Thursday, January 7, 2021

A Hunter Meets the Martichoras



Read "A Hunter Meets the Martichoras" at The Eldritch Dark:

http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/poetry/242/a-hunter-meets-the-martichoras

This haiku from Clark Ashton Smith features the legendary martichoras, better known in English as the manticore, a hideous beast combining aspects of a lion, a scorpion, and a human.  According to the relevant Wikipedia article:

It devours its prey whole, using its triple rows of teeth, leaving no traces of its victims (including bones) behind.

Ouch! In CAS' poem, the human protagonist has to face this monster with a "broken sword", so this encounter is probably not going to end well.  Such is the price of ambition and adventure.


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