Now was I seized by utter horror and despair, since I had bound myselfin all honor to grant the ghoul his hideous requirement. And I beggedhim to change the terms of the stipulation, saying to him:
"Is it needful to thee, O eater of corpses, that the bodies should bethose of people whom I myself have slain?"
And the ghoul said: "Yea, for all others would be the naturalprovender of myself or of my kin in any event. I adjure thee by thepromise thou hast given to meet me here tomorrow night, when darknesshas wholly fallen or as soon thereafter as thou art able, bringing thefirst of the eight bodies."
So saying, he strode off among the cypresses, and began to dig inanother newly made grave at a little distance from that of Amina.
I left the graveyard in even direr anguish than when I had comethinking, of that which I must do in fulfilment of my sworn promise,to preserve the body of Amina from the demon. I know not how Isurvived the ensuing day, torn as I was between sorrow for the deadand my horror of the coming night with its repugnant duty.
When darkness had descended, I went forth by stealth to a lonely roadnear the cemetery; and waiting there amid the low-grown branches ofthe trees, I slew the first passer with a sword and carried his bodyto the spot appointed by the ghoul. And each night thereafter, for sixmore nights, I returned to the same vicinity and repeated this deed,slaying always the very first who came, whether man or woman, ormerchant or beggar or grave-digger. And the ghoul awaited me on eachoccasion, and would begin to devour his provender in my presence, withsmall thanks and scant ceremony. Seven persons did I slay in all, tillonly one was wanting to complete the agreed number; and the personwhom I slew yester-night was a woman, even as the witnesses havetestified. All this I did with utmost repugnance and regret, andsustained only by the remembrance of my plighted word and the fatewhich would befall the corpse of Amina if I should break the bond.
This, O Cadi, is all my story. Alas! for these lamentable crimes haveavailed me not, and I have failed in wholly keeping my bargain withthe demon, who will doubtless this night consume the body of Amina inlien of the one corpse that is still lacking. I resign myself to thyjudgement, O Ahmed ben Becar, and I beseech thee for no other mercythan that of death, wherewith to terminate my double grief and mytwofold remorse.
When Noureddin Hassan had ended his narrative, the amazement of allwho had heard him was verily multiplied, since no man could rememberhearing a stranger tale. And the Cadi pondered for a long time andthen gave judgment, saying:
"I must needs marvel at thy story, but the crimes thou hast committedare none the less heinous, and Iblis himself would stand aghast beforethem. However, some allowance must be made for the fact that thouhadst given thy word to the ghoul and wast bound as it were in honorto fulfill his demand, no matter how horrible its nature. Andallowance must likewise be made for thy connubial grief which causedthee to forfend thy wife's body from the demon. Yet I cannot adjudgethee guiltless, though I know not the punishment which is merited in acase so utterly without parallel. Therefore, I set thee free, withthis injunction, that thou shalt make atonement for thy crimes in thefashion that seemeth best to thee, and shalt render justice to thyselfand to others in such degree as thou art able."
"I thank thee for this mercy," replied Noureddin Hassan; and he thenwithdrew from the court amid the wonderment of all who were present.There was much debate when he had gone, and many were prone toquestion the wisdom of the Cadi's decision. Some there were whomaintained that Noureddin should have been sentenced to death withoutdelay for his abominable actions though others argued for the sanctityof his oath to the ghoul, and would have exculpated him altogether orin part. And tales were told and instances were cited regarding thehabits of ghouls and the strange plight of men who had surprised suchdemons in their nocturnal delvings. And again the discussion returnedto Noureddin, and the judgment of the Cadi was once more upheld orassailed with divers arguments. But amid all this, Ahmed Ben Becar wassilent, saying only:
"Wait, for this man will render justice to himself and to all otherconcerned, as far as the rendering thereof is possible."
So indeed it happened, for on the morning of the next day another bodywas found in the cemetery near Bussorah lying half-devoured on thegrave of Noureddin Hassan's wife, Amina. And the body was that ofNoureddin, self-slain, who in this manner had not only fulfilled theinjunction of the Cadi but had also kept his bargain with the ghoul byproviding the required number of corpses.
WE'LL BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW
by Mortimer Weisinger
That Penn State Froth, the official comic magazine for PennUniversity, recently burlesqued Amazing Stories.
That Charles Willard Diffin composes his stuff on a dictaphone.
That the A. in A. Hyatt Verrill's name stands for Alpheus.
That Jack Williamson is the only writer who ever copped a cover foreach part of a serial.
That it's ironic that the letters in Verne's name, rearranged, spell'never.'
That P. S. Miller is a descendant of Alexander Hamilton.
That Wonder Stories is the only s-f mag on file in the New York PublicLibrary.
That the reason the first eleven issues of Amazing Stories wereprinted on heavy paper was because the publishers wanted to give thefans "a big package for their money."
That, with the exception of his first story, Hamilton has never had astory refused by Weird Tales. And even the first was accepted afterrewriting.
That William Briggs MacHarg and Edwin Balmer (the creators of LutherTrant) are brothers-in-law.
That Wonder Stories paid over seven cents a word for Charles Tanner'sstory "The Color of Space."
That Forrest J. Ackerman used to correspond regularly with 115 fans.
That Jack Williamson is a cowboy.
That Charles Cloukey was fifteen years old when he sold his firststory.
That the mystery novel, "The 13th Murder," refers to Amazing Storiesand Weird Tales as "detective and mystery fiction"--and they ringSaturn!
That the story, "Warriors of Space," featured in the first issue ofScience Wonder Stories, was a sequel to "The World in the Balance," inan old Argosy.
That Hugo Gernsback conducted a contest in Science & Invention toobtain a name for his projected magazine--named Amazing Stories afterthe winner was announced.
That P. Schuyler Miller had a B.S. and an M.S. degree before he was 21.
MY SCIENCE FICTION COLLECTION
by Forrest J. Ackerman
Part Five
More for my own satisfaction than anything else, is the second part ofthis last division of my collection; "stills." These are scenes from ascore of fantasy pictures ranging in size from 5" x to 11" x 14", andin subjects from prehistoric monsters of 10,000,000 years ago toexploring interplanetary parties of the future. There are many scenesfrom "Metropolis" of the vast, shining electricity, of the insidefurnishings of the buildings, of the costumes of the people of thattime; and there are pictures of the machinery to run the city, theunderground world, the robotrix, the televisors. From "King Kong" Ihave 9 stills: a brontosaurus, an allosaur about to eat a man, Kong onexhibition in New York, in the jungle with the girl, smashing in abuilding, atop the Empire State, etc.
Secured from 'Frankenstein' are pictures of the monster, and hismaking in the laboratory. "Just Imagine" offers scenes ofheaven-scraped New York in 1980, of the rocket for Mars, of the niftylittle earthplanes. I have seven interesting pictures from "The MostDangerous Game." Laboratories and the death ray of "The Mask ofFu-Manchu" are included. From Wells' "Island of Lost Souls" there arephotos of the evoluted animals of a hundred thousand years hence;ape-men, the panther-woman, wolf-creatures, etc. "High Treason" offersnumerous stills: television, the European city, war in 1940, a dancehall of seven years ahead, the English Channel sub-sea express, abroadcasted trial, and more. "The Mummy" is shown returning to life,prehistoric monsters from "The Mystery of Life" are present.Machinery, experiments, scientists--all from the stf-detective tale,"Doctor X." I also have several
stills from "By Rocket to the Moon,"such as those showing the model rocket and its trip--also pictures ofMars, Saturn, the end of the world, and an ethership from "OurHeavenly Bodies" a scene from "The Lost World," "The Stellar Express,"and many others.
[In part six, next month, Mr. Ackerman concludes his interestingarticle.]
HOW TO COLLECT FANTASY FICTION
by Julius Schwartz
Part Five--Conclusion
Fantasy booklets have appeared at lesser intervals. _Amazing Stories_put out Landell Bartlet's "Vanguard of Venus" in 1928. Gernsback hasput out 18 science fiction booklets, of which only the last six arenow in print. He likewise issued a reprint of Garret Smith's "BetweenWorlds". Mimeographed booklets were put out by Carl Swanson (EdmondHamilton's "The Metal Giants", a reprint) and by the Fantasy FictionPublications ("Guests of the Earth" by Hugh Langley). The ArraPrinters have put out A. Merritt's "Thru the Dragon Glass," "TheCavemen of Venus," "The Price of Peace," and Dr. Keller's "Wolf HollowBubbles."
This article wouldn't be complete without mention of the hard-coveredfantasies. It's a hopeless task to try and muster even a tenth of allthe fantasy books. The best way to go about it, however, is to "haunt"the second-hand book stores and scrutinize any book whose title soundspromising or inviting.
There's one tantalizing feature connected with the collection offantastic fiction: your collection will Never be complete! But thismisfortune has one commendable merit. The collector's interest inFantasy fiction will never wane.
The End
SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE
Part Four
by H. P. Lovecraft
(copyright 1927, by W. Paul Cook)
II The Dawn of the Horror Tale
As may naturally be expected of a form so closely connected withprimal emotion, the horror tale is as old as human thought and speechthemselves.
Cosmic terror appears as an ingredient of the earliest folklore of allraces, and is crystalized in the most archaic ballads, chronicles, andsacred writings. It was, indeed, a prominent feature of the elaborateceremonial magic, with its rituals for the evocation of demons andspectres which flourished from prehistoric times, and which reachedits highest development in Egypt and the Semetic nations. Fragmentslike the Book of Enoch and the Claviculae of Solomon well illustratethe power of the weird over the ancient Eastern mind, and upon suchthings were based enduring systems and traditions, whose echoes extendobscurely even to the present time. Touches of this transcendentalfear are seen in classic literature and there is evidence of its stillgreater emphasis in a balled literature which paralleled the classicstream, but vanished for lack of a written medium. The Middle Ages,steeped in fanciful darkness, gave it an enormous impulse towardexpression; and East and West alike were busy preserving andamplifying the dark heritage, both of random folklore and ofacademically formulated magic and cabalism, which had descended tothem. Witch, werewolf, vampire, and ghoul brooded ominously on thelips of bard and grandam, and needed but little encouragement to takethe final step across the boundary that divides the chanted tale orsong from the formal literary composition. In the Orient, the weirdtale tended to assume a gorgeous colouring and sprightliness whichalmost transmuted it into sheer phantasy. In the West, where themystical Teuton had cone down from his black Boreal forests and theCelt remembered strange sacrifices in Druidic groves, it assumed aterrible intensity and convincing seriousness of atmosphere whichdoubled the force of its half-told, half-hinted horrors.
Much of the power of Western horror-lore was undoubtedly due to thehidden but often suspected presence of a hideous cult of nocturnalworshipers whose strange customs--descended from pre-Aryan andpre-agricultural times when a squat race of Mongoloids roved overEurope with their flocks and herds--were rooted in the most revoltingfertility-rites of immemorial antiquity. This secret religion,stealthily handed down amongst peasants for thousands of years despitethe outward reign of the Druidic, Graeco-Roman, and Christian faithsin the regions involved, was marked by wild "Witches' Sabbaths" inlonely woods and atop distant hills on Walpurgis Night and Hallowe'en,the traditional breeding-seasons of the goats and sheep and cattle;and became the source of vast riches of sorcery legend, besidesprovoking extensive witchcraft prosecutions of which the Salem affairforms the chief American example. Akin to it in essence, and perhapsconnected with it in fact, was the frightful secret system of invertedtheology or Satan-worship which produced such horrors as the famous"Black Mass"; whilst operating toward the same end we may note theactivities of those whose aims were somewhat more scientific orphilosophical--the astrologers, cabbalists, and alchemists of theAlbertus Magnus or Raymond Lully type, with whom such rude agesinvariably abound. The prevalence and depth of the medievalhorror-spirit in Europe, intensified by the dark despair whichwaves of pestilence brought, may be fairly gauged by the grotesquecarvings slyly introduced into much of the finest later Gothicecclesiastical work of the time; the demoniac gargoyles of NotreDame and Mont St. Michel being among the most famous specimens. Andthroughout the period, it must be remembered, there existed amongsteducated and uneducated alike, a most unquestioning faith in everyform of the supernatural; from the gentlest of Christian doctrinesto the most monstrous morbidities of witchcraft and black magic.It was from no empty background that the Renaissance magicians andalchemists--Nostradamus, Trithemius, Dr. John Dee, Robert Fludd, andthe like--were born.
In this fertile soil were nourished types and characters of sombermyth and legend which persist in weird literature to this day, more orless disguised or altered by modern technique. Many of then were takenfrom the earliest oral sources, and form part of mankind's permanentheritage. The shade which appears and demands the burial of its bones,the demon lover who comes to bear away his still living bride, thedeath-fiend or psychopomp riding the night-wind, the man-wolf, thesealed chamber, the deathless sorcerer--all those may be found in thatcurious body of mediaeval lore which the late Mr. Baring-Gould soeffectively assembled in book form. Wherever the mystic Northern bloodwas strongest, the atmosphere of the popular tales became mostintense; for in the Latin races there is a touch of basic rationalitywhich denies to even their strangest superstitions many of theovertones of glamour so characteristic of our own forest-born andice-fostered whisperings.
(continued next month)
The Sacred Bird
Annals of the Jinns--4
by R. H. Barlow
There appeared one day in the market-place of Ulathia a most peculiarfowl which fell exhausted from the skies. Its plumage was of brillianthue, and despite its confusion, a wise and knowing look was seenwithin the orange eyes. After resting a moment, it fluttered about thesquare, entering the various shops in a proprietary manner and finallysettled in that of a sweetmeat dealer. Soon all the tradesfolk hurriedacross the cobble-stones to see this gaudy visitor and to feed it manytid-bits. Not in the least bothered by its admiring audience, itpermitted its head to be scratched and petted as it ate.
In time, the news spread through the thatched houses to the ears ofthe Imperial Council, all of which laid down their pens and came in abody to view it. It was discovered by them greedily eating a preservedorange-rind, a meal varied by occasional pecks at a nut. Havingalready devoured odds and ends of all sorts, it was no longer hungry,and even as they panted in, it fell asleep. When the crowd drew asideto admit the rotund Council, it complained loudly.
"Gwarn arf 'n chase y'self!" commanded the half-awake bird. "Gwarnarf," it repeated, fluttering its wings and adjusting for a nice nap.It then uttered a rasping incoherency and dozed off placidly. Thepeople drew back whispering excitedly. "A demon!" averred one. Thisbrought a chorus of dissention among the others. "An angel.... Just atrick.... Who ever heard of a bird talking?... A magician indisguise.... What has happened?... Still thy tongue, neighbor...."
... The head of the Council, a gray-beard notoriously superstitious,cleared his threat and a silence fell over all present. "My friends,"he gurgled happily, "My _dear_ friends and fellow citizens! This is anoccasion of
undoubted significance in the annals of our fair city,equalled only by that of, as you doubtless will realize, early in thereign of--rather; to continue; In other words, my dear friends," hebegan over, unable to sustain the sentence any longer, "To make itclear to all concerned, this is, I believe, and no one, I hope, wouldcontradict me, I have occasion to think--" Here his voice lowered to awhisper and ended in a triumphant shout, "A _Messenger_ sent to guideus!" He leered cheerfully at the mob. "Therefore, let us convey it instate to the City Hall to rule us as it sees fit!"
Which was forthwith done amid much celebration, and the chattering ofthe escaped parrot from that day guided the fortunes of the city ofUlathia, interpreted by the Ruler and his Council as they desired.
* * * * *
Another tale in this series will appear next month.
OUR READERS SAY
S. M. White, one of our New Zealand readers is not altogether satisfiedwith science fiction in general:
"_The Fantasy Fan_ is of great interest to me. I hope that it keeps ongoing. I have two objections to scientifiction--1. There is too much'blood and thunder.' 2. Not enough originality in plots. Thus too muchspoils the flavor. But there are several themes on which few of yourauthors have touched. 1. A story with lots of science. 2. A storyconcerning that which comes after death (if anything). 3. A reallyhumorous story. 4. None of the authors except H. G. Wells has tried tosolve the problem of labor vs. capital. Stories often end up: "Workersof the world, you are free!" Free to what? Technocracy? NRA?Vanderbiltism? These four ought to keep writers busy."