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Home
Within an hour of the fall of Lu-don and Mo-sar, the chiefs andprincipal warriors of Pal-ul-don gathered in the great throneroom ofthe palace at A-lur upon the steps of the lofty pyramid and placingJa-don at the apex proclaimed him king. Upon one side of the oldchieftain stood Tarzan of the Apes, and upon the other Korak, theKiller, worthy son of the mighty ape-man.
And when the brief ceremony was over and the warriors with upraisedclubs had sworn fealty to their new ruler, Ja-don dispatched a trustedcompany to fetch O-lo-a and Pan-at-lee and the women of his ownhousehold from Ja-lur.
And then the warriors discussed the future of Pal-ul-don and thequestion arose as to the administration of the temples and the fate ofthe priests, who practically without exception had been disloyal to thegovernment of the king, seeking always only their own power and comfortand aggrandizement. And then it was that Ja-don turned to Tarzan. "Letthe Dor-ul-Otho transmit to his people the wishes of his father," hesaid.
"Your problem is a simple one," said the ape-man, "if you but wish todo that which shall be pleasing in the eyes of God. Your priests, toincrease their power, have taught you that Jad-ben-Otho is a cruel god,that his eyes love to dwell upon blood and upon suffering. But thefalsity of their teachings has been demonstrated to you today in theutter defeat of the priesthood.
"Take then the temples from the men and give them instead to the womenthat they may be administered in kindness and charity and love. Washthe blood from your eastern altar and drain forever the water from thewestern.
"Once I gave Lu-don the opportunity to do these things but he ignoredmy commands, and again is the corridor of sacrifice filled with itsvictims. Liberate these from every temple in Pal-ul-don. Bringofferings of such gifts as your people like and place them upon thealtars of your god. And there he will bless them and the priestesses ofJad-ben-Otho can distribute them among those who need them most."
As he ceased speaking a murmur of evident approval ran through thethrong. Long had they been weary of the avarice and cruelty of thepriests and now that authority had come from a high source with afeasible plan for ridding themselves of the old religious order withoutnecessitating any change in the faith of the people they welcomed it.
"And the priests," cried one. "We shall put them to death upon theirown altars if it pleases the Dor-ul-Otho to give the word."
"No," cried Tarzan. "Let no more blood be spilled. Give them theirfreedom and the right to take up such occupations as they choose."
That night a great feast was spread in the pal-e-don-so and for thefirst time in the history of ancient Pal-ul-don black warriors sat inpeace and friendship with white. And a pact was sealed between Ja-donand Om-at that would ever make his tribe and the Ho-don allies andfriends.
It was here that Tarzan learned the cause of Ta-den's failure to attackat the stipulated time. A messenger had come from Ja-don carryinginstructions to delay the attack until noon, nor had they discovereduntil almost too late that the messenger was a disguised priest ofLu-don. And they had put him to death and scaled the walls and come tothe inner temple court with not a moment to spare.
The following day O-lo-a and Pan-at-lee and the women of Ja-don'sfamily arrived at the palace at A-lur and in the great throneroomTa-den and O-lo-a were wed, and Om-at and Pan-at-lee.
For a week Tarzan and Jane and Korak remained the guests of Ja-don, asdid Om-at and his black warriors. And then the ape-man announced thathe would depart from Pal-ul-don. Hazy in the minds of their hosts wasthe location of heaven and equally so the means by which the godstraveled between their celestial homes and the haunts of men and so noquestionings arose when it was found that the Dor-ul-Otho with his mateand son would travel overland across the mountains and out ofPal-ul-don toward the north.
They went by way of the Kor-ul-JA accompanied by the warriors of thattribe and a great contingent of Ho-don warriors under Ta-den. The kingand many warriors and a multitude of people accompanied them beyond thelimits of A-lur and after they had bid them good-bye and Tarzan hadinvoked the blessings of God upon them the three Europeans saw theirsimple, loyal friends prostrate in the dust behind them until thecavalcade had wound out of the city and disappeared among the trees ofthe nearby forest.
They rested for a day among the Kor-ul-JA while Jane investigated theancient caves of these strange people and then they moved on, avoidingthe rugged shoulder of Pastar-ul-ved and winding down the oppositeslope toward the great morass. They moved in comfort and in safety,surrounded by their escort of Ho-don and Waz-don.
In the minds of many there was doubtless a question as to how the threewould cross the great morass but least of all was Tarzan worried by theproblem. In the course of his life he had been confronted by manyobstacles only to learn that he who will may always pass. In his mindlurked an easy solution of the passage but it was one which dependedwholly upon chance.
It was the morning of the last day that, as they were breaking camp totake up the march, a deep bellow thundered from a nearby grove. Theape-man smiled. The chance had come. Fittingly then would theDor-ul-Otho and his mate and their son depart from unmapped Pal-ul-don.
He still carried the spear that Jane had made, which he had prized sohighly because it was her handiwork that he had caused a search to bemade for it through the temple in A-lur after his release, and it hadbeen found and brought to him. He had told her laughingly that itshould have the place of honor above their hearth as the ancientflintlock of her Puritan grandsire had held a similar place of honorabove the fireplace of Professor Porter, her father.
At the sound of the bellowing the Ho-don warriors, some of whom hadaccompanied Tarzan from Ja-don's camp to Ja-lur, looked questioninglyat the ape-man while Om-at's Waz-don looked for trees, since the GRYFwas the one creature of Pal-ul-don which might not be safelyencountered even by a great multitude of warriors. Its tough, armoredhide was impregnable to their knife thrusts while their thrown clubsrattled from it as futilely as if hurled at the rocky shoulder ofPastar-ul-ved.
"Wait," said the ape-man, and with his spear in hand he advanced towardthe GRYF, voicing the weird cry of the Tor-o-don. The bellowing ceasedand turned to low rumblings and presently the huge beast appeared. Whatfollowed was but a repetition of the ape-man's previous experience withthese huge and ferocious creatures.
And so it was that Jane and Korak and Tarzan rode through the morassthat hems Pal-ul-don, upon the back of a prehistoric triceratops whilethe lesser reptiles of the swamp fled hissing in terror. Upon theopposite shore they turned and called back their farewells to Ta-denand Om-at and the brave warriors they had learned to admire andrespect. And then Tarzan urged their titanic mount onward toward thenorth, abandoning him only when he was assured that the Waz-don and theHo-don had had time to reach a point of comparative safety among thecraggy ravines of the foothills.
Turning the beast's head again toward Pal-ul-don the three dismountedand a sharp blow upon the thick hide sent the creature lumberingmajestically back in the direction of its native haunts. For a timethey stood looking back upon the land they had just quit--the land ofTor-o-don and GRYF; of JA and JATO; of Waz-don and Ho-don; a primitiveland of terror and sudden death and peace and beauty; a land that theyall had learned to love.
And then they turned once more toward the north and with light heartsand brave hearts took up their long journey toward the land that isbest of all--home.
Glossary
From conversations with Lord Greystoke and from his notes, there havebeen gleaned a number of interesting items relative to the language andcustoms of the inhabitants of Pal-ul-don that are not brought out inthe story. For the benefit of those who may care to delve into thederivation of the proper names used in the text, and thus obtain someslight insight into the language of the race, there is appended anincomplete glossary taken from some of Lord Greystoke's notes.
A point of particular interest hinges upon the fact that the names ofall male hairless pithecanthropi begin with a consonant, have an evenn
umber of syllables, and end with a consonant, while the names of thefemales of the same species begin with a vowel, have an odd number ofsyllables, and end with a vowel. On the contrary, the names of the malehairy black pithecanthropi while having an even number of syllablesbegin with a vowel and end with a consonant; while the females of thisspecies have an odd number of syllables in their names which beginalways with a consonant and end with a vowel.
A. Light. ab. Boy. Ab-on. Acting gund of Kor-ul-JA. Ad. Three. Adad. Six. Adadad. Nine. Adaden. Seven. Aden. Four. Adenaden. Eight. Adenen. Five. A-lur. City of light. An. Spear. An-un. Father of Pan-at-lee. As. The sun. At. Tail.
Bal. Gold or golden. Bar. Battle. Ben. Great. Bu. Moon. Bu-lot (moon face). Son of chief Mo-sar. Bu-lur (moon city). The city of the Waz-ho-don.
Dak. Fat. Dak-at (fat tail). Chief of a Ho-don village. Dak-lot. One of Ko-tan's palace warriors. Dan. Rock. Den. Tree. Don. Man. Dor. Son. Dor-ul-Otho (son of god). Tarzan.
E. Where. Ed. Seventy. El. Grace or graceful. En. One. Enen. Two. Es. Rough. Es-sat (rough skin). Chief of Om-at's tribe of hairy blacks. Et. Eighty.
Fur. Thirty.
Ged. Forty. Go. Clear. Gryf. "Triceratops. A genus of huge herbivorous dinosaurs of the group Ceratopsia. The skull had two large horns above the eyes, a median horn on the nose, a horny beak, and a great bony hood or transverse crest over the neck. Their toes, five in front and three behind, were provided with hoofs, and the tail was large and strong." Webster's Dict. The GRYF of Pal-ul-don is similar except that it is omnivorous, has strong, powerfully armed jaws and talons instead of hoofs. Coloration: face yellow with blue bands encircling the eyes; hood red on top, yellow underneath; belly yellow; body a dirty slate blue; legs same. Bony protuberances yellow except along the spine--these are red. Tail conforms with body and belly. Horns, ivory. Gund. Chief. Guru. Terrible.
Het. Fifty. Ho. White. Ho-don. The hairless white men of Pal-ul-don.
Id. Silver. Id-an. One of Pan-at-lee's two brothers. In. Dark. In-sad. Kor-ul-JA warrior accompanying Tarzan, Om-at, and Ta-den in search of Pan-at-lee. In-tan. Kor-ul-lul left to guard Tarzan
Ja. Lion. Jad. The Jad-bal-lul. The golden lake. Jad-ben-lul. The big lake. Jad-ben-Otho. The Great God. Jad-guru-don. The terrible man. Jad-in-lul. The dark lake. Ja-don (the lion-man). Chief of a Ho-don village and father of Ta-den. Jad Pele ul Jad-ben-Otho. The valley of the Great God. Ja-lur (lion city). Ja-don's capital. Jar. Strange. Jar-don. Name given Korak by Om-at. Jato. Saber-tooth hybrid.
Ko. Mighty. Kor. Gorge. Kor-ul-GRYF. Gorge of the GRYF. Kor-ul-JA. Name of Es-sat's gorge and tribe. Kor-ul-lul. Name of another Waz-don gorge and tribe. Ko-tan. King of the Ho-don.
Lav. Run or running. Lee. Doe. Lo. Star. Lot. Face. Lu. Fierce. Lu-don (fierce man). High priest of A-lur. Lul. Water. Lur. City.
Ma. Child. Mo. Short. Mo-sar (short nose). Chief and pretender. Mu. Strong.
No. Brook.
O. Like or similar. Od. Ninety. O-dan. Kor-ul-JA warrior accompanying Tarzan, Om-at, and Ta-den in search of Pan-at-lee. Og. Sixty. O-lo-a (like-star-light). Ko-tan's daughter Om. Long. Om-at (long tail). A black. On. Ten. Otho. God.
Pal. Place; land; country. Pal-e-don-so (place where men eat). Banquet hall. Pal-ul-don (land of man). Name of the country. Pal-ul-JA. Place of lions. Pan. Soft. Pan-at-lee. Om-at's sweetheart. Pan-sat (soft skin). A priest. Pastar. Father. Pastar-ul-ved. Father of Mountains. Pele. Valley.
Ro. Flower.
Sad. Forest. San. One hundred Sar. Nose. Sat. Skin. So. Eat. Sod. Eaten. Sog. Eating. Son. Ate.
Ta. Tall. Ta-den (tall tree). A white. Tan. Warrior. Tarzan-jad-guru. Tarzan the Terrible. To. Purple. Ton. Twenty. Tor. Beast. Tor-o-don. Beastlike man. Tu. Bright. Tu-lur (bright city). Mo-sar's city.
Ul. Of. Un. Eye. Ut. Corn.
Ved. Mountain
Waz. Black. Waz-don. The hairy black men of Pal-ul-don. Waz-ho-don (black white men). A mixed race
Xot. One thousand.
Yo. Friend.
Za. Girl.
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