The Twilight of the Gods and Other Tales is a collection of fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 short stories by Richard Garnett

Richard Garnett

Richard Garnett C.B. was a scholar, librarian, biographer and poet. He was son of Richard Garnett, an author, philologist and assistant keeper of printed books in the British Museum....

, generally considered a classic in the genre. Its title notwithstanding, the collection "has nothing to do with the Norse gods—although it draws upon everything else, from Arabic legends and Chinese fairy tales to Roman history and Greek mythology." The title story actually concerns the release of Prometheus

Prometheus

In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan, the son of Iapetus and Themis, and brother to Atlas, Epimetheus and Menoetius. He was a champion of mankind, known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals...

 from the torture to which he was sentenced by Zeus

Zeus

In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...

 upon the ultimate eclipse of Greek paganism by Christianity.

Publication

The collection was first published in hardcover by T. Fisher Unwin

T. Fisher Unwin

T. Fisher Unwin was the London publishing house owned by Thomas Fisher Unwin and founded by him in 1882.The latterly more famous Stanley Unwin started his career by coming to work in his uncle's firm...

 in 1888. A "new and augmented edition" was published by John Lane

John Lane

John Lane may refer to:*John Lane *John W. Lane , Texas politician*John Lane , British publisher*John Carey Lane , Mayor of Honolulu...

 in 1903. In this form the collection continued to be reprinted and available through 1911.

Its importance in the history of fantasy literature was recognized by the inclusion of two of its tales ("The Poet of Panopolis" and "The City of Philosophers") in the anthology Discoveries in Fantasy

Discoveries in Fantasy

Discoveries in Fantasy is an anthology of fantasy short stories, edited by Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books in March 1972 as the forty-third volume of its celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series...

, edited by Lin Carter

Lin Carter

Linwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin.-Life:Carter was born in St. Petersburg, Florida...

 and published by Ballantine Books

Ballantine Books

Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann AG in 1998 and remains part of that company today. Ballantine's logo is a...

 as the forty-third volume of the celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series

Ballantine Adult Fantasy series

The Ballantine Adult Fantasy series was an imprint of Ballantine Books. Launched in 1969 , the series reissued a number of works of fantasy literature, which were out of print or dispersed in back issues of pulp magazines , in cheap paperback form—including works...

 in March, 1972. Carter intended to reissue the complete collection as a volume in the series, though this hope was not realized.

Contents

The original edition of the book collected sixteen tales by the author; the 1903 edition added twelve more. Stories added in the 1903 edition are indented.

• "The Twilight of the Gods"
• "The Potion of Lao-Tsze"
• "Abdallah the Adite"
• "Ananda the Miracle-Worker"
• "The City of Philosophers"
• "The Demon Pope"
• "The Cupbearer"
• The Wisdom of the Indians"
• "The Dumb Oracle"
• "Duke Virgil"
• "The Claw"
• "Alexander the Ratcatcher"
• "The Rewards of Industry"
• "Madam Lucifer"
• "The Talismans"

• "The Elixir of Life"
• "The Poet of Panopolis"
• "The Purple Head"
• "The Firefly"
• "Pan's Wand"
• "A Page From the Book of Folly"
• "The Bell of St. Euschemon"
• "Bishop Addo and Bishop Gaddo"
• "The Philosopher and the Butterflies"
• "Truth and Her Companions"
• "The Three Palaces"
• "New Readings in Biography"
• "The Poison-Maid"
• Notes

Copyright

The copyright

Copyright

Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...

 for this story has expired in the United States, and thus now resides in the public domain

Public domain

Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...

. The text is available via Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...

.

External links

• Google Books etext of the 1888 edition
• Google Books etext of the 1903 edition - another etext of the 1903 edition.