The Doom That Came to Sarnath by H.P. Lovecraft Read Free Book Online

There is in the land of Mnar a vast still lake that is fed by no
stream, and out of which no stream flows. Ten thousand years ago
there stood by its shore the mighty city of Sarnath, but Sarnath
stands there no more.
    It is told that in the immemorial years when the world was
young, before ever the men of Sarnath came to the land of Mnar,
another city stood beside the lake; the gray stone city of Ib,
which was old as the lake itself, and peopled with beings not
pleasing to behold. Very odd and ugly were these beings, as indeed
are most beings of a world yet inchoate and rudely fashioned. It is
written on the brick cylinders of Kadatheron that the beings of lb
were in hue as green as the lake and the mists that rise above it;
that they had bulging eyes, pouting, flabby lips, and curious ears,
and were without voice. It is also written that they descended one
night from the moon in a mist; they and the vast still lake and
gray stone city lb. However this may be, it is certain that they
worshipped a sea-green stone idol chiseled in the likeness of
Bokrug, the great water-lizard; before which they danced horribly
when the moon was gibbous. And it is written in the papyrus of
Ilarnek, that they one day discovered fire, and thereafter kindled
flames on many ceremonial occasions. But not much is written of
these beings, because they lived in very ancient times, and man is
young, and knows but little of the very ancient living things.
    After many eons men came to the land of Mnar, dark shepherd folk
with their fleecy flocks, who built Thraa, Ilarnek, and Kadatheron
on the winding river Ai. And certain tribes, more hardy than the
rest, pushed on to the border of the lake and built Sarnath at a
spot where precious metals were found in the earth.
    Not far from the gray city of lb did the wandering tribes lay
the first stones of Sarnath, and at the beings of lb they marveled
greatly. But with their marveling was mixed hate, for they thought
it not meet that beings of such aspect should walk about the world
of men at dusk. Nor did they like the strange sculptures upon the
gray monoliths of Ib, for why those sculptures lingered so late in
the world, even until the coming men, none can tell; unless it was
because the land of Mnar is very still, and remote from most other
lands, both of waking and of dream.
    As the men of Sarnath beheld more of the beings of lb their hate
grew, and it was not less because they found the beings weak, and
soft as jelly to the touch of stones and arrows. So one day the
young warriors, the slingers and the spearmen and the bowmen,
marched against lb and slew all the inhabitants thereof, pushing
the queer bodies into the lake with long spears, because they did
not wish to touch them. And because they did not like the gray
sculptured monoliths of lb they cast these also into the lake;
wondering from the greatness of the labor how ever the stones were
brought from afar, as they must have been, since there is naught
like them in the land of Mnar or in the lands adjacent.
    Thus of the very ancient city of lb was nothing spared, save the
sea-green stone idol chiseled in the likeness of Bokrug, the
water-lizard. This the young warriors took back with them as a
symbol of conquest over the old gods and beings of Th, and as a
sign of leadership in Mnar. But on the night after it was set up in
the temple, a terrible thing must have happened, for weird lights
were seen over the lake, and in the morning the people found the
idol gone and the high-priest Taran-Ish lying dead, as from some
fear unspeakable. And before he died, Taran-Ish had scrawled upon
the altar of chrysolite with coarse shaky strokes the sign of
DOOM.
    After Taran-Ish there were many high-priests in Sarnath but
never was the sea-green stone idol found. And many centuries came
and went, wherein Sarnath prospered exceedingly, so that only
priests and old women remembered what Taran-Ish had scrawled upon
the altar of chrysolite. Betwixt Sarnath and the city of