GREEN GOD.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 40, 16 February 1929, Page 2 (Supplement)

GREEN GOD.

<By Mirabel Brew. :;i\ Slineklelou Koad -Mount Eden, aged 15 years.;

An old jade idol, grim, huge, hideous, sat on a jade throne in a darksome temple. The temple was on a low, rugged hill by the source of the Yangtsekiang, in the far north of Tibet. Cruel,

sinister, menacing, yet sardonically smiling, the idol had sat there for a thousand yeans; would sit there for another thousand, maybe. Seven greenrobed priests lived in the temple, serving the jade idol, Dla-Fes, god of revenge. And one night the chief lama died. His body was burned and the urn placed in the cruelly curving fingers of the god. That night, too, one of the three ruby eyes was changed to diamond. None knew how, but if an intruder — then—but was not revenge the right and the law of Dla-Fea?

A week later a travel-worn priest arrived in the nearest village, 100 miles distant, over rugged, rock-strewn hills, and swirling mountain torrents. The natives shuddered. The tedious and fear-fraught process of selection was over, and a man who had arrived in the village three days before was chosen to serve Dla-Fes. This was really Alec Haste, the explorer. His Tibetan disguise was impenetrable, and he spoke the language perfectly. By chance he was ahead of his party to investigate this same temple. As they returned the lama told his companion of the life he led in the gloomy temple. "The life of a priest is pood, for there is no strife, no struggle iur existence. Our crops are primitive but plentiful. The goats are easily tended. The mountain stream is as pure as man could wish. But there are happenings," he finished cryptically. Later, as if explaining this, he said: "In the world deeds are done sometimes that our god ronst revenge. Then over one of us comes a weird and fearsome feeling. That one knows that for him there is no rest until the passion of Dla-Fes shall be satisfied. And he journeys into the world, drawn irresistibly to his prey; and the spell of Dla-Fes is with him."

Xo secrets were kept from the new priest—it was not necessary, for DlaFes was surely the god of revenge. The explorer won their respect early by solving the mystery of the ruby eye. Among the clothes of the dead lama he found the ruby. Evidently the priest had been tempted to substitute a large crystal for it, and fear had killed him before he could escape. But Haste said that Dla-Fes was revenged by his death. Often, at work, or sitting silent on the temple floor, he laughed softly to himself. It was a priestly habit, and earned for him the name of Silent Laughter.

Eight days after his arrival he sat at night before the idol, keeping the torches alight. His thoughts wcro not pleasant companions that night. Feeling that lie must occupy his hands, he crawled behind the idol and cut a piece of jade from the throne. He returned to his place and began to fashion the jade into the likeness of Dla-Fes. For three nights he patiently carved and polished, until the idol was complete but for the eyes. (Silent Laughter had a fancy to have them made from one of the real eyes. Then he thought of the ruby, lying with the ashes of the man who had stolen it. Silent Laughter effected his escape. He made his way to the village, there to find that his party had gone on. He told the villagers that he was on a mission of revenge. Gladly they gave him provisions, and Alee Haste started to overtake his friends.

A week later he saw tLe others far below him, so that he pitched his tent that night with a feeling of security. He took the ruby and the little idol from their hiding-place, and the »ye was loathsome to his touch—almost he could feel it quiver. He shuddered and laughed grimly, reflecting that solitude was not good in the hills. Through troubled dreams, he felt the presence of someone in the tent. He awoke instantly, to see the still iigure of a lama, whose eyes glittered in the light of the moon. He tried to rise, but could not. Some subtle influence held him still. As the lama carried him into the moonlight, halfforgotten words flashed through his mind, ". . . and he journeys into the world, drawn irresistibly to his prey. The »pell of Dla-Fes is with him." So it wsi that which held him rigid! A long, curved knife flashed and scruck. The priest made his way back to the temple. Reverently he carried the ruby eye; but the little jade god he threw into the deep valley. And that which had been Alec Haste stared blankly to the moon—Dla-Fcs was revenged.