The Treasure of Tranicos
| "The Black Stranger" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Robert E. Howard |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Conan the Barbarian |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| Published in | Fantasy Magazine |
| Publication type | Magazine |
| Media type | Print (Magazine) |
| Publication date | 1953 |
"The Black Stranger" is one of the stories by Robert E. Howard about Conan the Cimmerian. It was written in the 1930s but not published in his lifetime. When the original Conan version of the story failed to find a publisher, Howard rewrote "The Black Stranger" into a piratical Terence Vulmea story entitled "Swords of the Red Brotherhood."
The original version of the story was later rewritten by L. Sprague de Camp into a different Conan story and published in Fantasy Magazine in February 1953. It was retitled "The Treasure of Tranicos" for book publication later the same year. Its first hardbound publication was in King Conan by Gnome Press, and its first paperback publication was in Conan the Usurper published by Lancer Books in 1967. It was republished together with an introduction and two non-fiction pieces on the story and on Howard by de Camp with illustrations by Esteban Maroto as The Treasure of Tranicos by Ace Books in 1980.
Howard's original version of the story was first published in 1987 in Echoes of Valor and more recently in the collections The Conan Chronicles Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon (Gollancz, 2001) and Conan of Cimmeria: Volume Three (1935-1936) (Del Rey Books, 2005).
The story finds Conan in the Pictish Wilderness, fleeing native warriors who are hunting him. To escape his pursuers, Conan scales a crag of rock, whereupon he sees the Picts inexplicably abandon the chase and turn back. He realizes the spot must be a taboo place to the Picts. The hill turns out to hold a treasure cave along with the preserved bodies of the pirate captain Tranicos and his men. Conan's attempt to remove the treasure proves futile; a demon of mist forms and attempts to strangle him. He barely escapes with his life, leaving the treasure undisturbed.
...
Wikipedia