When travelers from London entered Arcady they lamented one to another the death of Pan. They saw him lying stiff and still, horned Pan still as stone, the dew collected on on his fur; he had not the look of a live animal. And evening came and a small star appeared. . . .

Born to the second-oldest title (created 1439) in the Irish peerage, Dunsany lived much of his life at what may be Ireland's longest-inhabited house, Dunsany Castle near Tara, worked with W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory, received an honorary doctorate from Trinity College, Dublin, was chess and pistol-shooting champion of Ireland, and traveled and hunted extensively.