The Tower of the Elephant
| "The Tower of the Elephant" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Robert E. Howard |
| Original title | "The Tower of the Elephant" |
| Country | US |
| Language | English |
| Series | Conan the Cimmerian |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| Published in | US |
| Publication type | Pulp |
| Publisher | Weird Tales |
| Publication date | 1933 |
"The Tower of the Elephant" is one of the original short stories starring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard. It is set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and concerns Conan infiltrating a perilous tower in order to steal a fabled gem from an evil sorcerer named Yara. Due to its unique insights into the Hyborian world and atypical science fiction elements, the story is considered a classic of Conan lore and is often cited by Howard scholars as one of his best tales.
The story is set in the Zamorian "thief city", called by some Arenjun, or the City of Thieves. Howard's original text never called the city Arenjun – this was added by L. Sprague de Camp in his own introduction to the story. Howard's only reference to the city was to call it the "thief city" in a letter to P. Schuyler Miller and John Drury Clark.
A young Conan is drinking in a rowdy tavern when he overhears a fat Kothic rogue describing a fabulous jewel called the "Heart of the Elephant." The jewel is kept in an eponymous tower by an evil sorcerer named Yara, of whom even the King of Zamora is afraid (he had transformed a Prince into a spider and then stepped on the spider). When Conan presses the rogue for more information, insults are traded and a fight ensues. As they begin to fight, a candle is knocked over by bewildered onlookers plunging the tavern into darkness. In the resulting confusion, Conan slays the Kothian and escapes into the nighted streets of the city. In this, Conan incidentally saves an aristocratic woman whom the Kothian intended to kidnap and sell into slavery.
After this tavern brawl, the Cimmerian sets out to steal the aforementioned jewel on a whim and encounters along the way Taurus of Nemedia, known as the "Prince of Thieves", who has similar designs. The two thieves agree to work together and, after battling lions in the tower gardens, scale the fabled spire. Upon reaching the top, Taurus is killed by the venomous bite of a gigantic spider that Conan in turn slays in a frenzied battle.
Conan's battle with the spider takes place in a hall full of untold wealth in gems; Conan uses one of the boxes full of gems as a weapon to kill the spider, but - focused on the one specific famous jewel he had come to steal - fails to grab any of these precious stones easily available for the taking. This means that in this night's work he would be a successful knight errant but a failed thief, and would get out of the tower empty-handed.
...
Wikipedia