A well-defined shock separates my final impression of the fading scene of light from[115] my sudden and somewhat shamefaced awakening and straightening up in my chair as I saw the dying figure on the couch move hesitantly. Joe Slater was indeed awaking, though probably for the last time. As I looked more closely, I saw that in the sallow cheeks shone spots of colour[116] which had never before been present. The lips, too, seemed unusual;[117] being tightly compressed, as if by the force of a stronger character than had been Slater’s. The whole face finally began to grow tense, and the head turned restlessly with closed eyes.[118] I did not arouse[119] the sleeping nurse, but readjusted the slightly disarranged head-bands[120] of my telepathic “radio”,[121] intent to catch any parting message the dreamer might have to deliver. All at once the head turned sharply in my direction and the eyes fell open, causing me to stare in blank amazement at what I beheld. The man who had been Joe Slater, the Catskill decadent, was now[122] gazing at me with a pair of luminous, expanded[123] eyes whose blue seemed subtly to have deepened. Neither mania nor degeneracy was visible in that gaze, and I felt beyond a doubt that I was viewing a face behind which lay an active mind of high order.
At this juncture my brain became[124] aware of a steady external influence operating upon it. I closed my eyes to concentrate my thoughts more profoundly,[125] and was rewarded by the positive knowledge that my long-sought mental message had come at last. Each transmitted idea formed rapidly in my mind, and though no actual language was employed, my habitual association of conception and expression was so great that I seemed to be receiving the message in ordinary English.
“Joe Slater is dead,” came the soul-petrifying voice or[126] agency from beyond the wall of sleep. My opened eyes sought the couch of pain in curious horror, but the blue eyes were still calmly gazing, and the countenance was still intelligently animated. “He is better dead, for he was unfit to bear the active intellect of cosmic entity. His gross body could not undergo the needed adjustments between ethereal life and planet life. He was too much of [127] an animal, too little a man; yet it is through his deficiency that you have come to discover me, for the cosmic and planet souls rightly should never meet. He has been my[128] torment and[129] diurnal prison for forty-two of your terrestrial years. I[130] am an entity like that which you yourself become in the freedom of dreamless sleep.[131] I am your brother of light, and have floated with you in the effulgent valleys. It is not permitted me to tell your waking earth-self of your real self, but we are all roamers of vast spaces and travellers[132] in many ages. Next year I may be dwelling in the dark[133] Egypt which you call ancient, or in the cruel empire of Tsan-Chan[134] which is to come three thousand years hence. You and I have drifted to the worlds that reel about the red Arcturus, and dwelt in the bodies of the insect-philosophers that crawl proudly over the fourth moon of Jupiter. How little does the earth-self [135] know of [136] life and its extent! How little, indeed, ought it to know for its own tranquillity! Of[137] the oppressor I cannot speak. You on earth have unwittingly felt its distant presence—you who without knowing[138] idly gave to its[139] blinking beacon the name of Algol, the Daemon-Star.[140] It is to meet and conquer the oppressor that I have vainly striven for aeons,[141] held back by bodily encumbrances. Tonight I go as a Nemesis bearing just and blazingly cataclysmic vengeance. Watch me in the sky close by the Daemon-Star. I[142] cannot speak longer, for the body of Joe Slater grows cold and rigid, and the coarse brains are ceasing to vibrate as I wish. You have been my friend in the cosmos; you have been my only friend[143] on this planet—the only soul to sense and seek for me within the repellent form which lies on this couch. We shall meet again—perhaps in the shining mists of Orion’s Sword, perhaps on a bleak plateau in prehistoric Asia. Perhaps[144] in unremembered dreams tonight;[145] perhaps in some other form an aeon[146] hence, when the solar system shall have been swept away.”
At this point the thought-waves abruptly ceased, and the pale eyes of the dreamer—or can I say dead man?—commenced to glaze fishily. In a half-stupor I crossed over to the couch and felt of his wrist, but found it cold, stiff, and pulseless. The sallow cheeks paled again, and the thick lips fell open, disclosing the repulsively rotten fangs of the degenerate Joe Slater. I shivered, pulled a blanket over the hideous face, and awakened the nurse. Then I left the cell and went silently to my room. I had an insistent[147] and unaccountable craving for a sleep whose dreams I should not remember.
The climax? What plain tale of science can boast of such a rhetorical effect? I have merely set down certain things appealing to me as facts, allowing you to construe them as you will. As I have already admitted, my superior, old Dr. Fenton,[148] denies the reality of everything I have related. He vows that I was broken down with nervous strain, and badly in need of the[149] long vacation on full pay which he so generously gave me. He assures me on his professional honour[150] that Joe Slater was but a low-grade paranoiac,[151] whose fantastic notions must have come from the crude hereditary folk-tales which circulate[152] in even the most decadent of communities. All this he tells me—yet I cannot forget what I saw in the sky on the night after Slater died. Lest you think me a biased witness, another’s[153] pen must add this final testimony, which may perhaps supply the climax you expect. I will quote the following account of the star Nova Persei verbatim from the pages of that eminent astronomical authority, Prof.[154] Garrett P. Serviss:
“On February 22, 1901, a marvellous[155] new star was discovered by Dr.[156] Anderson of Edinburgh, not very far from Algol. No star had been visible at that point before. Within twenty-four[157] hours the stranger had become so bright that it outshone Capella. In a week or two it had visibly faded, and in the course of a few months it was hardly discernible with the naked eye.”[158]
Notes
Editor’s Note: The story was first published in Pine Cones (October 1919). At a subsequent date, HPL prepared a new T.Ms. incorporating some revisions in the tale; evidence suggests that it was prepared around 1925. This typescript was presumably sent to the Fantasy Fan, where the story was printed in the October 1934 issue. There are a number of divergences between the T.Ms. and the Fantasy Fan appearance; it is possible that some of these are deliberate revisions by HPL (e.g., the third word of the story), but I consider that possibility remote: we would have to assume that HPL prepared a new T.Ms. or wrote the revisions into the T.Ms. submitted to the magazine. Given that the Fantasy Fan made many clear errors in printing the text, I believe the divergences are also textual errors. The Fantasy Fan text was then used for the posthumous appearance in Weird Tales (March 1938), where other errors and alterations occurred. The Arkham House texts are based on the Weird Tales text.
Texts: A = Pine Cones 1, No. 6 (October 1919): 2–10; B = T.Ms. (JHL); C = Fantasy Fan 2, No. 2 (October 1934): 25–32; D = Weird Tales 31, No. 3 (March 1938): 331–38; E = Beyond the Wall of Sleep (Arkham House, 1943), 33–39; F = Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (Arkham House, 1965), 22–33. Copy-text: B.
1. “I . . . me.” / —Shakespeare.] “I . . . me”. / SHAKESPEARE. A; “I . . . me”—Shakespeare C; om. D, E, F
2. frequently] often C, D, E, F
3. experiences—. . .—there] experiences, there A
4. permits] permit E, F
5. separated] seperated C
6. doubt] donbt C
7. know;] know, D, E, F
8. reverie] revery D, E, F
9. 1900–1901,] 1900–01, C, D, E, F
10. colonial] Colonial A, B, C, D, E, F
11. little-travelled] little travelled A, B; litile travelled C; little traveled D; little-traveled E, F
12. South,] south, C
13. non-existent;] non-/existent; B, C
14. the] om. F
15. state] om. A
16. first I] I first C, D, E, F
17. case. This] case: This C, D, E; case: this F
18. hunter,] hunter D, E, F
19. such] snch C
20. hill-dwellers.] hill dwellers. A; hill-/d
wellers. B
21. whiskey] whisky D
22. suddenly;] suddenly, D, E, F
23. neighbours] neighbors A, D, E, F
24. upward] upwards A
25. floor,] floor C, D, E, F
26. ‘big . . . away’.] ‘big . . . away.’ A, B; “big . . . away.” C, D, E, F
27. ‘thing . . . laughs’.] ‘thing . . . laughs.’ A; “thing . . . laughs”. C; “thing . . . laughs.” D, E, F
28. daemoniac] demoniac A, D, E, F
29. ecstasy] ecstacy A, E
30. bloodthirstiness,] blood-thirstiness, C, D, E, F
31. way] was C
32. ‘jump . . . him’.] ‘jump . . . him.’ A, B; “jump . . . him.” C; “jump . . . him.” ¶ D, E, F
33. neighbours] neighbors C, D, E, F
34. unrecognisable] unrecognizable D, E, F
35. the] om. C
36. ravine,] ravine C, D, E, F
37. realised] realized D, E, F
38. searching party,] searching-party, D, E, F
39. gaol;] jail; D, E, F
40. awaked] awakened E, F
41. neighbour] neighbor A, D, E, F
42. fact.] fact. ¶ D, E, F
43. wakened] awakened E, F
44. Dr. Barnard,] Dr. B——, A; Doctor Barnard, D, E, F
45. noticed] noted A
46. quality;] quality, D, E, F
47. strait-jacket.] straitjacket. D; straightjacket. E, F
48. listened with] lis / with C [hyphen failed to print, rest of word omitted]
49. neighbours.] neighbors. A, D, E, F
50. great] green C, D, E, F
51. valleys.] vallies. A
52. Dr. Barnard] Dr. B—— A; R. Barnard C, D
53. leathern] leather C, D, E, F
54. fairy tale,] fairy-tale, A, D, E, F
55. dream life,] dream-life, D, E, F
56. me;] me, C, D, E, F
57. recognised] recognized D, E, F
58. enjoy again.] again enjoy. C, D, E, F
59. and] om. D, E, F
60. semi-uncorporeal] semi-corporeal C, D, E, F
61. dream life] dream-life D, E, F
62. valleys,] vallies, A
63. light;] light, D, E, F
64. man. That] man; that D, E, F
65. a] om. C
66. life;] life, D, E, F
67. avenge.] avenge. ¶ D, E, F
68. true] om. F
69. dream-world] dream world A, B, C, D, E, F
70. dream-soul] dream soul C, D, E, F
71. dulness] dullness C, D, E, F
72. sceptical,] skeptical, A, D, E, F
73. accept] aceppt C
74. the] om. C
75. of ] or E, F
76. light,] light D, E, F
77. similar to . . . period.] similar to those employed in wireless telegraphy. A
78. fellow-student;] fellow-student, D, E, F
79. use.] use. ¶ D, E, F
80. dream life] dream-life D, E, F
81. again;] again, D, E, F
82. action.] use. A
83. own;] own, D, E, F
84. response] reaction A
85. brain;] brain, D, E, F
86. nature. ] nature. E, F
87. finally] om. C, D, E, F
88. realise] realize D, E, F
89. seems;] seems, D, E, F
90. half wonder] half-wonder A, B, C; wonder F
91. Dr. Fenton] Dr. F—— A; Doctor Fenton D, E, F
92. nerve-powder] nerve powder A
93. half-year’s] half year’s A
94. week.] week. ¶ D, E, F
95. freedom] freedom free-/dom C
96. sleep.] sleep. ¶ D, E, F
97. strait-jacket] strait jacket C; straitjacket D; straightjacket E, F
98. as] was A
99. cosmic “radio”;] ether-wave apparatus; A; cosmic “radio” C; cosmic “radio,” D, E, F
100. dream-world] dream world A, B, C, D, E, F
101. ecstasies] ecstacies A
102. hand;] hand, D, E, F
103. air;] air, D, E, F
104. splendour.] splendor. A, D, E, F
105. grottoes;] grottoes, D, E, F
106. eye] eyes D, E, F
107. ethereal,] ethereal C, D, E, F
108. me,] me D, E, F
109. aeons] eons D, E, F
110. for ever,] forever, A, F
111. fields of ether,] ether fields, A
112. scene;] scene, D, E, F
113. planet-shell] planet shell C, D, E, F
114. well-nigh] well-night A
115. light from] light, and A
116. colour] color D, E, F
117. unusual;] unusual, D, E, F
118. eyes.] eyes. ¶ D, E, F
119. arouse] rouse C, D, E, F
120. head-bands] head-/bands C, D; headbands E; headband F
121. “radio”,] apparatus, A; “radio” C; “radio,” D, E, F
122. now] om. F
123. expanded] expanding C, D, E, F
124. became] beeame C
125. profoundly,] profoundly E, F
126. or] of an D, E, F
127. of ] om. A, D, E, F
128. my] in my D, E, F
129. and] and my A
130. years. I] years. ¶ “I D, E, F
131. sleep.] sleep, C
132. travellers] travelers D, E, F
133. dark] om. C, D, E, F
134. Tsan-Chan] Tsan Chan C, D, E, F
135. earth-self] earth self C, D, E, F
136. of] om. C, D, E, F
137. tranquillity! Of] tranquillity! ¶ “Of D; tranquility! ¶ “Of E, F
138. knowing] knowing, A
139. to its] the C, D, E, F
140. Daemon-Star.] Daemon Star. A; Demon-Star. D, E, F
141. aeons,] aeons; B; eons, D, E, F
142. Daemon-Star. I] Daemon Star. I A; Demon-Star. ¶ “I D, E, F
143. friend . . . friend] only friend D, E, F
144. Asia. Perhaps] Asia. Perhnps C; Asia, perhaps D, E, F
145. tonight;] tonight, D, E, F
146. aeon] eon D, E, F
147. insistent] instant C, D, E, F
148. Dr. Fenton,] Dr. F——, B; Doctor Fenton, D, E, F
149. the] a E, F
150. honour] honor D, E, F
151. paranoiac,] paranoic, C
152. circulate] circulated D, E, F
153. another’s] another C, D, E, F
154. Prof.] Professor C, D, E, F
155. marvellous] marvelous C, D, E, F
156. Dr.] Doctor D, E, F
157. twenty-four] 24 A, B, C
158. eye.”] eye”. B
Memory
In the valley of Nis the accursed waning moon shines thinly, tearing a path for its light with feeble horns through the lethal foliage of a great upas-tree. And within the depths of the valley, where the light reaches not, move forms not meet[1] to be beheld. Rank is the herbage on each slope, where evil vines and creeping plants crawl amidst the stones of ruined palaces, twining tightly about broken columns and strange monoliths, and heaving up marble pavements laid by forgotten hands. And in trees that grow gigantic in crumbling courtyards leap little apes, while in and out of deep treasure-vaults writhe poison serpents and scaly things without a name.
Vast are the stones which sleep beneath coverlets of dank moss, and mighty were the walls from which they fell. For all time did their builders erect them, and in sooth they yet serve nobly, for beneath them the grey toad makes his habitation.
At the very bottom of the valley lies the river Than, whose waters are slimy and filled with weeds. From hidden springs it rises, and to subterranean grottoes it flows, so that the Daemon of the Valley knows not why its waters are red, nor whither they are bound.
The Genie that haunts the moonbeams spake to the Daemon of the Valley, saying, “I am old, and forget much. Tell me the deeds and aspect and name of th
em who built these things of stone.”[2] And the Daemon replied, “I am Memory, and am wise in lore of the past, but I too am old. These beings were like the waters of the river Than, not to be understood. Their deeds I recall not, for they were but of the moment. Their aspect I recall dimly, for[3] it was like to that of the little apes in the trees. Their name I recall clearly, for it rhymed with that of the river. These beings of yesterday were called Man.”
So the Genie flew back to the thin horned moon, and the Daemon looked intently at a little ape in a tree that grew in a crumbling courtyard.
Notes
Editor’s Note: There is only one text of relevance for this prose-poem: its first and only appearance in HPL’s lifetime, in the United Co-operative (June 1919). The text seems to have been printed accurately enough.
Texts: A = United Co-operative 1, No. 2 (June 1919): 8; B = Beyond the Wall of Sleep (Arkham House, 1943), 3. Copy-text: A.
1. meet ] meant B
2. stone.”] Stone.” B
3. for] om. A, B
Old Bugs[1]
AN EXTEMPORANEOUS SOB STORY
by Marcus Lollius, Proconsul of Gaul
Sheehan’s Pool Room, which adorns one of the lesser alleys in the heart of Chicago’s stockyard district, is not a nice place. Its air, freighted with a thousand odours such as Coleridge may have found at Cologne, too seldom knows the purifying rays of the sun; but fights for space with the acrid fumes of unnumbered cheap cigars and cigarettes which dangle from the coarse lips of unnumbered human animals that haunt the place day and night. But the popularity of Sheehan’s remains unimpaired; and for this there is a reason—a reason obvious to anyone who will take the trouble to analyse the mixed stenches prevailing there. Over and above the fumes and sickening closeness rises an aroma once familiar throughout the land, but now happily banished to the back streets of life by the edict of a benevolent government—the aroma of strong, wicked whiskey—a precious kind of forbidden fruit indeed in this year of grace 1950.