"The Black Stone" | |
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Author | Robert E. Howard |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | Cthulhu Mythos |
Genre(s) | Lovecraftian horror |
Published in | Weird Tales |
Publication type | Periodical |
Media type | Pulp magazine |
Publication date | November 1931 |
"The Black Stone" is a classic short story by Robert E. Howard, first published in the November 1931 issue of Weird Tales. The story introduces the mad poet Justin Geoffrey and the fictitious Unaussprechlichen Kulten by Friedrich von Junzt.
Among Howard's stories that can be considered part of the Cthulhu Mythos — this one is no exception — it is written as a mythos story rather than as simply a tale compatible with the Lovecraftian universe. It follows the same pattern and has the same features as H. P. Lovecraft's classic work, and it is an obvious wink to Howard's friend and mentor, Lovecraft himself.
And the thought recurs to me--if such a monstrous entity as the Master of the Monolith somehow survived its own unspeakably distant epoch so long--what nameless shapes may even now lurk in the dark places of the world?
The story opens with an unnamed narrator being gripped with curiosity by a brief reference to the Black Stone in the book Nameless Cults, aka The Black Book, by Friedrich von Junzt. He researches the artifact but finds little further information. The ancient (though its age is debated) monolith stands near to the village of Stregoicavar ("meaning something like Witch-Town") in the mountains of Hungary. There are many superstitions surrounding it, for instance anyone who sleeps nearby will suffer nightmares for the rest of their life and anyone who visits the stone on Midsummer Night will go insane and die. Though the Monolith is hated and disliked by all in the village, it is said by the Innskeeper that "Any man who lay hammer or maul to it die evilly", so that all of the villagers simply shun the stone.
The narrator decides to travel to Stregoicavar on vacation. Along the way he hears of the local history and sees the site of an old battlefield, where Count Boris Vladinoff fought the invading Suleiman the Magnificent in 1526. Local stories say that Vladinoff took shelter in a ruined castle and was brought a lacquered case that had been found near the body of Selim Bahadur, "the famous Turkish scribe and historian", who had died in a recent battle. The unnamed contents scared the count but at that moment Turkish artillery collapsed the castle and killed the occupants.