OF APOSTATES 263
Verily, it will one day be my death that I choke with laughter, when seeing asses drunken, and hearing night watchmen thus doubt God.
Hath the time not long since passed even for all such doubts ? Who may at this time of day awaken such old things which have fallen asleep and shunned the light?
For the old Gods came unto an end long ago. And, verily, it was a good and joyful end of Gods!
They did not die lingering in the twilight, al- though that lie is told ! On the contrary, they once upon a time laughed themselves unto death !
That came to pass when by a God himself the most ungodly word was uttered, the word : ' There is one God ! Thou shalt have no other Gods before me!'
An old grim beard of a God, a jealous one, forgot himself thus.
And then all Gods laughed and shook on their chairs and cried : ' Is godliness not just that there are Gods, but no God ? '
Whoever hath ears let him hear."
Thus spake Zarathustra in the town which he loved and which is called the " Cow of Many Colours." From it he had only two more days to walk in order to return unto his cave and his animals. And his soul rejoiced without ceasing over the nighness of his return home.
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