"The Children of the Night" is a

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

short story by

Robert E. Howard Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906June 11, 1936) was an American writer. He wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subge ...

, belonging to the

Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an ...

. It was first published in the

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

'' Weird Tales'' in the April/May 1931 issue. Howard earned $60 () for this publication.REHupa
, retrieved 20 August 2007

Plot

The story starts with six people sitting in John Conrad's study: Conrad himself, Clemants, Professor Kirowan, Taverel, Ketrick and the narrator John O'Donnel. O'Donnel describes them all as

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

with the exception of Ketrick. Ketrick, although he possesses a documented pure Anglo-Saxon lineage, appears to have slightly Mongolian-looking eyes and an odd lisp that O'Donnel finds distasteful. Initially the group discusses anthropology but begin to talk about Conrad's collection of books, which includes a copy of Von Junzt's ''

Nameless Cults ''Unaussprechlichen Kulten'' (also known as ''Nameless Cults'' or the ''Black Book'') is a fictional book of arcane literature in the Cthulhu Mythos. The book first appeared in Robert E. Howard's 1931 short stories "The Children of the Night" ...

''. This brings Clemants to discuss the Cult of Bran, mentioned in ''Nameless Cults'' and by his former University roommate in his sleep. The cult worships the Dark Man, an ancient king of the Picts called

Bran Mak Morn Bran Mak Morn is a hero of five pulp fiction short stories by Robert E. Howard. In the stories, most of which were first published in ''Weird Tales'', Bran is the last king of Howard's romanticized version of the tribal race of Picts.Rusty Burke ...

. The others are skeptical but Conrad brings up a flint mallet found recently in the

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

hills which is "obviously of no ordinary Neolithic make" - it is too small but still heavy, with odd shape and balance. While others handle the mallet, Ketrick accidentally strikes O'Donnel on the head and knocks him unconscious. O'Donnel finds himself in earlier incarnation, when his name was Aryara and he was a member of the Sword People, one of the

Aryan Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...

tribes involved in conquering Britain from the Picts. Still around are the "Children of the Night", snake-like people from whom the Picts conquered the land earlier and whom the Aryans consider vermin. O'Donnel/Aryara wakes up at a critical moment, in a forest wearing deer skins and seeing five mutilated bodies lying on the ground - and realizing to his horror that these were his companions in hunting party, whose sleep he was supposed to safeguard. But he fell asleep himself, enabling the "Children of the Night" to sneak up and kill his friends in their sleep. Such a stain on his honour could never be removed - Aryara can never return to his people and admit his failure. The only thing left to him is to take revenge on the "Children of the Night", as much as he could. This he proceeds to do - first making a berserk attack on the "Children" who had killed his friends, then follows a trail back to their village where he again attacks and kills many more until being overwhelmed and killed. O'Donnel wakes up again back in Conrad's study but still remembering his life as Aryara. On seeing Ketrick he becomes enraged, believing him to be a descendant of the Children of the Night. The others restrain him and think he has gone mad with exclamations such as "You fools, he is marked with the brand of the beast--the reptile--the vermin we exterminated centuries ago! I must crush him, stamp him out, rid the clean earth of his accursed pollution!" Ketrick leaves, but O'Donnel swears to hunt him down and kill him while, as is his habit, he is walking the moors alone at night, even if he will be hanged for it.

The Children of the Night

As Aryara, O'Donnel describes the Children of the Night as: They are frequently described as snakes or having snake-like qualities. The Aryan legends say that the Children—none of the Aryans know what they call themselves—used to own the land in an ancient "outworn age" until they were hunted and driven underground by the Picts.

Links to other works of fiction

The story clearly links into the

. At one point, the character Tavrel notes Lovecraft's " Call of Cthulhu" as one of the "three master horror-tales" alongside Poe's " The Fall of the House of Usher" and Machen's "

Black Seal In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the surf ...

". He later mentions, however, the historical existence of cults dedicated to "nameless and ghastly gods and entities as

Cthulhu Cthulhu is a fictional cosmic entity created by writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was first introduced in his short story "The Call of Cthulhu", published by the American pulp magazine ''Weird Tales'' in 1928. Considered a Great Old One within the pan ...

, Yog Sothoth, Tsathoggua, Gol-goroth, and the like". The '' Necronomicon'' is mentioned as a real book — both Conrad and Kirowan have read the Latin version. ''

'' is obviously real to the characters, as it is shown on Conrad's bookshelf. The story is also clearly linked to other stories in the works of

and the cult of

The Dark Man ''The Dark Man'' may refer to: * ''The Dark Man'' (film), directed by Jeffrey Dell (1951) * ''The Dark Man'' (poem), by Stephen King * Randall Flagg Randall Flagg is a fictional character created by American author Stephen King, who has appear ...

are explicitly mentioned. The Children of the Night may, from their description, be the Serpent Men of the

Kull Kull may refer to: Arts * Kull of Atlantis, a fictional character created by Robert E. Howard ** ''Kull the Conqueror'', a 1997 fantasy action film based on Howard's character and starring Kevin Sorbo * King Kull (DC Comics), a Fawcett Comics and D ...

story "

The Shadow Kingdom "The Shadow Kingdom" is a fantasy short story by American writer Robert E. Howard, the first of his Kull stories, set in his fictional Thurian Age. It was first published in the pulp magazine ''Weird Tales'' in August 1929. The story introduces ...

", the "Worms" from the Bran story "

Worms of the Earth "Worms of the Earth" is a short story by American fantasy fiction writer Robert E. Howard. It was originally published in the magazine ''Weird Tales'' in November 1932, then again in 1975 in a collection of Howard's short stories, '' Worms of th ...

", or both. "

The Black Stone "The Black Stone" is a horror short story by American writer Robert E. Howard, first published in the November 1931 in literature, 1931 issue of ''Weird Tales''. The story introduces the mad poet Cthulhu Mythos biographies#Geoffrey, Justin, Justi ...

" refers to a community which existed in a remote mountain region of Hungary and which practiced sinister rites involving human-sacrifice, towards which the narrator expresses a revulsion similar to that expressed to the "Children of the Night" in the present story. These are mentioned as having been totally exterminated by the Ottoman armies in 1526, an act which the narrator completely condones and considers to have been justified and necessary.

References

External links

*
Full text at Australian Project Gutenberg
*Note: Wikisource has a page of this name but no text in relation to the story {{DEFAULTSORT:Children of the Night Short stories by Robert E. Howard 1931 short stories Fantasy short stories Cthulhu Mythos short stories Pulp stories Works originally published in Weird Tales Picts in fiction