THE BOOK OF THE EMPERORS

And in the morning of the world, Zeldin took his son by the hand and led him to the summit of a high mountain. As Mikeld-lo-Taan looked down on the wide lands and bright rivers of Galkis, Zeldin said: "All that you behold, from the mountains of the north to the jungles of the south, from the deserts of the east to the seas of the west, shall be a Kingdom to you and to your heirs for ever." Then Mikeld-lo-Taan, first Emperor of Galkis, knelt before his father and swore to build him there a temple. [PG.i]

And two of the Princes came to him from the temple, after praying and fasting but the Third Prince had been drinking and feasting in his own chambers. The two elder Princes rebuked their brother but Jezreen-lo-Kaash said to them: "From god or from wine cup all three of you sought comfort and the mercy of forgetfulness. What did any of you offer in return?" Then they were silent. [CW.ii]

But the Emperor said to his son: "However good the cause, I beseech you not to depart. There are wrongs here enough for you to strive against. You may break free but you will wound those bound to you. Therefore, my dearest son, be sure the prize is worthy of their pain as well as your own." [CW.xi]

Great was his learning and all praised him, save the Empress his mother. One day, as he read to her from his history of the First Battle of Viroc, she began to weep. He was amazed and questioned her saying: "Mother, why are you sad? Is it for the many who died in defence of their city?" And she answered him: "I weep because for you they have never lived. The dead are frail as figures cut from paper by your thoughts, like dolls for a beggar's child." The Emperor smiled at his mother's fancy but the Empress said: "My son, promise that you will never write of me. The patterns you make with your paper figures may please those who are afraid to weep but I will not be part of them." [DK.viii]

Then the Gentle God said to his son: "This is the last time that I shall come to you in Galkis, for you no longer see me." And Mikeld-lo-Taan cried out, "Father, I see you more clearly than ever before. Your image is always before me! "Beloved child, it is that which hides me from you." Then Zeldin departed from Zindar and was not seen again by men, walking in the lands he loved. [DK.ix]

"You say that the Godborn will endure in power and splendour, but I tell you that we are like a mountain stream. The stream is fair and swift, but when the snows melt, how much greater will the torrent be!" "But then the stream is lost in the torrent," cried out the Emperor, and Jezreen answered him: "Yes, but the torrent may flood the whole earth." [SG.viii]

To be defeated in an equal combat carries no shame. But a victor who scorns his opponent or a loser who speaks maliciously of a victor, these are not worthy to be called children of Zeldin. For a man must face defeat many times in the span of his years and if his defeats are without bitterness, in death he shall have victory. [PG.ii]

A man enters life by the Gate of Birth and leaves it by the Gate of Death. Between stand many gateways, some open, some shut, some locked fast. The end of wisdom is to open the closed gates to find the keys of those that are locked, and to know what lies beyond them. [PG.v]

The virtue of a journey rarely lies in its destination. What man is so closed to thought that he will not be brought to wonder whether it is he who moves, or the world. [PG.ix]

And he said to them: "Do you obey me?" His followers answered, "Lord, in all things!" but he shook his head. "That cannot be, for the first of my commands is this--never obey without thought." [CW.iii]

Then the High Priest thanked them for the rich gifts which they had brought, but he said to them also: "It is right that you should bring the treasures of Zindar to the house of Zeldin, but still more blessed are they who offer the gifts of the spirit and who have furnished their souls as temples fit for the Gentle God." [SG.xii]

And the Holy House of Galkis shall be rent by hate and by the jealousy of women. Then the Golden City shall lie beneath the hand of doom and the stones of the temple shall weep blood. Beware, beware, oh you of the Godborn. Let there be peace between you, lest the star of Galkis be dimmed for ever! [PG.iii]

And Jezreen cried out to the Emperor and all his court: "Do you still not understand why Imarko died for us? Do you think that the answer can be found here, in this age of splendour? No. Blessed are they who are born in the shadow, for they must seek light. Weep for Golden Galkis in the hour of her fall. Weep and then rejoice, for she shall rise again when each man's heart shall be his Emperor and each man's soul a Golden City." [SG (conclusion)]

And the Godborn must look into the eyes of death and smile, for death is the gift of Zeldin to men. [PG.vii]

Our lives are spent in making gifts for the future: gifts that will be snatched from us to bring pain or pleasure that we shall never see.

Though you may build your house in the furthest desert or the highest mountain, the sorrows of the world will always be with you. Nor can true peace be found in solitude, for it must be shared to reach completion. [CW.v]

Much may be learned from the contact of two peoples, and more may be unlearned. [CW.vi]

Though to all men his action seemed strange, each day of his life had brought him closer to it. Each day he could have turned aside from the path that lay to sorrow, but none showed him the direction of his steps. [CW.x]

But the Emperor said: "Ah, to fight evil would have seemed an easy task, but all my life I have been condemned to struggle against misguided good. With each blow I struck I drove the knife of sorrow deeper into my own heart." [DK.i]

But he said to the mourners: "They that feed upon their grief grow bloated with sorrow and cease to care if the world suffers with them. Remember always that it is the duty of mankind to be joyful and that it is a wise man who knows whether he weeps for another or for himself." [DK.ii]

But the young Prince said: "I will not rejoice in my death," and he denied the way of Zeldin and of Imarko his Foremother. "I shall stretch out my arms, not to embrace darkness but to hold it back, until the end of my strength. Only beasts crawl into the shadows and wait for death. I am a man, and I defy Her!" But the Emperor said to him: "Oh, my child, fight with your body, but in your mind let go of life while it is still precious to you. then it will be your servant and bring you joy. Those that cling to life crush what they hold most dear and nothing but dust remains." [DK.vi]

And Zeldin spoke to Imarko his bride, saying: "Even behind you lies Her shadow, for the children of day are born of night. Not all my love for you can dispel that shadow; only your love for me can cleanse it away." But she wept when she beheld the shadow and would not be comforted. [SG.i]

And he cried out, saying "Alas, give to me some other task, for I do not have the strength to carry out your command." But Zeldin answered him: "There is no command stronger than your own will and even I cannot take from you the knowledge of what is right." [SG.vi]

But he spoke to them earnestly saying: "I beg you, use the senses which you are given. Look deeply into every stranger's eyes until you find your own need mirrored there."
"What need?", they asked of him.
"You will know," he said, "when you see it in another." [CW.viii]

"And I say to you, beware, for those we love best we cannot know. Love clouds our sight and you, my brother, I cannot save."
With these words he departed and they did not meet again. [PG.vi]

And they asked Jezreen-lo-Kaash why he wept for the lovers, and he answered them saying: "There are some that love others only for their virtues. Often they seek all the days of their life for one who seems worthy of their love. The object of such love is to be pitied, for they dare not be less than perfect. There are some who love the faults of others and use them to feed their own strength. The object of this love is also to be pitied, for they dare not outgrow their weaknesses." Then the youngest Prince asked: "Should we then renounce love?" and he answered: "Never, my dear son, but the lesser love cannot lead to the greater unless the spirit is undiminished by yielding its mysteries to the beloved." [CW.xii]

And he smiled and said to them: "Do not think that I mean you to crush all desire as you strive for purity. Desire for our own happiness strengthens our will to attain what Zeldin would have us seek. Therefore desire fiercely!" But they could not tell whether he spoke in jest. [SG.ii]

And they urged him to confess his greatest crime, thinking that if he repented his words concerning Zeldin in front of that great company, the Emperor could pardon im; but he said to them: "Once I failed to pause and speak to someone that I knew as I passed by. No sin that I have committed weighs so heavily on me and I taste the bitter fruits of it still." Believing that he mocked them, they reviled him, and drove him from the Golden City. [SG.iv]

He asked them why they would not enter and they answered: "Because Zeldin has forbidden it." "And why has He done so?" They did not know, nor had they ever thought to ask, and he raged at them saying: "Are you beasts because you accept the good without question? If there were no reasons behind our Lord's commands He would be a god unworthy of our worship. Therefore seek to understand, that you may know his will. Obedience without thought is a barren stalk, it rears up in the sight of men but will bear no flower. Struggle to understand with all your strength and having failed, only then should you trust in Zeldin." At these words even those who had listened to him before were angry and they drive him from the city. [SG.ix]

And they asked him to speak over the graves, but he denied them, saying: "If Zeldin himself came to you at this hour and spoke the truth, you wold drive Him from you with stones and curses. Do you not hate those who smile at the deaths of children? No, this truth I offer cannot be spoken to the many, it can only be passed from one heart to another." And many claimed thereafter that he was afraid of his own teaching. [SG.xi]

"You have been commanded to love one another, but I tell you to understand one another and that is the harder task." [DK.iii]

To lie is to insult both God and Zindar. For the world is made from that which is and it is good. From that which is not, is formed deceitful nothingness. Zeldin is truth. Untruth is darkness. To lie is to create darkness. [PG.iv]

Treat even the lightest parting as though it were the last, as though you set out, not to ride into the foothills or to fetch a jar of water, but to cross the irrevocable gulf of death. That gulf may open atyour feet at any hour and you may never return to dry the tears of one you left weeping. [PG.viii]

Remember that God sees every action of your life and knows each thought. There is no abyss dark enough to hide from his light. [PG.x]

Knowledge without wisdom is like a sharp sword in the hand of a young child. [PG.xi]

And the makers of dreams are blessed, when their songs are woven with the thread of life, and the web is strengthened. And the makers of dreams are cursed, if their songs unravel the thread of life and the web is weakened. [CW.i]

All men, in greater and lesser degrees, possess the power of illusion and use it often against those they love. [DK.iv]

And because the High Priest counselled prudence, the young Emperor cried out against him: "Must I bend with every wind that blows and never stand against the storm?" Then the High Priest answered him: "To many of the lesser winds you must bow for the sake of those who shelter beneath you but there are great storms loosed on the world against which every man must stand, though they will surely break him." "But how may I recognize such storms? How may I know?" The High Priest could not answer his Emperor. [DK.vii]

And Jezreen spoke to his kinsmen, rebuking them that they would not journey beyond Galkis to seek out new gods, but the High Priest answered him saying: "Truth and goodness dwell in other lands in other shapes. Zeldin has given us our shapes, let us rejoice in his gifts rather than covet the truths of others." Yet Jezreen said: "I will accept no gift, until I know its worth. It is the duty of the young to doubt all teachings, and to seek new things." "And it is the duty of the old to forget them again," said the High Priest, and when he saw that the Prince would not be humbled, he denounced him to the Emperor. [SG.iii]

And Kal-Vairn built a great wall, not to make a division between the two peoples but to show the gulf that was already between them and the peril of crossing it. [CW.iv]

All that grows here is rooted in ancient sorrow. (Caption on a map of the Imperial Gardens of the Inner Palace) [DK.viii.151]

And the sculptor answered him, saying: "Is it not sinful to give divine images the beauty which we envy and covet in our fellow men? Surely the shape of goodness must be different from anything we have corrupted." [SG.x]

You have been taught always to think of your fellows and to help them and this is good; yet I tell you that we must not weave the lives of others, saying "This pattern is better than another". Each man must weave his own pattern from the threads that are offered him and in each man there is a place where Zeldin himself does not enter unbidden." [CW.vii]

"A traveller may enter no stranger realm than the mind of another man, yet even there the star of Zeldin is constant and shall be your guide." [DK.v]

"And Zeldin said to Mikeld-lo-Taan: "The last of my gifts to you is sorrow. I will carry the griefs of Galkis and you, my son, and all the generations of your children, shall understand a little of that burden." [SG.v]

But the Emperor blessed the players, saying: "Let no man condemn your craft. You have received the noblest of burdens, for you empty yourselves so that you might be fulfilled with a greater presence. Those who watch will find joy and comfort in that presence, but for you there will only be emptiness. For you Zeldin and Imarko will never walk the earth of Zindar again." [SG.vii]

To create is to mirror the action of God.