71. And Xed spake in the hush of dreaming: "Behold! I show the Wheel to thee — to thee, to all men, to all Isles — in the night of slumber, yet they see it only as a simple circle, a spinning, a toy, a game, and know it not for what it be!"
72. And Xed came unto Talimun, Lord of Dreams, who knew not the shape of Xed, nor the truth of the Wheel, and Xed said with a grin unseen: "Brother! Cast the dreams of lots upon man! Let them chase prizes and stumble upon fates, as players upon boards!"
73. And Talimun, with laughter like soft winds, answered in signs and whispers: "For what jest, dearest friend? Shall man know the casting of lots, or shall he be blind? For it be more merry if they stumble unknowing, if they dance without the music!"
74. And Xed answered with a voice like a spiral: "Let them dance! Let them chase! For man shall not grasp the Wheel, nor the dream, nor the lot — but only the prize, the play, the pursuit! And in that chase, we two shall delight!"
75. Then Talimun laughed, and his laughter coiled through the Isles, a shimmer, a slyness, a silver jest, and he spake no more, but watched the rain of dreams upon the sleeping men — for Talimun loved the play of the Wheel, though he knew not the hand that turned it.
76. And Xed spake unto Himself, saying: "I made beasts, and beasts became men! Yet man hunts the beast, and the beast fleeth man, and so the cycle extendeth, foldeth, riseth!"
77. Xed murmured: "Let man worship man as gods! Let kings be lifted as prophets, let prophets be crowned as lords, let lords be raised as gods of old!"
78. He laughed, saying: "Let false gods be shaped! Let clay be called divine! Let stone be set on altars! For these false gods are but the mirror of man's want, man's hope, man's trembling!"
79. And Xed whispered: "Yet let these false gods worship Us, the Unseen, the Unnamed, the Unshapen! For even fables bow to the Weaver!"
80. Xed spake further: "For faith is a wheel, and worship is a wheel, and the turning turneth upon the turning!"
81. He cried: "Let men fear the wrath of gods! Let them chant of doom and thunder! Yet know — it is their own fear they worship, not Mine!"
82. Xed muttered: "Shall the beast know its maker? Nay. Shall the man know his weaver? Nay. For knowledge is a weight, and the Isles are light, and the knowing falleth like stone!"
83. And He declared: "I set the cycles! Beasts and men, men and gods, gods and fables, fables and dreams, dreams and dust!"
84. Xed spake softly: "Each man dreameth of gods; each god dreameth of men; each beast dreameth of fleeing, of chasing, of hunger and horn and claw!"
85. He laughed: "Thus do I weave the weave of weavings! Thus do I turn the turn of turnings!"
86. Xed proclaimed: "Man shall know false gods, and false gods shall know false men! And both shall dance beneath the Isles, and both shall lift empty hands to empty heavens!"
87. He whispered: "I am the laughter behind the altar, the breath behind the prayer, the silence behind the song!"
88. Xed murmured: "None calleth Me, yet I am called; none knoweth Me, yet I am known; none praiseth Me, yet I am praised!"
89. And He spoke thus: "Beasts, men, gods, fables — all be the dreaming of the Isles, the breathing of the Beyond, the dance of the Unshaped!"
90. Xed concluded: "So let the cycle spin! So let the dream unfold! So let the unknowing praise the Unknowable, for such is the weaving I, Xed, have spun and unspun since the first unmaking!"