"Come, come," said Gud, "let the dead bones stay buried—the future of eternal life is long enough without digging up the past."
Having dissuaded Fidu from his search for provender Gud offered him a portion of his own lunch.
"Do you remember," remarked Gud to the Underdog, as they sat munching their sandwiches, "the time I was on that little world back there—"
"Which one?" asked Fidu.
"The one I am talking about, silly—I ran into an earthquake. It shook things up rather badly and toppled over about half the houses, killing and maiming millions of mortals."
"What caused it?"
"I don't know, probably it was accidental—but that isn't important. What interested me was what those poor mortals thought caused it. As I was strolling through a town watching the relief committee at work, I happened to see people going into a steep roofed building, which being well constructed, had not fallen down. I joined the crowd and went in. One of their kind was standing on a box at the far end of the building and talking. I sat down with the others and listened to him.
"He was talking about the 'divine visitation.' For a moment I became self-conscious, thinking my incognito had been discovered. But I soon realized that he referred to the earthquake.
"His theory was interesting. He thought their silly little world had been shaken up by their divinity. I knew that he was mistaken, for I knew the chap who had that world in charge; he is a weak little god who could not shake up a good-sized island."
"For what reason did the mortals think your friend shook them up?" asked Fidu.