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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2016 15:15:14 GMT -5
I have been thinking about starting a thread on this for some time. I thought, initially, it best to start with what Robert E. Howard had to say about the Altaic peoples (Turkic, Mongolian and Tungusic peoples) in his letters to HP Lovecraft. I've typed out some quotes below from 'A Means to Freedom' so there may be a few errors or typos - but, if you notice any errors please point them out. There's also a considerable amount written about the Altaic peoples by Robert E. Howard in his historical tales - I will try to add some material from the stories later. I'm gonna be working through 'A Means to Freedom' for now because I'm enjoying it immensely. As with similar threads can we please avoid 'politics' and all that stuff. There's plenty Robert E. Howard had to say about the Altaic peoples, from what I can tell, he had an admiration and respect for the early Turko-Mongol nomads, but his admiration seemed to diminish once the nomad conquerors settled down and indulged in the trappings of Civilization. But, the more we add to this thread could change 'What I think I know?' or 'What we think we Know?' about Robert E Howard's Views on the Huns, Mongols, Tatars & Turks. REH letter to HPL, (c. October, 1930)'The caliphates were crumbling to decay when the Seljuk Turks overran and assumed the leadership of Islam. The cultural progress ceased; the Turk never built anything; his mission in life has been to destroy. He is in many ways, the counterpart of the Dane of Viking days, who, incapable 'himself' of creating, nipped the growth culture of Saxon-England in the bud and almost totally blotted out civilization in Ireland. The Turanian has always, it seemed to me, been the man of action rather than the man of study and art. He has been, and still is, bold, adventuresome, capable and unsentimental, brutal and domineering; in creative genius he is infinitely inferior to the Semitic race. It would have been bad for the west had Martel lost at Tours; it would have been infinitely worse if the Occident had fallen before the hordes of Attila, Genghis Khan or Timur-il-lang.'
Means to Freedom, p.83 REH letter to HPL (c. December, 1930)
'For my part the mystical phase of the East has always interested me less than the material side - the red and royal panorama of war, rapine and conquest. What I write for 'Oriental Stories' will be pure action, and romance - mainly historical tales. And I greatly fear that my Turks and Mongols are merely Irishmen and Englishmen in turbans in sandals!'
Means to Freedom, p.101
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2016 15:18:41 GMT -5
Here's a couple more excerpts from a letter sent to HPL , dated 9 August, 1932. ' When a race - almost any race - is emerging from barbarism, or not yet emerged, they hold my interest. I can seem to understand them, and to write intelligently of them. But as they progress toward civilization, my grip on them begins to weaken, until at last it vanishes entirely, and I find their ways and thoughts and ambitions perfectly alien and baffling. Thus the first Mongol conquerors of China and india inspire in me the most intense interest and appreciation; but a few generations later when they have adopted the civilization of their subjects, they stir not a hint of interest in my mind. My study of history has been a continual search for newer barbarians, from age to age. By the way, the study of the East Roman or Byzantine empire contains a certain amount of interest, what of their continuous wars and intrigues with the Moslems and barbarians Mongoloid and Aryan. what a strange mingling of voluptuous luxury and bloody conspiracy that empire must have been.'
Means to Freedom, p.338
'The Mongols and Tatars were great eaters and drinkers, and especially in their more nomadic stages. Easily seen why; they lived a strenuous active outdoor life, and then food was not always handy. When they had plenty, it was their instinct to gobble as much as possible, against the times when they may go hungry. I hardly see how the Mongols of the Gobi managed to live, when their food consisted almost entirely of meat and milk - cheese and butter perhaps, and fermented mare's milk. They apparently had no grain, vegetables or fruit of any sort. At least not when they were penned in the wastes outside the Great Wall by the power of the Chinese. I'm all for the nomads when it came to wasting China. They'd had nothing but abuse from the Chinese for ages.
That reminds me - that business about Turanian drunkeness - that some of the readers took exception to my making Tamerlane a drinking man. I expected to be attacked on other scores - on Bayazid's suicide, which of course never took place - about my version of Timour's death - more particular I expected to be denounced because of the weapon my character used in that slaying. There were firearms in the world then, and had been for some time, but they were of the matchlock order. I doubt if there were any flint-lock weapons in Asia in 1405. But the readers pounced on the point I least expected - the matter of Muhammadan drunkards. They maintained that according to the Koran, Moslems never drank. Wright admitted in the souk that the Koran forbade liquor, but went on to quote a long extract from Clivijo's memoirs to prove that Timour and his Tatars drank to excess.
Means to Freedom, p.343-344
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2016 15:29:37 GMT -5
Must be getting tired, this thread should've been in the 'Robert E. Howard Discussion'
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Post by deuce on Sept 23, 2016 1:01:00 GMT -5
Cool idea for a thread! A Means to Freedom is a great read. Many REH fans don't realize how fascinating his letters are. You'll be quoting from that tome for awhile, I think. Sometimes, for clarity, you might need to post a snippet from HPL. I've got all three REH volumes, so I'll see about pitching in from time to time. BTW, those Frazetta pics look cool, but they're not strictly historically accurate. I've been recently informed by an authoritarian source that laxness in that regard is a big no-no.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2016 4:34:22 GMT -5
Cool idea for a thread! A Means to Freedom is a great read. Many REH fans don't realize how fascinating his letters are. You'll be quoting from that tome for awhile, I think. Sometimes, for clarity, you might need to post a snippet from HPL. I've got all three REH volumes, so I'll see about pitching in from time to time. BTW, those Frazetta pics look cool, but they're not strictly historically accurate. I've been recently informed by an authoritarian source that laxness in that regard is a big no-no. I agree, A Means to Freedom is a great read. The letters between REH and HPL are, again, I agree with you very fascinating, and I'd say essential reading for a Howard fan - unfortunately, the 2 volumes are expensive, they deserve an inexpensive reprint. I hope to be adding excerpts from Lovecraft to help put the Howard quotes into context and hopefully create some kind of flow to their letters. I remember reading 'Barbarism vs. Civilization' - letters to H.P. Lovecraft by Patrice Louinet, (Ultimate Triumph, Wandering Star, 1999) and found it fascinating (that word again) and intriguing.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2016 11:47:06 GMT -5
Robert E. Howard's Letter to Adventure Magazine concerning the tribes of Mongolia. Letter to the Ask Adventure column of the pulp magazine Adventure, published March 20, 1924, with a reply by Dr. Twomey (of the Ask Adventure staff) I am writing for information in regard to the tribes of Mongolia.1. What is the Mongol word for "wolf"? For "tiger"? For "sword"?2. Is the language used by the Mongols similar to that of the Tartars?3. Do the Kirghiz inhabit Mongolia or Chinese Turkestan?4. Are there any Baskir tribes in Chinese Turkestan, and are they allied to the Turkomans[sic]?5. Am I right in supposing that swords or simitars[sic] still form an important part of a Mongol or Tartar warrior's armament?6. Do the Mongol or Tartar tribes worship Erlik, Bon or Buddha? Or all three?7. Is it still customary for the tribes to meet at some place an engage in wrestling, horse-racing and other contests?8. Is polygamy practiced?9. What are the different forms of punishment by law and tribal custom?10. What are the powers of the khan of a tribe?11. About what is the population of Mongolia?Robert E. HowardCross Plains, Tex.Answer by Dr. Twomey:I will try to answer some of your questions in this letter and write you again as soon as I can secure the information you desire.1. Will report later.2. No, Mongol and Tartar are separate languages. Furthermore there are several branches of Mongols and Tartars, and each branch has a different language. Among the Tartars there are the Manchu, Mongol, Chinese, Tibetan and Siberian Tartars. These tribes are mixtures of the old Tartar stock and the other tribes. In Siberia there are also the Buriats, who are of Tartar origin and who have their own language. All these tribes have many words in common and many words peculiar to themselves. The Mongols are now also mixed with other tribes, and while they adhere to many of their ancient customs their language is mixed with many words from the Chinese and other languages.3. The Kirghiz tribes inhabit Sinkiang or Chinese Turkestan.4. Will report later.5. Yes. The Mongols and Tartars have adopted modern firearms whenever they can get them, but the sword is still an important part of their armament.6. Have never heard of Erlik. Can you send more information? Several well-posted people whom I have asked have never heard of this term?Bon is the name of the religion affected by the Tibetans before the advent of Buddhism. At present the Tartars and Mongols are adherents of Lamaism, a corrupt form of Buddhism.Lamaism is under the control of the Dalai Lama at Lassa[sic]. He is supposed to be the reincarnation of Buddha. Under him are three living Buddhas in Tibet. These men are reincarnations of some of the most famous Buddhist saints. At Urga in northern Mongolia is another living Buddha, known to the Mongols as the Bogda. He is the holy man of the Mongols and derives his authority direct from Lassa.7. Yes. If you will write to the Pioneering Company, Kalgan, Mogolia, via Peking, they will send you a lot of information about this subject. They own a large ranch in Mongolia and every year entertain tourists with a fiesta of Mongol sports.8. Yes, to a limited extent. As in most other countries where polygamy is practiced, it depends on the wealth of the men. Usually in Mongolia the officials are the only ones who can afford to possess more than one wife.9. Fines, whipping, imprisonment and in aggravated cases imprisonment in a small box. This box is locked. It contains a small hole, through which the friends and relatives of the prisoner can feed him if they wish. The prisoner is left in his box until he dies of starvation if his friends do not feed him.10. As in all pastoral countries, the chief has nominal power. He is usually head if a family or group of families, and much is settled by family conferences. Most of the temporal and spiritual authority in Mongolia is in the hands of the lamas.11. Nobody knows. No census has ever been taken. The tribes are migratory, and no census can be taken. Some authorities say about five million; but your guess is as good as theirs.here's the link. wikilivres.ca/wiki/Robert_E._Howard_to_Adventure,_Mar_20,_1924
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Post by deuce on Sept 24, 2016 13:55:28 GMT -5
This afterword to Sword Woman by Howard Andrew Jones mentions the letter above and examines the massive influence of Harold Lamb on REH:
If Howard had never crossed paths with Adventure until 1921, then he missed the earliest phase of Lamb’s Adventure years, when he wrote the first fourteen stories of his signature character, Khlit the Cossack. Howard does not seem to have encountered the aging warrior until Khlit’s return as a secondary character; this is a shame, for the third through the ninth tales of the wandering Cossack are some of the finest adventure fiction ever written. They take the Cossack across the steppes of Asia, into ancient tombs and the citadels of kings, bringing him face-to-face with emperors living and dead, bold comrades, scheming traitors, and lovely damsels. Tempting as it is to speculate that Robert E. Howard devoured these earliest tales, we have no record that he did so, though it is easy to imagine that he would have enjoyed reading them.
It seems clear, though, that Howard was a follower of the second, shorter cycle of Cossack stories that Lamb penned, featuring characters named Ayub and Demid. Howard wrote a poem titled with the twain’s name, although the poem is unfortunately lost. Demid is lean, hawkish, quiet, thoughtful; a talented swordsman, he is also a natural leader. Ayub is not as bright – he’d rather act first and then think – but he’s a seasoned veteran and loyal friend, a mighty man who wields a massive two-handed sword and who can drink any fellow under the table.
Readers of the Conan tales can find references to Howard’s Kozaks and it is tempting to credit this influence, and the manner in which certain terms are used, to Lamb. But we should not assume too much. While Lamb’s shadow likely lies over these stories, he wasn’t the only pulp writer to pen Cossack tales.
What we do know is that Howard once sat down with a large stack of Lamb stories and transcribed all of the foreign words for equipment and clothing he found within them. Howard scholar Patrice Louinet found a list of these words in among Howard’s papers and, suspecting they might be from Lamb stories, conferred with me. By searching the texts we discovered that the terms were listed in the same order that they had appeared in several Lamb stories: “The Shield,” “The Sea of Ravens,” “Kirdy,” “The Witch of Aleppo,” “White Falcon,” and “The Wolf Chaser.” Clearly Howard must have found inspiration in these stories, or the stack would not have been so deep. For further evidence that Lamb’s tales struck some primal chord, we need look no further than Lamb’s “The Wolf Chaser.” Howard wrote a five-hundred-word recap of the story, then wrote nearly a thousand words of his own take on the events, reusing the place names and some of the characters.
Preserved in Howard’s body of letters are two that he wrote to Adventure. In February of 1924 he wrote the editors to ask more than a dozen questions about Mongolia; Howard wanted to know Mongol names for objects and creatures like swords and tigers, whether or not Mongolians worshipped Erlik, Bon, Buddha, or all three, where exactly the Khirgiz lived, and many other questions besides. He almost certainly had encountered these terms in Lamb’s Adventure tales.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2016 14:33:10 GMT -5
This afterword to Sword Woman by Howard Andrew Jones mentions the letter above and examines the massive influence of Harold Lamb on REH: If Howard had never crossed paths with Adventure until 1921, then he missed the earliest phase of Lamb’s Adventure years, when he wrote the first fourteen stories of his signature character, Khlit the Cossack. Howard does not seem to have encountered the aging warrior until Khlit’s return as a secondary character; this is a shame, for the third through the ninth tales of the wandering Cossack are some of the finest adventure fiction ever written. They take the Cossack across the steppes of Asia, into ancient tombs and the citadels of kings, bringing him face-to-face with emperors living and dead, bold comrades, scheming traitors, and lovely damsels. Tempting as it is to speculate that Robert E. Howard devoured these earliest tales, we have no record that he did so, though it is easy to imagine that he would have enjoyed reading them.
It seems clear, though, that Howard was a follower of the second, shorter cycle of Cossack stories that Lamb penned, featuring characters named Ayub and Demid. Howard wrote a poem titled with the twain’s name, although the poem is unfortunately lost. Demid is lean, hawkish, quiet, thoughtful; a talented swordsman, he is also a natural leader. Ayub is not as bright – he’d rather act first and then think – but he’s a seasoned veteran and loyal friend, a mighty man who wields a massive two-handed sword and who can drink any fellow under the table.
Readers of the Conan tales can find references to Howard’s Kozaks and it is tempting to credit this influence, and the manner in which certain terms are used, to Lamb. But we should not assume too much. While Lamb’s shadow likely lies over these stories, he wasn’t the only pulp writer to pen Cossack tales.
What we do know is that Howard once sat down with a large stack of Lamb stories and transcribed all of the foreign words for equipment and clothing he found within them. Howard scholar Patrice Louinet found a list of these words in among Howard’s papers and, suspecting they might be from Lamb stories, conferred with me. By searching the texts we discovered that the terms were listed in the same order that they had appeared in several Lamb stories: “The Shield,” “The Sea of Ravens,” “Kirdy,” “The Witch of Aleppo,” “White Falcon,” and “The Wolf Chaser.” Clearly Howard must have found inspiration in these stories, or the stack would not have been so deep. For further evidence that Lamb’s tales struck some primal chord, we need look no further than Lamb’s “The Wolf Chaser.” Howard wrote a five-hundred-word recap of the story, then wrote nearly a thousand words of his own take on the events, reusing the place names and some of the characters.
Preserved in Howard’s body of letters are two that he wrote to Adventure. In February of 1924 he wrote the editors to ask more than a dozen questions about Mongolia; Howard wanted to know Mongol names for objects and creatures like swords and tigers, whether or not Mongolians worshipped Erlik, Bon, Buddha, or all three, where exactly the Khirgiz lived, and many other questions besides. He almost certainly had encountered these terms in Lamb’s Adventure tales.I'm gonna check out a book shop up the West end in London tomorrow, they may be able to help me get hold of some Harold Lamb books; obviously I'm gonna go for the Mongolian Tales in 'Swords from the East' and try to order at least one of the Cossack books. The influence of Harold Lamb is very interesting, and even though I have only read Lamb's history books (albeit, a long time ago) 'Genghis Khan', 'Tamerlane the Earth Shaker' and 'March of the Barbarians', I'll probably enjoy his historical fiction as well. I find it intriguing that Robert E. Howard, asked about Erlik, but not Tengri. Tengri, was and still is known in the Turko-Mongol world, irrespective of religion, a Buddhist, Turko-Mongol will still say or call upon Tengri or Tenger, in modern Mongolia. The same with muslim Turkic peoples; modern Turks still call out to Tengri, or Tanrı, in the modern Turkish Republic. I wonder how Howard found out about Erlik? Could it be from the historical fiction of the pulps, like the Adventure magazine? Or possibly, the accounts of early western explorers in Siberia?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2016 19:25:27 GMT -5
This afterword to Sword Woman by Howard Andrew Jones mentions the letter above and examines the massive influence of Harold Lamb on REH: Preserved in Howard’s body of letters are two that he wrote to Adventure. In February of 1924 he wrote the editors to ask more than a dozen questions about Mongolia; Howard wanted to know Mongol names for objects and creatures like swords and tigers, whether or not Mongolians worshipped Erlik, Bon, Buddha, or all three, where exactly the Khirgiz lived, and many other questions besides. He almost certainly had encountered these terms in Lamb’s Adventure tales.How did I miss this? There's plenty of 'Erlik' in Harold Lamb's Cossack and Mongolian tales. Now, I'll have to hunt them down. Hopefully, I will hunt better tomorrow, than I have observed today.
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Post by deuce on Sept 26, 2016 21:59:21 GMT -5
How did I miss this? There's plenty of 'Erlik' in Harold Lamb's Cossack and Mongolian tales. Now, I'll have to hunt them down. Hopefully, I will hunt better tomorrow, than I have observed today. Now you know why I posted that. On the Old Forum, I mentioned several times that Lamb name-dropped Erlik in his tales. However, I think Robert W. Chambers' novel, The Slayer of Souls (1920) was also a major influence. Howard was an RWC fan and that novel was all about Erlik worship. Also, I think REH did a little outside research, too. I say that because of his two "citadels of Erlik". One was named "Yolgan" and the other "Yahlgan". That's too close to "Ulgan" to be coincidence and you can't find the name in Lamb or RWC.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2016 3:14:03 GMT -5
How did I miss this? There's plenty of 'Erlik' in Harold Lamb's Cossack and Mongolian tales. Now, I'll have to hunt them down. Hopefully, I will hunt better tomorrow, than I have observed today. Now you know why I posted that. On the Old Forum, I mentioned several times that Lamb name-dropped Erlik in his tales. However, I think Robert W. Chambers' novel, The Slayer of Souls (1920) was also a major influence. Howard was an RWC fan and that novel was all about Erlik worship. Also, I think REH did a little outside research, too. I say that because of his two "citadels of Erlik". One was named "Yolgan" and the other "Yahlgan". That's too close to "Ulgan" to be coincidence and you can't find the name in Lamb or RWC. If I remember correctly, in the old forum, you was asking/investigating if there was a connection between Ulgan and the name of the province (aimag) Bulgan, in Mongolia? Thanks for the info Deuce.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2016 13:03:38 GMT -5
A modern rendition of Kul Tegin, a famous 8th century Türk warrior from Mongolia. With these letters REH and HPL discuss what it would have been like if the West had conquered the East in ancient times, and vice versa - for example what if Alexander the Great had conquered China? these excerpts concern the opposite possibility of the Eastern World conquering the Western World. Kinda reminds me of the Marvel 'What If?' comics. HPL to REH (May 7, 1932)It is my opinion that a Saracen conquest of Europe would have ended the Western World and established a dominant Moslem Empire, for the Arabs at their height were more civilised than we were at the same time. Had they conquered us physically, they could certainly imposed their culture on the land - as indeed they did for centuries in Spain. On the other hand, I doubt if the Tartars were civilised enough to do it. I think they would have become half-Aryanised - and heaven knows what sort of mongrel culture would have resulted.Means to Freedom, p.286 REH to HPL (24 May, 1932?)As you say, the Arabs, at their height, were far more highly civilized than we, and an Arabic conquest - had it not been the fundamental difference in nature - might not have been so bad - though the mind revolts at the thought. I agree with you that a Mongolian conquest would have been a mess. It seems to me that the Mongol tends to degenerate even quicker than the Aryan, when thrown from his nomadic pristine existence into luxurious environments, and more completely - as witness the decay of the Seljuks in Asia Minor, whose magnificent empire went to pieces scarcely more than fifty years after they swept out of High Asia. And look at the static condition of the Ottoman today - however, the Ottoman is a mongrel of the most tangled type, and he was never a Turk, anyhow, in the true sense of the word. If we'd been over-run and conquered by Turks or Tatars, I imagine the present-day western world would present a bewildering and paradoxical picture - probably with names like Yaruktash McDonald, Genghis O'Brien abd Tughluk Murphy. Means to Freedom, p.291
HPL to REH (June 8, 1932)
Speculations on historic might-have-beens are certainly interesting in the extreme, and I imagine you are largely right about the probable effect of a Mongol conquest of the western world. Today the basically Mongol stocks which (of course have much admixture) are classed as white are the Finns (whose Mongol heritage is residual and not a matter of conquest), the Magyars of Hungary, and the Turks. the Finns and Magyars have done pretty well in the matter of civilisation, but the Turks - in spite of Mustapha Kemal - remain to prove their capacity for Europeanisation.
Means to Freedom, p.306
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2016 14:32:35 GMT -5
This is a continuation of the 'What If?' discussion from the post above. Of course, as pointed out by Deuce in the 'Robert E. Howard's Views on the Finns Thread' REH considered the Finns and Magyars to be of Mongol stock, this is probably because the Uralic languages were seen to be related to the Altaic languages at the time. Most linguists have abandoned the Ural-Altaic theory since the latter half of the 20th century. link to 'Robert E. Howard's Views on the Finns Thread' swordsofreh.proboards.com/thread/294/robert-howards-views-on-finns REH to HPL (July 13, 1932) Speaking of Mongol stocks, I notice the Finns seem to be somewhat divided among themselves, even to the point of violence. But as you say, they and the Hungarians have adapted themselves to western civilization surprizingly well for Mongolians. I think the backwardness of the Turks can be laid partly to the fact that they have always been more or less of a conquering caste, with the resultant intolerance to change, and distaste of manual work. They came from the steppes, wandering fighting nomads, who gained their living by following the flocks and plundering their fellow-man. They imposed their will on hordes of country-folk who did their work for them. The Turk has always scorned all labor but that of war. And what fighters they are! They are the one people whom decay and degeneration has not robbed of their pristine warlike heritage. History does not show a race, not even Roman or Spartan, which can boast of such consistent courage. Clean or depraved, honorable or degenerate, proud or besotted, the valor of the Turk has remained forever constant, as if it were a natural characteristic shining apart, untouched by the other characteristics of the man or the nation. I can not find an instance in which Turks showed the white feather. I intensely admire their high courage, and I hope to live to see the day when the Ottoman empire will be finally and completely swept out of existence.Means to Freedom, p.316-17
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2016 16:01:38 GMT -5
Robert E. Howard's views on the Turks and the Armenian Genocide from 'Gunfighters of the Wild East' by David A. Hardy.
In his essay, 'A Touch of Trivia,' Howard reflected his personal reactions to historical events. His judgement on the Turks was harsh:
'Say what you will, the wholesale massacre is never justifiable - I mean the slaughter of helpless people. Except in the following case: when a nation has over and over again proved itself to be absolutely without mercy, as in the case of the Turks with the Armenians, it is in my mind no crime but a duty of the nations to extirpate them, to destroy all men capable of bearing (arms) and to scatter the helpless people far and wide, not in barren exile to die, but to be absorbed by other races.'
The motif of building an empire on the slaughter of entire races would return in the last and most ferocious of the El Borak stories, 'Son of the White Wolf.'
El Borak and Other Desert Adventures, Del Rey, P.538
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Post by deuce on Sept 30, 2016 6:53:05 GMT -5
Thought I'd do my part. This is an early one to REH's good friend, Tevis:
Shades of Genghis Khan! Sword of Abd el Kader! Spears of Tamerlane! Give me a tribe of fast-riding, sword-wielding, Erlik-worshiping Mongols, and I'll make these hypocrites useful...
When a nation forgets her skill in war, when her religion becomes a mockery, when the whole nation becomes a nation of money-grabbers, then the wild tribes, the barbarians drive in.
England had her Norsemen, her Scots, her Normans. Israel had her Philistines, her Ammonites, Assyrians, her Babylonians.
Egypt had her Hyksos, her Ethiopians. France had her Prussians. Persia had her Greeks, her Parthians. Russia had her Japan. Spain had her Moors, her England.
Who will our invaders be? From whence will they come? Where but from Asia? Can a nation ally the Tartars, the Mongols, the Indians; the tribes of Asia? Buddhist, Bonist, Brahmin, Erlikist, Mohammadan? Unite them and hurl their united strength against the rest of the world? Such a nation would rule the world. -- Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, 30th July, 1923
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