The God in the Bowl
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The original short story was written by Robert E. Howard and first appeared in a 1952 issue of Space Science Fiction magazine.
"The God in the Bowl" is one of the original short stories about Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard, but not published during his lifetime. It is set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and concerns Conan robbing a temple museum only to be ensnared in bizarre events and be deemed the prime suspect in a murder mystery. The story first saw publication in September 1952 in Space Science Fiction and has been reprinted many times since, notably in the collections The Coming of Conan (Gnome Press, 1953) and Conan (Lancer Books, 1967). It has most recently been republished in the collections The Conan Chronicles Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle (Gollancz, 2000) and Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932-1933) (Del Rey, 2003).
[edit] Plot Overview
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
| “ | "Arus the watchman grasped his crossbow with shaky hands, and he felt beads of clammy perspiration on his skin as he stared at the unlovely corpse sprawling on the polished floor before him. It is not pleasant to come upon Death in a lonely place at midnight..." | ” |
|
— Robert E. Howard, "The God in the Bowl"
|
One night in the degenerate municipality of Numalia, the second largest Nemedian city, Conan enters a fantastic establishment: a great museum and antique house which laymen call the Temple of Kallian Publico.
In the midst of robbing this temple museum, Conan finds himself embroiled in a murder investigation when the strangled corpse of the temple's owner and curator, Kallian Publico, is found by a night watchman. Though the Cimmerian is the prime suspect, the investigating magistrate and the prefect of police show remarkable forebearance, allowing Conan not only to remain free, but also to keep his unsheathed sword while their nervous men search the shadowy premises.
As the on-scene investigation unfolds, the magistrate soon learns Publico had received from distant Stygia a strange bowl-like sarcophagus that now lies unsealed, open, and empty. This sarcophagus was said to be a priceless relic found among the darkened tombs far beneath the Stygian pyramids and sent to Kalanthes, a denizen of Numalia, "because of the love the sender bore the priest of Ibis." Intercepting this rare item meant for Kalanthes, Kallian Publico had believed the sarcophagus contained the fabled diadem of the giant-kings whose primordial kin dwelt in that dark southern land before the ancestors of the Stygians came there. However, clearly, the object contained within was not the diadem, but something of a more insidious nature.
While the magistrate and his men are baffled when uncovering this aforementioned information, the reader quickly begins to suspect the murderer may have been something other than entirely human and was contained within the now-opened sarcophagus.
A scream, a death, and the police retreat from the temple museum; thus, leaving Conan to fend for himself with the roaming "murderer." Conan eventually locates the culprit whom he hesitantly dispatches with his long sword, learning only in the final sentence the true horror of "the god in the bowl."
[edit] External links
- Conan wiki • The God in the Bowl • Synopsis, characters, locations, and publishing history
- Conan the Barbarian at AmratheLion.com
- Conan.com: The Official Website
