"Bazaar of the Bizarre" is a

sword and sorcery Sword and sorcery (S&S) is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tale ...

novelette by American writer

Fritz Leiber Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theater and films, playwright, and chess expert. With writers such as Robert ...

and part of the canon of stories chronicling

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are two sword-and-sorcery heroes appearing in stories written by American author Fritz Leiber. They are the protagonists of what are probably Leiber's best-known stories. One of his motives in writing them was to have ...

. First published in 1963 in ''

Fantastic The fantastic (french: le fantastique) is a subgenre of literary works characterized by the ambiguous presentation of seemingly supernatural forces. Bulgarian-French structuralist literary critic Tzvetan Todorov originated the concept, characte ...

'', it has been reprinted several times, including as a standalone edition. It also appears in the

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

'' The Spell of Seven'', edited by

L. Sprague de Camp Lyon Sprague de Camp (; November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and works of non-fiction, including biog ...

Plot

One night in

Lankhmar Lankhmar is a fictional city in the ''Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser'' stories by Fritz Leiber. It is situated on the world of Nehwon, just west of the Great Salt Marsh and east of the River Hlal, and serves as the home of Leiber's two antiheroes. ...

, the wizards

Ningauble of the Seven Eyes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are two sword-and-sorcery heroes appearing in stories written by American author Fritz Leiber. They are the protagonists of what are probably Leiber's best-known stories. One of his motives in writing them was to have ...

and

Sheelba of the Eyeless Face Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are two sword-and-sorcery heroes appearing in stories written by American author Fritz Leiber. They are the protagonists of what are probably Leiber's best-known stories. One of his motives in writing them was to have ...

join forces and summon Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser to carry out a mission. They are required to enter the Plaza of Dark Delights and obliterate an illegal

bazaar A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, suc ...

established there by the Devourers, alien merchants who magically mesmerize customers into buying high priced merchandise which is actually worthless junk. However, Mouser arrives before him and is enticed into the bazaar. Fafhrd, aided only by the Blindfold of True Seeing and Cloak of Invisibility, given to him by the wizards, must perform the mission alone. This he does, battling not only an entranced Mouser, but reanimated skeletons and living statues as well, against which his weapons are all but useless. Fortunately, he manages to escape and rescue Mouser, who's still mesmerized into believing that the junk he sees is actually valuable, including books of ancient spells.

References

External links

* 1963 short stories Fantasy short stories Short stories by Fritz Leiber Nehwon Novelettes Works originally published in Fantastic (magazine) {{1960s-fantasy-story-stub