Connects to: 04.08, 05.12 and 29.14.19.
One of the songs that the Stannevs sing of their fiery god is as follows:
The Lion in Splendor went down through the gates of darkness and the arteries of the earth. He saw the black water of the Sunless Sea, rise up, bubbling and boiling. But he commanded the woman’s hound to lap at the water and the Lion walked on with dry feet and the hound laps still, his bitch (04.08) crying in darkness for its mate. But as the Lion passed the hound’s teeth tore away his mane.
The Lion in Splendor went down through the gates of fire and their burning glow. Enter it and you die, see it and you burn. But he seized the woman’s dragon and cast her contorted on the ground and she gnawed at the rock of the underworld and the Lion walked on with head unbowed and the dragon gnaws still and breathes flames no more. But as the Lion passed the dragon’s claws tore away his hide.
The Lion in Splendor went down through the gates of smoke and heard the chants and calls of witchcraft. Who taught the frightening ugliness of these lies? But he called the woman’s iron bull and its snorts cast away the mists and vapors and the Lion walked on free of sorcery and the iron bull snorts still and treads upon the wicked. But as the Lion passed the bull’s horns pieced his eyes.
Then the Lion in Splendor was without mane, hide or eyes and all that was left of him was a blind man lost in the place of darkness and consuming fire. The terrible woman locked his hands with manacles and placed every temptation before him but he was a king still, the King in Splendor, and denied them all. And, as morning came, he tore his chains and took up the slaver’s whip and the woman tore clumps of hair from her head as he ascended into the sky, the Lion in Splendor once more.
Darkness cannot be measured by light. The consuming fires do not light the house of gloom and the waters of the Sunless Sea have no sparkle. In darkness creatures grow and form and harbor malice in their minds. The children of darkness are nothing, but the children of light stay. The house of evil is nothing and its consuming fires die. Its sorceries die and end and have no place in the eternity of light. They come to nothing. The generations of light will stay forever. The words of light will rise and illuminate the world in everlasting light.
Connections:
- A hotheaded young Houndishman seeks to tame the Hound of the Underworld and enter into the annual dog fights (05.12).
- The Chant of Morning has inspired a heretical sect (29.14.19).
- The Testament of Weneslas Stannev gives a similar account.
Hooks:
- Are the hound, dragon and bull real?
- Is it true that if the mane, hide and eyes of a lion are removed in such a way, the form of a human hero can be brought forth? Have any sun priests had success in lion dissection?
- Any connection to wemics here?
- There aren’t many worshipers of the Lion/King in Splendor in these lands. Where are they?