g fetters are women. If he but crooks his little
finger these bond-women rush pell-mell in the direction he points.
They are thus keen to do his bidding, because each woman who is the
first to carry out his rules in her own particular town or neighborhood
acquires great distinction in the eyes of the other worshipers."

"His slaves are nearly always rich women, aren't they?" asked my
brother.

"By no means. Many of them are poor working women who have to labor
hard for a living. But they will rob themselves of necessities and
needed rest to get the means to follow his demands. Often it takes
them a long time to do this, and perhaps just as they have accomplished
the weary task he suddenly proclaims a new law, and all this toiling
and drudging and stinting must begin over again. In this way the
unhappy creatures have never a breathing spell. It is utterly
impossible for them to conform to the new law when it is first
proclaimed by the god, and so they are always struggling to keep up.
Their chains are never lifted or lightened a particle."

"If the chain is so heavy why don't they break it?" I asked impatiently.

"Because they are afraid," she replied.

"Afraid of the god?"

"No, no, child, they are afraid of each other. They are afraid the
richer slaves, who are able to comply with the demands will laugh at
them and ridicule them, and that is why they strain every nerve to
follow the god's wishes. A slave, whether she is rich or poor, grows
more cringing year by year, until at last she loses all her
individuality, and becomes a mere echo of the god."

"What about the slaves who rebel at first and afterward yield?"

"Oh, they denounce the god very severely when he lays down some new law
they don't happen to like, but as all the other slaves are obediently
complying with it they dislike to be set off by themselves as
different, and so they reluctantly give in after a time. Sometimes
they try to compromise with the god by going half-way."

I inquired what the other slaves thought of that.

"They mildly tolerate them," said she. "Sometimes they look askance at
them when they meet, and try to show their superiority as being
obedient, full-blooded, genuine slaves, while the others are only
lukewarm servants of the monarch!"

I wondered how the slaves regarded the woman who was independent and
wouldn't worship the god.

My mother twittered softly at my question, and I knew she was smiling
to herself.