Small Gods
Chapters - Terry Pratchett
Section: A Voice in the Garden
In the hidden valley of the history monks, the 493rd Abbot sends Lu-Tze to observe events in Omnia, a theocratic nation on the Klatchian coast where the arrival of the eighth Prophet is expected. The Church of the Great God Om has redoubled its persecution of heretics in anticipation.
In the Citadel's temple garden, a voice speaks to Brutha, a simple, earnest novice with an extraordinary memory. His novice master Brother Nhumrod dismisses the voice as demonic temptation. Meanwhile the Great God Om, trapped inexplicably in the body of a small tortoise, tries desperately to make himself heard. Lu-Tze works quietly as a gardener nearby. Om attempts to speak to Lu-Tze and curses him, but the old man takes no notice.
On page: Brutha, Om, Lu-Tze, Brother Nhumrod
Section: The Turtle Moves
Deacon Vorbis, the shaven-headed chief of the Quisition, interrogates his former secretary Sasho in the torture cellars. Sasho whispers the heretical phrase 'The Turtle Moves' before dying. Vorbis meets secretly with General Fri'it and Bishop Drunah to discuss an expedition to Ephebe, where a philosopher named Didactylos has written a book claiming the world rests on a giant turtle.
Brutha returns to the garden and finally encounters the tortoise, who claims to be the Great God Om. Om demands to see the High Priest, but Brutha can only fetch Brother Nhumrod, who cannot hear Om's voice. Nhumrod takes the tortoise to the kitchen to be made into soup. Brutha rescues Om from the cooking pot and shows him the iron bull used to burn heretical materials, trying to prove the tortoise cannot be Om. Om produces a tiny, pathetic thunderbolt that singes Brutha's eyebrow.
On page: Brutha, Om, Vorbis, Brother Nhumrod, General Fri'it, Bishop Drunah·Mentioned: Didactylos
Section: The Turtle Movement Stirs
On the Citadel roof, Fri'it and Drunah attempt a coded conversation about their misgivings, each terrified the other might be a spy for Vorbis. Fri'it speaks obliquely about riding waves rather than being drowned by them. Below, a secret cell of the Turtle Movement meets in the Citadel's underground caves. They draw lots to determine who will travel to Ephebe to save Didactylos and his book.
Om, alone in the garden, curses beetles and melons in futile rage at his powerlessness. Brutha brings Nhumrod to see the tortoise but the novice master hears nothing and takes Om to be cooked. Brutha rescues Om again. Vorbis stumbles upon Brutha rolling in the garden and finds Om, whom he places on his back in the sun to observe what happens. Lu-Tze later rights the tortoise. Sergeant Simony draws the lot to go to Ephebe.
On page: Brutha, Om, Vorbis, Brother Nhumrod, General Fri'it, Bishop Drunah, Simony, Lu-Tze
Section: Brutha's Perfect Memory
Om reveals personal memories from Brutha's childhood, finally convincing the novice he truly is Om - or at least something more than an ordinary tortoise. Vorbis finds Brutha in the garden and takes an interest in him. Meanwhile, Brutha's extraordinary eidetic memory is discovered by Vorbis during a blindfolded test. The novice can describe rooms he glimpsed for a second and recall coins he saw at age three.
Vorbis decides Brutha will accompany the delegation to Ephebe as a living recording device. Brutha is troubled by the instruction to forget what he has seen, since forgetting is something he cannot do. The eagle that dropped Om continues to circle, hunting. Om, baking on his back, reflects on the strangeness of landing near his only believer. Lu-Tze silently rights him again.
On page: Brutha, Om, Vorbis, Brother Nhumrod, Lu-Tze
Section: Voyage to Ephebe
Om realises with horror that Brutha is his only true believer - the rest of the Omnian faithful believe in the Church's structure rather than in Om himself. He begs Brutha to take him to Ephebe. Fri'it prays alone, haunted by his knowledge of the Turtle and his travels to other lands. Vorbis visits Fri'it in the night; the general reaches for his sword but drops it when Vorbis appears at his door with inquisitors.
Brutha departs for Ephebe with Vorbis, carrying Om in a wickerwork box. At the coast they board a trireme. Brutha notices a camel train heading secretly into the desert - soldiers Vorbis told him to forget about. On the ship, Vorbis forces the captain to harpoon a porpoise, an act the sailors consider a terrible omen.
Section: Bargain with the Sea Queen
Om secretly bargains with the Sea Queen to save the ship from the storm caused by the killing of the porpoise. The crew nearly throws Brutha overboard as a sacrifice, but Brutha prays and the storm parts around them. The crew treats Brutha with cautious respect afterwards.
Om dreams of his origins as a small god, remembering how he first gained a believer through a shepherd and a lost lamb. He reflects on the fate of Ur-Gilash, the god he displaced. The ship reaches Ephebe, a white city built on a rock. The Omnian party is blindfolded and led through the palace's deadly labyrinth, but Brutha memorises every turn, step and pause of the journey through it.
Section: Didactylos in His Barrel
The Omnians meet the Tyrant of Ephebe, who presents a peace treaty as a fait accompli rather than a negotiation. Vorbis is coldly furious. Brutha is sent to explore the palace and told to remember everything. He wanders into the city at night, passing through the labyrinth without difficulty, and visits a philosophers' tavern where he encounters quarrelling thinkers.
Om independently seeks out Didactylos, finding him living in a barrel outside the Library with his nephew Urn. The blind philosopher is poor but brilliant, selling proverbs and personalised philosophies for a living. Om demonstrates his intelligence by drawing geometric figures in the sand, earning Didactylos money from bets with other philosophers. Brutha arrives and meets Didactylos, who shows him the Library of Ephebe with its hundreds of scrolls.
On page: Brutha, Om, Vorbis, Didactylos, Urn, Cut-Me-Own-Hand-Off Dhblah
Section: Through the Labyrinth
Brutha borrows Abraxas's scroll on the nature of gods and returns to the palace. Om reads it and explains to Brutha the terrible truth: the millions of Omnians do not truly believe in Om. They believe in the Church, the hierarchy, the fear. Belief has shifted from the god to the structure around him, like a shellfish that builds a shell so large it can no longer move.
Vorbis takes Brutha on an evening stroll, during which Brutha carefully works out that Brother Murduck was not killed by the Ephebians at all - he was killed in Omnia, and his death was blamed on Ephebe to justify war. Vorbis confirms this through his doctrine of 'fundamental truth' versus 'trivial truth'. He then orders Brutha to lead him through the labyrinth. In the darkness, Vorbis murders a guide with the hidden blade in his staff. Brutha leads Vorbis to the city gate, where the deacon lets in the Omnian army that crossed the desert in secret.
On page: Brutha, Om, Vorbis, Didactylos, Urn
Section: The Library Burns
Ephebe falls in less than an hour. Vorbis sits in the Tyrant's chair and demands to know who wrote De Chelonian Mobile. Didactylos comes forward, performs a magnificent piece of philosophical theatre by pretending to recant, then hurls his lantern at Vorbis's head and shouts 'The Turtle Moves!' Vorbis orders Brutha to burn the Library.
Simony, revealed as a Turtle Movement agent, kills a guard to protect Didactylos and races to fetch Om from Brutha's room. In the Library, Brutha devises a desperate plan: he looks at every scroll, searing each one into his perfect memory. Over two hundred scrolls are memorised - maps, philosophies, bestiaries, geometries - before the effort overwhelms him and he faints. Didactylos sets fire to his own Library to keep the knowledge from Vorbis.
Section: Escape on the Unnamed Boat
Brutha awakens in a boathouse where Urn has built a steam-powered vessel based on principles from De Chelonian Mobile. The group - Brutha, Om, Simony, Didactylos and Urn - escapes Ephebe in the Unnamed Boat while the city burns behind them. Simony reveals he is from Istanzia, a country conquered by Omnia, and burns with hatred for the Church.
The Sea Queen collects her price for saving the ship earlier by sending a hurricane after them. Om tells Brutha to jump overboard. As Brutha leaps, lightning strikes the copper sphere and the boat rockets away, its sphere exploding. Brutha treads water with Om on his hand as the storm rages. The Omnian warship Fin of God, pursuing them, is destroyed by the Sea Queen. Its captain and crew become ghosts, sailing onwards in search of paradise. Brutha and Om wash up on a desolate beach.
On page: Brutha, Om, Simony, Didactylos, Urn, Death·Mentioned: Vorbis
Section: Carrying Vorbis Through the Desert
Brutha finds Vorbis washed up on the same beach, badly injured and apparently catatonic. Despite Om's furious objections, Brutha refuses to abandon the deacon and hoists him over his shoulder. Om screams that Brutha is mad, but Brutha walks on towards Omnia.
Om is left behind, shouting that he does not need Brutha. But the tortoise cannot bear the thought of losing his only believer and follows. The knowledge from the Ephebian scrolls begins leaking into Brutha's consciousness unbidden - he suddenly knows about squid anatomy, the volume of spheres, and buoyancy, though he cannot understand the words. Through the desert, Brutha carries Vorbis, Om digs for water sixteen feet underground, and they survive on snake meat.
Section: The Forgotten God's Temple
Om follows the tracks of lions to find water at a rock formation. Inside the rocks, Brutha discovers steps leading down into a vast ruined temple of some forgotten god. Water drips from the ancient ceiling into a pool. Om is terrified by the place - a god once ruled here with thousands of worshippers, great pyramid temples and human sacrifice, yet now no one even remembers its name.
A small god, once mighty, whispers endlessly about its former glory in a loop of fading memory. Brutha challenges Om about the nature of gods and their responsibility. He smashes an ancient bowl in fury and declares that here and now, they are alive. They press on. Brutha follows the tracks of the Omnian soldiers who crossed the desert, reasoning that the tracks will lead back to Omnia. The lion, wounded by an Omnian spear, follows them at a distance.
Section: St Ungulant on His Pole
Om battles swarms of small gods trying to claim Brutha's mind, driving them off with the desperate force of a god protecting his only believer. Brutha and Om have a long conversation about the nature of gods, ethics, thunder, and why people need gods. Brutha says he no longer believes in anything except the tortoise's existence.
They encounter St Ungulant, a cheerful hermit living atop a pole in the deep desert. The saint is sustained by visions of feasts provided by billions of small gods who want someone to believe in them - though in reality he eats lizards, centipedes and water from stone plants. St Ungulant gives Brutha practical survival advice disguised as madness. Meanwhile, the Unnamed Boat washes up on the Omnian coast. Simony, Urn and Didactylos make contact with the underground Turtle Movement.
Section: Vorbis Takes Brutha
Brutha milks a wild goat while Om soothes its mind. Om watches over the sleepers, guarding against small gods. Then Vorbis suddenly wakes, strikes Brutha unconscious with a stone, and carries him towards Omnia. Om watches helplessly as Vorbis disappears into the landscape.
An eagle swoops down and snatches a nearby tortoise, carrying it high and dropping it on the rocks. Om begins a desperate, agonising crawl towards the distant Citadel. St Ungulant is attacked by the wounded lion but saved by his invisible companion Angus, who hits the lion with a rock. Brutha dreams of thousands of people walking across black sand - his first ever dream.
Section: The Eighth Prophet
Brutha awakens in the Citadel to find that Vorbis has declared himself the eighth Prophet and seized the Cenobiarchy. Nhumrod tells Brutha he has been unconscious for a week and that Vorbis sat by his bed for three days. Vorbis has told everyone that Om spoke to him in the desert, and that he led Brutha through the wilderness.
Vorbis promotes Brutha to archbishop and shows him an iron turtle being built - a torture device for heretics who follow the Turtle Movement. Brutha sees through the manipulation: Vorbis is afraid of him because Brutha knows the truth about the desert, about Ephebe, about everything. But who would believe a novice against a Prophet? Brutha retreats to his garden, feeling utterly lost.
On page: Brutha, Vorbis, Brother Nhumrod, Cut-Me-Own-Hand-Off Dhblah, Lu-Tze
Section: The Moving Turtle
In a barn outside the Citadel, Urn builds a steam-powered armoured cart shaped like a turtle, designed to smash through the Temple doors during Vorbis's coronation ceremony. Simony coordinates the Turtle Movement's rebellion, gathering hundreds of secret supporters including soldiers and priests. Didactylos addresses the crowd but frustrates Simony by speaking philosophy rather than revolutionary fire.
Vorbis learns of the plot from an informer. He releases the informer's father from the Quisition's cells in a show of mercy, then quietly orders surveillance. He dismisses the steam device as impossible, but Deacon Cusp increases security anyway. In the Citadel gardens, Lu-Tze brings Brutha tea and speaks to him for the first time, revealing he is not the deaf gardener everyone assumes.
On page: Brutha, Om, Simony, Urn, Didactylos, Lu-Tze, Vorbis
Section: Lu-Tze Speaks at Last
Lu-Tze tells Brutha that a man who talks to God has a difficult life. He shares the seemingly absurd wisdom of his ancient master and advises Brutha that he must walk his path alone. Brutha asks where commandments come from if gods do not give them; Lu-Tze says prophets get them from the same place as everyone else.
Didactylos confronts Urn about the Moving Turtle, arguing that weapons of this kind will inevitably be copied by tyrants. Urn insists it will be a deterrent; Didactylos leaves in despair. Om crawls desperately across farmland towards the Citadel, shouting unheard warnings to Brutha's distant thoughts. He loses heat as night falls, slowing his cold-blooded body.
On page: Brutha, Om, Lu-Tze, Didactylos, Urn
Section: The Temple Doors Open
Deacon Cusp searches the Temple before the ceremony. Lu-Tze sweeps the Temple floor, watching everything. In the forge, Lu-Tze secretly sabotages Urn's steel control lever by quenching it too fast, making it brittle. In the hydraulics room beneath the Temple, Urn and Sergeant Fergmen prepare to open the great doors on signal.
Brutha stands in the Place of Lamentation among thousands of pilgrims. Cut-Me-Own-Hand-Off Dhblah sells him a yoghurt. Brutha stares at the Temple doors and prays for a sign. The doors suddenly swing open - Urn has accidentally triggered the mechanism when a pipe breaks. Brutha walks up the aisle towards Vorbis, who stands beneath the dome surrounded by guards.
On page: Brutha, Om, Vorbis, Urn, Lu-Tze, Cut-Me-Own-Hand-Off Dhblah
Section: The Tortoise Falls From the Sky
Brutha confronts Vorbis but cannot bring himself to strike the deacon. Vorbis, briefly enraged at Brutha's refusal to fight, orders him chained to the iron turtle and burned. The Moving Turtle's control lever snaps in Simony's hand, leaving the rebel army without its weapon. Urn and Fergmen are discovered in the hydraulics room.
High above, Om forces the eagle that has been hunting him to carry him towards the Citadel. Using a tortoise's most intimate grip on the eagle's anatomy, Om directs the bird in a screaming dive over the Place of Lamentation. The eagle releases Om, who plummets from the sky and strikes Vorbis between the eyes, killing the would-be Cenobiarch instantly. The impact of this apparent divine judgement floods Om with the belief of thousands of witnesses. He manifests as a towering golden figure and declares Brutha the true Cenobiarch and Prophet.
Section: Brutha Bargains With His God
Om, now a vast and powerful manifestation, offers to smite Omnia's enemies and write commandments of fire. Brutha refuses. He tells Om that commandments must apply to gods too, that there will be no smiting, and that Om must bargain with his prophet rather than command him. Om protests furiously but Brutha stands firm, arguing that if Om does not learn to deal with a reasonable man now, he will eventually face an unreasonable one.
Om agrees to a constitutional arrangement for one hundred years. Brutha announces that Omnia will open itself to other religions, reduce its army, pay reparations to Ephebe, and welcome free trade. Om is horrified but concedes. Brutha picks up Vorbis's body and walks alone to the beach where a combined fleet from Ephebe, Tsort, Djelibeybi and other nations has landed to destroy Omnia.
On page: Brutha, Om, Simony, Urn, Cut-Me-Own-Hand-Off Dhblah, Vorbis, Death