Part 69 (1/2)
399third Two very similar maps were then prepared (see pp 421-423) as well as the short Notes on Various Peoples of the Hyborian Age (see pp 375-378)
Of the many countries first described in these essays and maps, several would never actually be used or dom,” for instance, only appears in these docuia are the vast black kingdoms of the Amazons, the Kushi+tes, the Atlaians, and the hybrid empire of Zimbabwe” Only the Kushi+tes would make it to the series In 1936, Hoould explain his position in a letter to P Schuyler-Miller:
”I've never atteh I have a fairly clear outline of their geography inabout them I feel a certain amount of license, since the inhabitants of the western Hyborian nations were about as ignorant concerning the peoples and countries of the south and east as the people ofabout the western Hyborian nations I feel confined within the limits of known and inflexible boundaries and territories, but in fictionizing the rest of the world, I feel able to giveadopted a certain conception of geography and ethnology, I feel compelled to abide by it, in the interests of consistency My conception of the east and south is not so definite or so arbitrary”
Howard remained quite faithful to his conception of the Hyborian world as defined in his essay As he wrote ions were added to it This did not prevent hi names first used in a discarded story For example, the name ”Punt” was first used in an unfinished story for a city, but was used in later stories as the name of a country
Just as he had completed these documents, Horote an outline for a new Conan story (see
p 399), in which the Cimmerian was to operate as a thief in the Maul of a Zamorian city
Howard decided not to flesh out this tale, possibly due to news received froht wrote:
”Dear Mr Howard: I ahter' in a separate envelope, as I do not much care for it But 'The Phoenix of [sic] the Sword' has points of real excellence I hope you will see your way clear to touch it up and resubmit it It is the first two chapters that do not click The story opens rather uninterestingly, it see hiins superbly; but after King Conan's personality is well established, the chapter sags froe of the whole story e; because it seems a little weak after the stupendous events that precede it”
Given the work Hoas putting into building his new series, the news must have dealt him a temporary blow, the more so since The God in the Bowl, undoubtedly sent a few days after
400the first two stories, would be rejected too
The God in the Boas relegated to the archives Howard thought highly enough of The Frost Giant's Daughter, however, to give the story to a fanzine a few months later with Conan's nahter (In the hter azine) By the tihter was published, in 1934, readers familiar with the Conan stories wouldn't fail to note that the name Amra was mentioned in The Scarlet Citadel (published in Weird Tales for January 1933) as an alias for Conan
Howard then reworked The Phoenix on the Sword according to Wright's suggestions, elies of the Hyborian world and recycling his country- names into the newly-created ”Nemedian Chronicles” A few days later Howard sent off the new version, and by April 1932 he could report to Lovecraft:
”I've been working on a new character, providing hiotten, but which reht rejected most of the series, but I did sell him one 'The Phoenix on the Sword' which deals with the adventures of King Conan the Cidom of Aquilonia”
By ”hter and The God in the Bowl
After having completed and sent the revised version of The Phoenix on the Sword, Howard immediately proceeded to write a new Conan story, one that would be the first to really integrate his new conception of the Hyborian world, and thus to introduce it to the reader The idea for The Tower of the Elephant was likely born as Hoas revising The Phoenix on the Sword (whose final draft mentions ”Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider- haunted mystery”) The new tale was also born on the ashes of the never fleshed-out synopsis mentioned above, in which (as in Tower ) Conan is a thief in the Maul of a Zamorian city The early phase of the creation of Conan was over Howard now had a firrasp not only of his character, but also of the universe he was operating in
The Tower of the Elephant is one of the best Conan stories, in which Howard masterfully inserted as many elements of the Hyborian world as was possible He opened his story in a tavern of ill-repute and peopled it with as , of course, another Ciues were the doers at their girdles and guile in their hearts But there olves of half a dozen outland nations there as well There was a giant Hyperborean renegade, taciturn, dangerous, with a broadsword strapped to his great gaunt frame for men wore steel openly in the Maul There was a
401Shemitish counterfeiter, with his hook nose and curled blue-black beard There was a bold- eyed Brythunian wench, sitting on the knee of a tawny-haired Gunder mercenary soldier, a deserter froue whose bawdy jests were causing all the shouts of mirth was a professional kidnapper co to Zae of the art than he could ever attain”
In a later portion of the tale, Howard had Yag-kosha explain to Conan and the reader the most important phases of the creation of the Hyborian world:
”We sawcities of Valusia, Kamelia, Commoria, and their sisters We saw them reel before the thrusts of the heathen Atlanteans and Picts and Leulf Atlantis and Le cities of civilization We saw the survivors of Pictdoo down to ruin, locked in bloody wars We saw the Picts sink into abysain We sa savages drift southward in conquering waves frodoms called Nemedia, and Koth, and Aquilonia and their sisters We saw your people rise under a new nales of the apes that had been Atlanteans We saw the descendants of the Leh savagery and ride ard, as Hyrkanians Andthis race of devils, survivors of the ancient civilization that was before Atlantis sank, codom of Zamora”
Howard sent the new story late in the month, and he could report to Lovecraft a few days later that:
”Wright took another of the Conan the Ci of which is a the spider-haunted jeweled towers of Zamora the Accursed, while Conan was still a thief by profession, before he cashi+p”
In the sole month of March 1932, Howard, ”without es of Conan material, to sell only two stories
It appears that Howard did not work on Conan for the next several weeks Presue Weird Tales with more Conan stories until those which had been accepted were scheduled But the Hyborian world was quite present in Howard's mind
402