The Book of Wonder · Chapter
The Injudicious Prayers of Pombo the Idolater explained
Pombo, an idolater in London, prays to many gods for a simple but necessary request, but is refused due to a breach of divine etiquette.
What happens
Pombo, an idolater in London, prays to many gods for a simple but necessary request, but is refused due to a breach of divine etiquette. After smashing his own idols in frustration, he consults an arch-idolater who directs him to a disreputable idol named Duth at World's End. Pombo journeys to the edge of the world, descends a stairway past Lonely House and Maharrion, but in his haste runs past Duth and falls off the world into the void.
Themes in this chapter
Irony and Moral Ambiguity
Pombo's desperate prayers are denied due to divine etiquette, and his final attempt to reach Duth ends in his accidental fall, highlighting the ironic futility of his quest.
The Otherworldly and Mythic
The journey to World's End, the stairway over the edge of the world, Lonely House, Maharrion, and the disreputable god Duth create a mythic, otherworldly landscape.
Fate and Prophecy
Pombo's fall is presented as an inevitable outcome, his fate shared with Slith, suggesting a predetermined doom beyond his control.
Characters to notice
- Pombo
The idolater who prays to many gods, breaks his idols, and journeys to World's End to seek help from the disreputable god Duth, only to fall from the world.
- Maharrion
The god of flowers, seen by Pombo during his descent, hurling bubbles that are seasons of spring in unknown constellations.
- Slith
Mentioned in the final line as sharing the same fate as Pombo, who fell towards the stars.
Key passages
“Pombo the idolater had prayed to Ammuz a simple prayer, a necessary prayer, such as even an idol of ivory could very easily grant, and Ammuz had not immediately granted it.”
Pombo asked the god Ammuz for a small, essential favor that any idol could have given, but Ammuz did not answer right away.
Establishes the initial refusal that sets Pombo's quest in motion.
“Pombo the iconoclast immediately left his house, leaving his idols to be swept away with the dust and so to mingle with Man, and went to an arch-idolater of repute who carved idols out of rare stones, and put his case before him.”
After smashing his idols, Pombo went straight to a respected master idol-carver to seek advice.
Shows Pombo's shift from worshipper to destroyer and his turn to a human authority.
“And whether the view of him, at last, excited Pombo’s eagerness, or whether his need was greater than he could bear that it drove him so swiftly downstairs, or whether, as is most likely, he ran too fast past the beast, I do not know, and it does not matter to Pombo; but at any rate he could not stop, as he had designed, in attitude of prayer at the feet of Duth, but ran on past him down the narrowing steps, clutching at smooth, bare rocks till he fell from the World”
Pombo, unable to halt his momentum, rushed past the god Duth and tumbled off the edge of the world into the abyss.
Climactic moment of the story, where Pombo's desperate haste leads to his doom.