Best known for his non-fiction and biographies, Richard Garnett published this collection of his short stories in 1888. The Twilight of the Gods and Other Tales includes the title story, in which a mortal girl meets Prometheus on a mountain top; "The Demon Pope," in which a Pope makes good on a favor owed to Lucifer, "Alexander the Ratcatcher," in which Alexander the Eighth enlists the aid of a mysterious rat-killer; "The Elixir of Life," in which the sage Aboniel issues a challenge to his seven trusted disciples; "The Philosopher and the Butterflies," in which a scholar holds discourse with insects in the garden; and twenty-three other tales.

Author Biography

Richard Garnett (1835 - 1906) was a scholar, librarian, biographer and poet. He was son of Richard Garnett, an author, philologist (historical linguist) and assistant keeper of printed books in the British Museum, i.e. what is now the British Library. His literary works include numerous translations from the Greek, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese; several books of verse; the book of short stories The Twilight of the Gods (1888); biographies of Thomas Carlyle, John Milton, William Blake and others; The Age of Dryden (1895); a History of Italian Literature; English Literature: An Illustrated Record (with Edmund Gosse) and many articles for encyclopaedias and the Dictionary of National Biography. He also discovered and edited some unpublished poems of Shelley (Relics of Shelley, 1862) and edited the republication of the newly discovered poetry collection Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire in 1898. His poem "Where Corals Lie" was set to music by Sir Edward Elgar as part of Sea Pictures and was first performed in 1899. Long interested in astrology, in 1880 he published a monograph on the subject, "The Soul and the Stars," in the University Magazine under the pseudonym "A.G. Trent"; ill health prevented him from writing more on the subject. He wrote a biography of prime minister Charles James Fox, published 1910.