The Hyborian Age | Page 6

civilization, but they
had always fiercely resisted that contact. That is to say, they had
learned to work crudely in copper and tin, which were found scantily in
their country, and for which latter metal they raided into the mountains
of Zingara, or traded hides, whale's teeth, walrus tusks and such few
things as savages have to trade. They no longer lived in caves and
tree-shelters, but built tents of hides, and crude huts, copied from those
of the Bossonians. They still lived mainly by the chase, since their
wilds swarmed with game of all sorts, and the rivers and sea with fish,
but they had learned how to plant grain, which they did sketchily,
preferring to steal it from their neighbors the Bossonians and Zingarans.
They dwelt in clans which were generally at feud with each other, and
their simple customs were blood-thirsty and utterly inexplicable to a
civilized man, such as Arus of Nemedia. They had no direct contact
with the Hyborians, since the Bossonians acted as a buffer between
them. But Arus maintained that they were capable of progress, and
events proved the truth of his assertion-- though scarcely in the way he
meant.
Arus was fortunate in being thrown in with a chief of more than usual
intelligence--Gorm by name. Gorm cannot be explained, any more than
Genghis Khan, Othman, Attila, or any of those individuals, who, born
in naked lands among untutored barbarians, yet possess the instinct for
conquest and empire-building. In a sort of bastard-Bossonian, the priest
made the chief understand his purpose, and though extremely puzzled,
Gorm gave him permission to remain among his tribe unbutch- ered--a
case unique in the history of the race. Having learned the language
Arus set himself to work to eliminate the more unpleasant phases of
Pictish life--such as human sacrifice, blood-feud, and the burning alive
of captives. He harangued Gorm at length, whom he found to be an
interested, if unresponsive listener. Imagination reconstructs the
scene--the black-haired chief, in his tiger-skins and necklace of human
teeth, squatting on the dirt floor of the wattle hut, listening intently to

the eloquence of the priest, who probably sat on a carven, skin-covered
block of mahogany provided in his honor--clad in the silken robes of a
Nemedian priest, gesturing with his slender white hands as he
expounded the eternal rights and justices which were the truths of Mitra.
Doubtless he pointed with repugnance at the rows of skulls which
adorned the walls of the hut and urged Gorm to forgive his enemies
instead of putting their bleached remnants to such use. Arus was the
highest product of an innately artistic race, refined by centuries of
civilization; Gorm had behind him a heritage of a hundred thousand
years of screaming savagery--the pad of the tiger was in his stealthy
step, the grip of the gorilla in his black-nailed hands, the fire that burns
in a leopard's eyes burned in his.
Arus was a practical man. He appealed to the savage's sense of material
gain; he pointed out the power and splendor of the Hyborian kingdoms,
as an example of the power of Mitra, whose teachings and works had
lifted them up to their high places. And he spoke of cities, and fertile
plains, marble walls and iron chariots, jeweled towers, and horsemen in
their glittering armor riding to battle. And Gorm, with the unerring
instinct of the barbarian, passed over his words regarding gods and
their teachings, and fixed on the material powers thus vividly described.
There in that mud-floored wattle hut, with the silk-robed priest on the
mahogany block, and the dark-skinned chief crouching in his
tiger-hides, was laid the foundations of empire.
As has been said, Arus was a practical man. He dwelt among the Picts
and found much that an intelligent man could do to aid humanity, even
when that humanity was cloaked in tiger-skins and wore necklaces of
human teeth. Like all priests of Mitra, he was instructed in many things.
He found that there were vast deposits of iron ore in the Pictish hills,
and he taught the natives to mine, smelt and work it into
implements--agricultural implements, as he fondly believed. He
instituted other reforms, but these were the most important things he
did: he instilled in Gorm a desire to see the civilized lands of the world;
he taught the Picts how to work in iron; and he established contact
between them and the civilized world. At the chiefs request he
conducted him and some of his warriors through the Bossonian

marches, where the honest villagers stared in amazement, into the
glittering outer world.
Arus no doubt thought that he was making converts right and left,
because the Picts listened to him, and refrained from smiting him with
their copper axes. But the Pict was little