“After many aeons men came to the land of Mnar; dark shepherd folk with their fleecy flocks, who built Thraa, Ilarnek, and Kadatheron on the winding river Ai.”
(The Doom That Came to Sarnath, pg.70)
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“The Doom That Came to Sarnath”
Today we’re back to worshiping the old gods and what not to do when faced with ancient possibly-fish folk who do so. This story speaks of the far past when men were in their early years of slowly covering the planet. They came to the land of Mnar and built the city of Sarnath beside a lake. Across the lake lived a strange people (and by Lovecraft’s description sound rather fish or frog-like) in a city of Ib where they worshiped a water-lizard named Bokrug.
Rather than leaving Ib alone, the men of Sarnath hated them for no other reason than they were weird and different. So in classic man nature, they attacked Ib, killed everything, tore it all down, and hauled back the green stone carving of Bokrug as a trophy. That night a high priest died after writing the word “DOOM,” and the statue disappeared. Fast forward a thousand years and on the anniversary of Ib’s destruction, a green mist (among other things) appears from the lake, washes over Sarnath, and it is no more.
But if you lived anywhere between the times of Ib’s destruction and the 1,000th year anniversary of said destruction, you had a pretty awesome life. Lovecraft essentially chronicles the rise of Sarnath from its early stages to a Rome-like era with gladiatorial fights and chariots, to the building of all kinds of amazing wonders. As per usual, he details them out so you can walk within the city and see all of its marvels for yourself. And then on that fateful night – bye-bye Sarnath. Once again, we’re also treated to Lovecraft’s gift of naming things. I’m a sucker for a good fantastical name for a place, thing, or person.
It’s a pretty simple story in terms of what happens. Moral of the story? Don’t hate on people just because they’re different – or else Bokrug the water-lizard will murder all your ancestors a thousand years from now.
Or just don’t hate on fish people. Period.
“The Statement of Randolph Carter”
This tale is apparently from a dream Lovecraft had – which only serves to make me wonder what else that man dreamed about. Here, Randolph Carter (first person, as always) accompanies his friend Harley Warren to the Big Cypress Swamp where an ancient cemetery lies. The story is Carter relaying this story to what sounds like lawmen or judges on the whereabouts of Warren. He acknowledges how wild his story must sound, but insists it’s the truth.
Once at the cemetery, they open a crypt, and down goes Warren. Using a telephone line, they’re able to communicate, but unfortunately Warren sees some awful stuff that he can’t relate because it’s too awful (obviously) and begs Carter to close the crypt. The exchange continues on until Warren is heard no more. Pleading for Warren to respond, Carter then hears a voice from the depths on the other end of the line that tells him Warren is dead.
It kind of harkens back to those old scary stories with that creepy “twist” at the end, though given that this was a dream, that kind of sucks because that would be pretty awful. Even more so because the names in the story were changed and the character of Warren was originally someone else that Lovecraft actually knew. So that’s unfortunate. I know I wouldn’t want to have a dream like that. So as a story maybe it doesn’t seem so terrifying, but as a nightmare? Peace out.
Featured image © Nicole Taft
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