
Japanese: 
This is a LibriVox recording.
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer,
please visit LibriVox.org
Recording by Michael Sample
Halifax Nova Scotia Canada 2008
Dagon
By H. P. Lovecraft
I am writing this
under an appreciable mental strain,
since by tonight I shall be no more.
Penniless,
and at the end of my supply of the drug
which alone makes life endurable,
I can bear the torture no longer;
and shall cast myself from this garret window
into the squalid street below.
Do not think from my slavery to morphine
that I am a weakling or a degenerate.
When you have read these hastily scrawled pages
you may guess,
though never fully realise,
why it is that
I must have forgetfulness or death.

English: 
This is a LibriVox recording.
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer,
please visit LibriVox.org
Recording by Michael Sample
Halifax Nova Scotia Canada 2008
Dagon
By H. P. Lovecraft
I am writing this
under an appreciable mental strain,
since by tonight I shall be no more.
Penniless,
and at the end of my supply of the drug
which alone makes life endurable,
I can bear the torture no longer;
and shall cast myself from this garret window
into the squalid street below.
Do not think from my slavery to morphine
that I am a weakling or a degenerate.
When you have read these hastily scrawled pages
you may guess,
though never fully realise,
why it is that
I must have forgetfulness or death.

Japanese: 
It was in one of the most open and
least frequented parts of the broad Pacific
that the packet of which I was supercargo
fell a victim to the German sea-raider.
The great war was then at its very beginning,
and the ocean forces of the Hun had not
completely sunk to their later degradation;
so that our vessel was made a legitimate prize,
whilst we of her crew were treated
with all the fairness
and consideration due us as naval prisoners.
So liberal, indeed,
was the discipline of our captors,
that five days after we were taken
I managed to escape alone
in a small boat
with water and provisions
for a good length of time.
When I finally found myself adrift and free,
I had but little idea of my surroundings.
Never a competent navigator,
I could only guess vaguely by the sun and stars
that I was somewhat south of the equator.
Of the longitude I knew nothing,
and no island or coast-line was in sight.
The weather kept fair,
and for uncounted days

English: 
It was in one of the most open and
least frequented parts of the broad Pacific
that the packet of which I was supercargo
fell a victim to the German sea-raider.
The great war was then at its very beginning,
and the ocean forces of the Hun had not
completely sunk to their later degradation;
so that our vessel was made a legitimate prize,
whilst we of her crew were treated
with all the fairness
and consideration due us as naval prisoners.
So liberal, indeed,
was the discipline of our captors,
that five days after we were taken
I managed to escape alone
in a small boat
with water and provisions
for a good length of time.
When I finally found myself adrift and free,
I had but little idea of my surroundings.
Never a competent navigator,
I could only guess vaguely by the sun and stars
that I was somewhat south of the equator.
Of the longitude I knew nothing,
and no island or coast-line was in sight.
The weather kept fair,
and for uncounted days

Japanese: 
I drifted aimlessly beneath the scorching sun;
waiting either for some passing ship,
or to be cast
on the shores of some habitable land.
But neither ship nor land appeared,
and I began to despair in my solitude
upon the heaving vastnesses of unbroken blue.
The change happened whilst I slept.
Its details I shall never know;
for my slumber,
though troubled and dream-infested,
was continuous.
When at last I awaked,
it was to discover myself half sucked
into a slimy expanse of hellish black mire
which extended about me
in monotonous undulations
as far as I could see,
and in which my boat lay grounded
some distance away.
Though one might well imagine that
my first sensation would be of wonder
at so prodigious and unexpected
a transformation of scenery,
I was in reality more horrified
than astonished;
for there was in the air and in the
rotting soil a sinister quality
which chilled me to the very core.

English: 
I drifted aimlessly beneath the scorching sun;
waiting either for some passing ship,
or to be cast
on the shores of some habitable land.
But neither ship nor land appeared,
and I began to despair in my solitude
upon the heaving vastnesses of unbroken blue.
The change happened whilst I slept.
Its details I shall never know;
for my slumber,
though troubled and dream-infested,
was continuous.
When at last I awaked,
it was to discover myself half sucked
into a slimy expanse of hellish black mire
which extended about me
in monotonous undulations
as far as I could see,
and in which my boat lay grounded
some distance away.
Though one might well imagine that
my first sensation would be of wonder
at so prodigious and unexpected
a transformation of scenery,
I was in reality more horrified
than astonished;
for there was in the air and in the
rotting soil a sinister quality
which chilled me to the very core.

Japanese: 
The region was putrid with the carcasses
of decaying fish,
and of other less describable things
which I saw protruding from the nasty mud
of the unending plain.
Perhaps I should not hope to convey
in mere words the unutterable hideousness
that can dwell
in absolute silence and barren immensity.
There was nothing within hearing,
and nothing in sight
save a vast reach of black slime;
yet the very completeness of the stillness
and the homogeneity of the landscape
oppressed me with a nauseating fear.
The sun was blazing down from a sky
which seemed to me almost black
in its cloudless cruelty;
as though reflecting the inky marsh
beneath my feet.
As I crawled into the stranded boat
I realised that
only one theory could explain my position.
Through some unprecedented volcanic upheaval,
a portion of the ocean floor
must have been thrown to the surface,

English: 
The region was putrid with the carcasses
of decaying fish,
and of other less describable things
which I saw protruding from the nasty mud
of the unending plain.
Perhaps I should not hope to convey
in mere words the unutterable hideousness
that can dwell
in absolute silence and barren immensity.
There was nothing within hearing,
and nothing in sight
save a vast reach of black slime;
yet the very completeness of the stillness
and the homogeneity of the landscape
oppressed me with a nauseating fear.
The sun was blazing down from a sky
which seemed to me almost black
in its cloudless cruelty;
as though reflecting the inky marsh
beneath my feet.
As I crawled into the stranded boat
I realised that
only one theory could explain my position.
Through some unprecedented volcanic upheaval,
a portion of the ocean floor
must have been thrown to the surface,

English: 
exposing regions
which for innumerable millions of years
had lain hidden
under unfathomable watery depths.
So great was the extent of the new land
which had risen beneath me,
that I could not detect
the faintest noise of the surging ocean,
strain my ears as I might.
Nor were there any sea-fowl
to prey upon the dead things.
For several hours
I sat thinking or brooding in the boat,
which lay upon its side
and afforded a slight shade
as the sun moved across the heavens.
As the day progressed,
the ground lost some of its stickiness,
and seemed likely to dry sufficiently
for travelling purposes in a short time.
That night I slept but little,
and the next day
I made for myself
a pack containing food and water,
preparatory to an overland journey
in search of
the vanished sea and possible rescue.
On the third morning
I found the soil
dry enough to walk upon with ease.
The odour of the fish was maddening;
but I was too much concerned with
graver things
to mind so slight an evil,

Japanese: 
exposing regions
which for innumerable millions of years
had lain hidden
under unfathomable watery depths.
So great was the extent of the new land
which had risen beneath me,
that I could not detect
the faintest noise of the surging ocean,
strain my ears as I might.
Nor were there any sea-fowl
to prey upon the dead things.
For several hours
I sat thinking or brooding in the boat,
which lay upon its side
and afforded a slight shade
as the sun moved across the heavens.
As the day progressed,
the ground lost some of its stickiness,
and seemed likely to dry sufficiently
for travelling purposes in a short time.
That night I slept but little,
and the next day
I made for myself
a pack containing food and water,
preparatory to an overland journey
in search of
the vanished sea and possible rescue.
On the third morning
I found the soil
dry enough to walk upon with ease.
The odour of the fish was maddening;
but I was too much concerned with
graver things
to mind so slight an evil,

English: 
and set out boldly for an unknown goal.
All day I forged steadily westward,
guided by a far-away hummock
which rose higher than any other elevation
on the rolling desert.
That night I encamped,
and on the following day
still travelled toward the hummock,
though that object seemed scarcely nearer
than when I had first espied it.
By the fourth evening
I attained the base of the mound,
which turned out to be much higher
than it had appeared from a distance;
an intervening valley setting it out
in sharper relief from the general surface.
Too weary to ascend,
I slept in the shadow of the hill.
I know not why my dreams were so wild
that night;
but ere the waning
and fantastically gibbous moon
had risen far above the eastern plain,
I was awake in a cold perspiration,
determined to sleep no more.
Such visions as I had experienced
were too much for me to endure again.
And in the glow of the moon

Japanese: 
and set out boldly for an unknown goal.
All day I forged steadily westward,
guided by a far-away hummock
which rose higher than any other elevation
on the rolling desert.
That night I encamped,
and on the following day
still travelled toward the hummock,
though that object seemed scarcely nearer
than when I had first espied it.
By the fourth evening
I attained the base of the mound,
which turned out to be much higher
than it had appeared from a distance;
an intervening valley setting it out
in sharper relief from the general surface.
Too weary to ascend,
I slept in the shadow of the hill.
I know not why my dreams were so wild
that night;
but ere the waning
and fantastically gibbous moon
had risen far above the eastern plain,
I was awake in a cold perspiration,
determined to sleep no more.
Such visions as I had experienced
were too much for me to endure again.
And in the glow of the moon

English: 
I saw how unwise I had been to travel
by day.
Without the glare of the parching sun,
my journey would have cost me less energy;
indeed,
I now felt quite able to perform the ascent
which had deterred me at sunset.
Picking up my pack,
I started for the crest of the eminence.
I have said that
the unbroken monotony of the rolling plain
was a source of vague horror to me;
but I think my horror was greater
when I gained the summit of the mound
and looked down the other side
into an immeasurable pit or canyon,
whose black recesses
the moon had not yet soared high
enough to illumine.
I felt myself on the edge of the world;
peering over the rim
into a fathomless chaos of eternal night.
Through my terror
ran curious reminiscences of Paradise Lost,
and of Satan’s hideous climb
through the unfashioned realms of darkness.
As the moon climbed higher in the sky,

Japanese: 
I saw how unwise I had been to travel
by day.
Without the glare of the parching sun,
my journey would have cost me less energy;
indeed,
I now felt quite able to perform the ascent
which had deterred me at sunset.
Picking up my pack,
I started for the crest of the eminence.
I have said that
the unbroken monotony of the rolling plain
was a source of vague horror to me;
but I think my horror was greater
when I gained the summit of the mound
and looked down the other side
into an immeasurable pit or canyon,
whose black recesses
the moon had not yet soared high
enough to illumine.
I felt myself on the edge of the world;
peering over the rim
into a fathomless chaos of eternal night.
Through my terror
ran curious reminiscences of Paradise Lost,
and of Satan’s hideous climb
through the unfashioned realms of darkness.
As the moon climbed higher in the sky,

English: 
I began to see that
the slopes of the valley
were not quite so perpendicular
as I had imagined.
Ledges and outcroppings of rock
afforded fairly easy foot-holds
for a descent,
whilst after a drop of a few hundred feet,
the declivity became very gradual.
Urged on by an impulse
which I cannot definitely analyse,
I scrambled with difficulty down the rocks
and stood on the gentler slope beneath,
gazing into the Stygian deeps
where no light had yet penetrated.
All at once
my attention was captured by a vast
and singular object on the opposite slope,
which rose steeply about an hundred yards
ahead of me;
an object that gleamed whitely in the newly
bestowed rays of the ascending moon.
That it was merely a gigantic piece of stone,
I soon assured myself;
but I was conscious of a distinct impression
that its contour and position
were not altogether the work of Nature.

Japanese: 
I began to see that
the slopes of the valley
were not quite so perpendicular
as I had imagined.
Ledges and outcroppings of rock
afforded fairly easy foot-holds
for a descent,
whilst after a drop of a few hundred feet,
the declivity became very gradual.
Urged on by an impulse
which I cannot definitely analyse,
I scrambled with difficulty down the rocks
and stood on the gentler slope beneath,
gazing into the Stygian deeps
where no light had yet penetrated.
All at once
my attention was captured by a vast
and singular object on the opposite slope,
which rose steeply about an hundred yards
ahead of me;
an object that gleamed whitely in the newly
bestowed rays of the ascending moon.
That it was merely a gigantic piece of stone,
I soon assured myself;
but I was conscious of a distinct impression
that its contour and position
were not altogether the work of Nature.

English: 
A closer scrutiny filled me
with sensations I cannot express;
for despite its enormous magnitude,
and its position in an abyss
which had yawned at the bottom of the sea
since the world was young,
I perceived beyond a doubt that
the strange object was a well-shaped monolith
whose massive bulk had known the workmanship
and perhaps
the worship of living and thinking creatures.
Dazed and frightened,
yet not without a certain thrill of
the scientist’s or archaeologist’s delight,
I examined my surroundings more closely.
The moon,
now near the zenith,
shone weirdly and vividly
above the towering steeps
that hemmed in the chasm,
and revealed the fact that
a far-flung body of water
flowed at the bottom,
winding out of sight in both directions,
and almost lapping my feet
as I stood on the slope.
Across the chasm,

Japanese: 
A closer scrutiny filled me
with sensations I cannot express;
for despite its enormous magnitude,
and its position in an abyss
which had yawned at the bottom of the sea
since the world was young,
I perceived beyond a doubt that
the strange object was a well-shaped monolith
whose massive bulk had known the workmanship
and perhaps
the worship of living and thinking creatures.
Dazed and frightened,
yet not without a certain thrill of
the scientist’s or archaeologist’s delight,
I examined my surroundings more closely.
The moon,
now near the zenith,
shone weirdly and vividly
above the towering steeps
that hemmed in the chasm,
and revealed the fact that
a far-flung body of water
flowed at the bottom,
winding out of sight in both directions,
and almost lapping my feet
as I stood on the slope.
Across the chasm,

English: 
the wavelets washed
the base of the Cyclopean monolith;
on whose surface
I could now trace
both inscriptions and crude sculptures.
The writing was in a system of
hieroglyphics unknown to me,
and unlike anything
I had ever seen in books;
consisting for the most part of 
conventionalised aquatic symbols such as fishes,
eels,
octopi,
crustaceans,
molluscs,
whales, and the like.
Several characters
obviously
represented marine things
which are unknown to the modern world,
but whose decomposing forms
I had observed on the ocean-risen plain.
It was the pictorial carving,
however,
that did most to hold me spellbound.
Plainly visible across the intervening water
on account of their enormous size,
were an array of bas-reliefs
whose subjects would have excited
the envy of a Doré.
I think that these things
were supposed to depict men—at least,
a certain sort of men;

Japanese: 
the wavelets washed
the base of the Cyclopean monolith;
on whose surface
I could now trace
both inscriptions and crude sculptures.
The writing was in a system of
hieroglyphics unknown to me,
and unlike anything
I had ever seen in books;
consisting for the most part of 
conventionalised aquatic symbols such as fishes,
eels,
octopi,
crustaceans,
molluscs,
whales, and the like.
Several characters
obviously
represented marine things
which are unknown to the modern world,
but whose decomposing forms
I had observed on the ocean-risen plain.
It was the pictorial carving,
however,
that did most to hold me spellbound.
Plainly visible across the intervening water
on account of their enormous size,
were an array of bas-reliefs
whose subjects would have excited
the envy of a Doré.
I think that these things
were supposed to depict men—at least,
a certain sort of men;

Japanese: 
though the creatures were shewn disporting
like fishes in the waters of some marine grotto,
or paying homage at some monolithic shrine
which appeared to be under the waves as well.
Of their faces and forms
I dare not speak in detail;
for the mere remembrance makes me grow faint.
Grotesque beyond the imagination of
a Poe or a Bulwer,
they were damnably human in general outline
despite webbed hands and feet,
shockingly wide and flabby lips,
glassy,
bulging eyes,
and other features less pleasant to recall.
Curiously enough,
they seemed to have been chiselled badly
out of proportion
with their scenic background;
for one of the creatures was shewn
in the act of killing a whale represented
as but little larger than himself.
I remarked,
as I say,
their grotesqueness and strange size;
but in a moment decided that

English: 
though the creatures were shewn disporting
like fishes in the waters of some marine grotto,
or paying homage at some monolithic shrine
which appeared to be under the waves as well.
Of their faces and forms
I dare not speak in detail;
for the mere remembrance makes me grow faint.
Grotesque beyond the imagination of
a Poe or a Bulwer,
they were damnably human in general outline
despite webbed hands and feet,
shockingly wide and flabby lips,
glassy,
bulging eyes,
and other features less pleasant to recall.
Curiously enough,
they seemed to have been chiselled badly
out of proportion
with their scenic background;
for one of the creatures was shewn
in the act of killing a whale represented
as but little larger than himself.
I remarked,
as I say,
their grotesqueness and strange size;
but in a moment decided that

Japanese: 
they were merely the imaginary gods of
some primitive fishing or seafaring tribe;
some tribe whose last descendant
had perished eras
before the first ancestor of the Piltdown
or Neanderthal Man was born.
Awestruck at this unexpected glimpse
into a past beyond the conception
of the most daring anthropologist,
I stood musing
whilst the moon cast queer reflections
on the silent channel before me.
Then suddenly I saw it.
With only a slight churning
to mark its rise to the surface,
the thing slid into view
above the dark waters.
Vast,
Polyphemus-like,
and loathsome,
it darted like a stupendous monster
of nightmares to the monolith,
about which it flung
its gigantic scaly arms,
the while it bowed its hideous head
and gave vent to certain measured sounds.
I think I went mad then.
Of my frantic ascent of the slope and cliff,

English: 
they were merely the imaginary gods of
some primitive fishing or seafaring tribe;
some tribe whose last descendant
had perished eras
before the first ancestor of the Piltdown
or Neanderthal Man was born.
Awestruck at this unexpected glimpse
into a past beyond the conception
of the most daring anthropologist,
I stood musing
whilst the moon cast queer reflections
on the silent channel before me.
Then suddenly I saw it.
With only a slight churning
to mark its rise to the surface,
the thing slid into view
above the dark waters.
Vast,
Polyphemus-like,
and loathsome,
it darted like a stupendous monster
of nightmares to the monolith,
about which it flung
its gigantic scaly arms,
the while it bowed its hideous head
and gave vent to certain measured sounds.
I think I went mad then.
Of my frantic ascent of the slope and cliff,

English: 
and of my delirious journey back
to the stranded boat,
I remember little.
I believe I sang a great deal,
and laughed oddly when I was unable to sing.
I have indistinct recollections of a great storm
some time after I reached the boat;
at any rate,
I know that I heard peals of
thunder and other tones
which Nature utters only in her wildest moods.
When I came out of the shadows
I was in a San Francisco hospital;
brought thither 
by the captain of the American ship
which had picked up my boat in mid-ocean.
In my delirium I had said much,
but found that
my words had been given scant attention.
Of any land upheaval in the Pacific,
my rescuers knew nothing;
nor did I deem it necessary
to insist upon a thing
which I knew they could not believe.
Once I sought out a celebrated ethnologist,
and amused him with peculiar questions
regarding the ancient Philistine legend of
Dagon, the Fish-God;

Japanese: 
and of my delirious journey back
to the stranded boat,
I remember little.
I believe I sang a great deal,
and laughed oddly when I was unable to sing.
I have indistinct recollections of a great storm
some time after I reached the boat;
at any rate,
I know that I heard peals of
thunder and other tones
which Nature utters only in her wildest moods.
When I came out of the shadows
I was in a San Francisco hospital;
brought thither 
by the captain of the American ship
which had picked up my boat in mid-ocean.
In my delirium I had said much,
but found that
my words had been given scant attention.
Of any land upheaval in the Pacific,
my rescuers knew nothing;
nor did I deem it necessary
to insist upon a thing
which I knew they could not believe.
Once I sought out a celebrated ethnologist,
and amused him with peculiar questions
regarding the ancient Philistine legend of
Dagon, the Fish-God;

English: 
but soon perceiving that
he was hopelessly conventional,
I did not press my inquiries.
It is at night,
especially when the moon is gibbous and waning,
that I see the thing.
I tried morphine;
but the drug has given only transient surcease,
and has drawn me into
its clutches as a hopeless slave.
So now I am to end it all,
having written a full account
for the information
or the contemptuous amusement of my fellow-men.
Often I ask myself
if it could not all have been
a pure phantasm
—a mere freak of fever
as I lay sun-stricken and raving in the open boat
after my escape from the German man-of-war.
This I ask myself,
but ever does there come before me
a hideously vivid vision in reply.
I cannot think of the deep sea
without shuddering at the nameless things

Japanese: 
but soon perceiving that
he was hopelessly conventional,
I did not press my inquiries.
It is at night,
especially when the moon is gibbous and waning,
that I see the thing.
I tried morphine;
but the drug has given only transient surcease,
and has drawn me into
its clutches as a hopeless slave.
So now I am to end it all,
having written a full account
for the information
or the contemptuous amusement of my fellow-men.
Often I ask myself
if it could not all have been
a pure phantasm
—a mere freak of fever
as I lay sun-stricken and raving in the open boat
after my escape from the German man-of-war.
This I ask myself,
but ever does there come before me
a hideously vivid vision in reply.
I cannot think of the deep sea
without shuddering at the nameless things

English: 
that may at this very moment be crawling
and floundering on its slimy bed,
worshipping their ancient stone idols
and carving their own detestable likenesses
on submarine obelisks of water-soaked granite.
I dream of a day
when they may rise above the billows to drag down
in their reeking talons the remnants of puny,
war-exhausted mankind
—of a day when the land shall sink,
and the dark ocean floor shall ascend
amidst universal pandemonium.
The end is near.
I hear a noise at the door,
as of some immense slippery body
lumbering against it.
It shall not find me.
God,
that hand!
The window! The window!
END of Dagon
This has been a recording by Micheal Sample
Halifax Nova Scotia Canada 2008

Japanese: 
that may at this very moment be crawling
and floundering on its slimy bed,
worshipping their ancient stone idols
and carving their own detestable likenesses
on submarine obelisks of water-soaked granite.
I dream of a day
when they may rise above the billows to drag down
in their reeking talons the remnants of puny,
war-exhausted mankind
—of a day when the land shall sink,
and the dark ocean floor shall ascend
amidst universal pandemonium.
The end is near.
I hear a noise at the door,
as of some immense slippery body
lumbering against it.
It shall not find me.
God,
that hand!
The window! The window!
END of Dagon
This has been a recording by Micheal Sample
Halifax Nova Scotia Canada 2008
