| "The Owl and the Ape" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short story byL. Sprague de Camp | |||
 W. E. Terry's illustration of the story inImagination | |||
| Country | United States | ||
| Language | English | ||
| Genre(s) | Fantasy | ||
| Publication | |||
| Published in | Imagination: Stories of Science and Fantasy | ||
| Media type | Print (Magazine) | ||
| Publication date | November,1951 | ||
| Chronology | |||
| Series | Pusadian series | ||
| |||
"The Owl and the Ape" is afantasy story by American writerL. Sprague de Camp, part of hisPusadian series. It was first published in the magazineImagination: Stories of Science and Fantasy for November, 1951, and first appeared in book form in the de Camp's collectionThe Tritonian Ring and Other Pusadian Tales (Twayne, 1953). The story has also appeared in the anthologyKingdoms of Sorcery (1976).[1][2] and the de Camp omnibus collectionLest Darkness Fall/Rogue Queen/The Tritonian Ring and Other Pusadian Tales (2014).[2] It has also been translated intoGerman.[1]
Young Gezun of Lorsk, bound to the service of a sorcerer named Sancheth Sar, is sent by his master to bid on the Hordhum Manuscript, one of the magical effects of the retiring magician Dauskezh Van. The errand is complicated and the competition fierce, as the bidding is anonymous and his master's rival, Nikurteu Bayla, is also after the manuscript. But Gezun parries almost all of Bayla's stratagems.
Chronologically, "The Owl and the Ape" is the third of de Camp's Pusadian tales, and the first to feature his protagonist Gezun of Lorsk. Gezun is a teenager at the time of this story.[1]
In common with the other Pusadian tales, "The Owl and the Ape" takes place in a prehistoric era during which a magic-basedAtlantian civilization supposedly throve in what was then a single continent consisting ofEurasia joined withAfrica, and in the islands to the west. It is similar in conception toRobert E. Howard'sHyborian Age, by which it was inspired, but more astutely constructed, utilizing actualIce Age geography in preference to a wholly invented one. In de Camp's scheme, the legend of this culture that came down to classicGreece as "Atlantis" was a garbled memory that conflated the mighty Tartessian Empire with the island continent of Pusad and the actual Atlantis, a barbaric mountainous region that is today theAtlas mountain range.
| Preceded by | Pusadian series "The Owl and the Ape" | Succeeded by |
 | This article about afantasyshort story (or stories) published in the 1950s is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
