"Probable Adventure of the Three Literary Men" by Lord Dunsany

alcaic form: a four-line verse stanza in the meter invented by the Greek poet Alcaeus, and later used in a slightly altered form by the Roman poet Horace

I'm sensing a trend with Dunsany, where there is no doubt as to the fate of his characters, but the exact details of how that fate plays out is typically left mostly to your own imagination...

The picture used is an illustration by Sidney Sime in the 1912 edition of "The Book of Wonder".

To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7477/7477-h/7477-h.htm#PROBABLE_ADVENTURE_OF_THE_THREE_LITERARY_MEN