older than sin, and his beard could grow no whiter. He
wanted to die.
The dwarfish natives of the Arctic caverns did not
speak his language, but conversed in their own, titter-
ing tongue, conducted incomprehensible rituals, when
they were not actually working in their factories.
Once every year they forced him, sobbing and
protesting, into Endless Night. During the journey he
would stand near every child in the world, leave one of
the dwarves' invisible gifts by its bedside. The children
slept, frozen into time.
He envied Prometheus and Loki, Sisyphus and
Judas. His punsidhment was harsher.
Ho.
Ho.
Ho.
Neil Gaiman, Smoke and Mirrors, 1999