Dunsany is one of my favorite writers, but this is not my favorite among his works. To me it is interesting chiefly because Fletcher Pratt used 'King Agrimenes and the Unknown Warrior" as the basis of the history of his story The Well of the Unicorn, though the feel of that story is late medieval, while the feel of KIng Agrimenes is more Biblical, with a prophet prophesying doom to the king who has enslaves Agrimenes, and the king's ladies mocking him, but of course the prophecy comes true. I vividly recall my father retelling the story of how Agrimenes and the other slaves are waiting for the conqueror's sick dog to die, so they can eat the body--then Agrimenes finds an unknown ancient warrior's sword ad leads a revolt that ovethrows the king --yet when word comes the former king's dog is dead for a moment all he can think of is "Meat" but then he comes to himself and has it disposed of. ( )

As might be guessed from the admirably succinct title, this is a collection of plays; five of them. The first three - "The Gods of the Mountain", "The Golden Doom", and "King Argimenes and the Unknown Warrior" - are all set in an indefinite past (the time of "The Golden Doom" is specified as "sometime before the fall of Babylon"; we're not told which of the times that city fell is being refered to), and resemble in tone Dunsany's early fantasy pieces, though only the first contains anything obviously supernatural. I liked these three best.

The fourth, "The Glittering Gate", is set in contemporary times, and is a bit too cheap a shot at religion. The fifth, "The Lost Silk Hat" pokes fun at social conventions and pretensions, but the society satirized is probably a tad too distant from my own for me to wholly get the point.