Reinfal and Feihoth have mingled their blood with the Children of Men, and by these unions great joys and sorrows both have come into the world.
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