Tarzan the Terrible
by
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Part 6 out of 6
sacrificial knife to Obergatz. "I am the Great God," cried the
German, "thus falleth the divine wrath upon all my enemies!" He
looked up at the sun and then raised the knife high above his head.
"Thus die the blasphemers of God!" he screamed, and at the same
instant a sharp staccato note rang out above the silent, spell-bound
multitude. There was a screaming whistle in the air and Jad-ben-Otho
crumpled forward across the body of his intended victim. Again the
same alarming noise and Lu-don fell, a third and Mo-sar crumpled
to the ground. And now the warriors and the people, locating the
direction of this new and unknown sound turned toward the western
end of the court.
Upon the summit of the temple wall they saw two figures--a Ho-don
warrior and beside him an almost naked creature of the race
of Tarzan-jad-guru, across his shoulders and about his hips were
strange broad belts studded with beautiful cylinders that glinted
in the mid-day sun, and in his hands a shining thing of wood and
metal from the end of which rose a thin wreath of blue-gray smoke.
And then the voice of the Ho-don warrior rang clear upon the ears of
the silent throng. "Thus speaks the true Jad-ben-Otho," he cried,
"through this his Messenger of Death. Cut the bonds of the prisoners.
Cut the bonds of the Dor-ul-Otho and of Ja-don, King of Pal-ul-don,
and of the woman who is the mate of the son of god."
Pan-sat, filled with the frenzy of fanaticism saw the power and
the glory of the regime he had served crumpled and gone. To one
and only one did he attribute the blame for the disaster that had
but just overwhelmed him. It was the creature who lay upon the
sacrificial altar who had brought Lu-don to his death and toppled
the dreams of power that day by day had been growing in the brain
of the under priest.
The sacrificial knife lay upon the altar where it had fallen from
the dead fingers of Obergatz. Pan-sat crept closer and then with
a sudden lunge he reached forth to seize the handle of the blade,
and even as his clutching fingers were poised above it, the strange
thing in the hands of the strange creature upon the temple wall
cried out its crashing word of doom and Pan-sat the under priest,
screaming, fell back upon the dead body of his master.
"Seize all the priests," cried Ta-den to the warriors, "and let
none hesitate lest Jad-ben-Otho's messenger send forth still other
bolts of lightning."
The warriors and the people had now witnessed such an exhibition
of divine power as might have convinced an even less superstitious
and more enlightened people, and since many of them had but lately
wavered between the Jad-ben-Otho of Lu-don and the Dor-ul-Otho of
Ja-don it was not difficult for them to swing quickly back to the
latter, especially in view of the unanswerable argument in the hands
of him whom Ta-den had described as the Messenger of the Great God.
And so the warriors sprang forward now with alacrity and surrounded
the priests, and when they looked again at the western wall of the
temple court they saw pouring over it a great force of warriors.
And the thing that startled and appalled them was the fact that
many of these were black and hairy Waz-don.
At their head came the stranger with the shiny weapon and on his
right was Ta-den, the Ho-don, and on his left Om-at, the black gund
of Kor-ul-ja.
A warrior near the altar had seized the sacrificial knife and cut
Tarzan's bonds and also those of Ja-don and Jane Clayton, and now
the three stood together beside the altar and as the newcomers
from the western end of the temple court pushed their way toward
them the eyes of the woman went wide in mingled astonishment,
incredulity, and hope. And the stranger, slinging his weapon across
his back by a leather strap, rushed forward and took her in his
arms.
"Jack!" she cried, sobbing on his shoulder. "Jack, my son!"
And Tarzan of the Apes came then and put his arms around them both,
and the King of Pal-ul-don and the warriors and the people kneeled
in the temple court and placed their foreheads to the ground before
the altar where the three stood.
25
Home
Within an hour of the fall of Lu-don and Mo-sar, the chiefs and
principal warriors of Pal-ul-don gathered in the great throneroom
of the palace at A-lur upon the steps of the lofty pyramid and
placing Ja-don at the apex proclaimed him king. Upon one side of the
old chieftain stood Tarzan of the Apes, and upon the other Korak,
the Killer, worthy son of the mighty ape-man.
And when the brief ceremony was over and the warriors with upraised
clubs had sworn fealty to their new ruler, Ja-don dispatched
a trusted company to fetch O-lo-a and Pan-at-lee and the women of
his own household from Ja-lur.
And then the warriors discussed the future of Pal-ul-don and the
question arose as to the administration of the temples and the fate
of the priests, who practically without exception had been disloyal
to the government of the king, seeking always only their own power
and comfort and aggrandizement. And then it was that Ja-don turned
to Tarzan. "Let the Dor-ul-Otho transmit to his people the wishes
of his father," he said.
"Your problem is a simple one," said the ape-man, "if you but wish
to do that which shall be pleasing in the eyes of God. Your priests,
to increase their power, have taught you that Jad-ben-Otho is a
cruel god, that his eyes love to dwell upon blood and upon suffering.
But the falsity of their teachings has been demonstrated to you
today in the utter defeat of the priesthood.
"Take then the temples from the men and give them instead to the
women that they may be administered in kindness and charity and
love. Wash the blood from your eastern altar and drain forever the
water from the western.
"Once I gave Lu-don the opportunity to do these things but he
ignored my commands, and again is the corridor of sacrifice filled
with its victims. Liberate these from every temple in Pal-ul-don.
Bring offerings of such gifts as your people like and place them
upon the altars of your god. And there he will bless them and the
priestesses of Jad-ben-Otho can distribute them among those who
need them most."
As he ceased speaking a murmur of evident approval ran through the
throng. Long had they been weary of the avarice and cruelty of the
priests and now that authority had come from a high source with
a feasible plan for ridding themselves of the old religious order
without necessitating any change in the faith of the people they
welcomed it.
"And the priests," cried one. "We shall put them to death upon
their own altars if it pleases the Dor-ul-Otho to give the word."
"No," cried Tarzan. "Let no more blood be spilled. Give them their
freedom and the right to take up such occupations as they choose."
That night a great feast was spread in the pal-e-don-so and for
the first time in the history of ancient Pal-ul-don black warriors
sat in peace and friendship with white. And a pact was sealed
between Ja-don and Om-at that would ever make his tribe and the
Ho-don allies and friends.
It was here that Tarzan learned the cause of Ta-den's failure to
attack at the stipulated time. A messenger had come from Ja-don
carrying instructions to delay the attack until noon, nor had they
discovered until almost too late that the messenger was a disguised
priest of Lu-don. And they had put him to death and scaled the
walls and come to the inner temple court with not a moment to spare.
The following day O-lo-a and Pan-at-lee and the women of Ja-don's
family arrived at the palace at A-lur and in the great throneroom
Ta-den and O-lo-a were wed, and Om-at and Pan-at-lee.
For a week Tarzan and Jane and Korak remained the guests of Ja-don,
as did Om-at and his black warriors. And then the ape-man announced
that he would depart from Pal-ul-don. Hazy in the minds of their
hosts was the location of heaven and equally so the means by which
the gods traveled between their celestial homes and the haunts
of men and so no questionings arose when it was found that the
Dor-ul-Otho with his mate and son would travel overland across the
mountains and out of Pal-ul-don toward the north.
They went by way of the Kor-ul-ja accompanied by the warriors of
that tribe and a great contingent of Ho-don warriors under Ta-den.
The king and many warriors and a multitude of people accompanied
them beyond the limits of A-lur and after they had bid them good-bye
and Tarzan had invoked the blessings of God upon them the three
Europeans saw their simple, loyal friends prostrate in the dust
behind them until the cavalcade had wound out of the city and
disappeared among the trees of the nearby forest.
They rested for a day among the Kor-ul-ja while Jane investigated
the ancient caves of these strange people and then they moved on,
avoiding the rugged shoulder of Pastar-ul-ved and winding down the
opposite slope toward the great morass. They moved in comfort and
in safety, surrounded by their escort of Ho-don and Waz-don.
In the minds of many there was doubtless a question as to how
the three would cross the great morass but least of all was Tarzan
worried by the problem. In the course of his life he had been
confronted by many obstacles only to learn that he who will may
always pass. In his mind lurked an easy solution of the passage
but it was one which depended wholly upon chance.
It was the morning of the last day that, as they were breaking camp
to take up the march, a deep bellow thundered from a nearby grove.
The ape-man smiled. The chance had come. Fittingly then would
the Dor-ul-Otho and his mate and their son depart from unmapped
Pal-ul-don.
He still carried the spear that Jane had made, which he had prized
so highly because it was her handiwork that he had caused a search
to be made for it through the temple in A-lur after his release,
and it had been found and brought to him. He had told her laughingly
that it should have the place of honor above their hearth as the
ancient flintlock of her Puritan grandsire had held a similar place
of honor above the fireplace of Professor Porter, her father.
At the sound of the bellowing the Ho-don warriors, some of whom had
accompanied Tarzan from Ja-don's camp to Ja-lur, looked questioningly
at the ape-man while Om-at's Waz-don looked for trees, since the
gryf was the one creature of Pal-ul-don which might not be safely
encountered even by a great multitude of warriors. Its tough,
armored hide was impregnable to their knife thrusts while their
thrown clubs rattled from it as futilely as if hurled at the rocky
shoulder of Pastar-ul-ved.
"Wait," said the ape-man, and with his spear in hand he advanced
toward the gryf, voicing the weird cry of the Tor-o-don. The
bellowing ceased and turned to low rumblings and presently the huge
beast appeared. What followed was but a repetition of the ape-man's
previous experience with these huge and ferocious creatures.
And so it was that Jane and Korak and Tarzan rode through the morass
that hems Pa-ul-don, upon the back of a prehistoric triceratops
while the lesser reptiles of the swamp fled hissing in terror. Upon
the opposite shore they turned and called back their farewells to
Ta-den and Om-at and the brave warriors they had learned to admire
and respect. And then Tarzan urged their titanic mount onward
toward the north, abandoning him only when he was assured that the
Waz-don and the Ho-don had had time to reach a point of comparative
safety among the craggy ravines of the foothills.
Turning the beast's head again toward Pal-ul-don the three dismounted
and a sharp blow upon the thick hide sent the creature lumbering
majestically back in the direction of its native haunts. For a time
they stood looking back upon the land they had just quit--the land
of Tor-o-don and gryf; of ja and jato; of Waz-don and Ho-don; a
primitive land of terror and sudden death and peace and beauty; a
land that they all had learned to love.
And then they turned once more toward the north and with light
hearts and brave hearts took up their long journey toward the land
that is best of all--home.
Glossary
From conversations with Lord Greystoke and from his notes, there
have been gleaned a number of interesting items relative to the
language and customs of the inhabitants of Pal-ul-don that are not
brought out in the story. For the benefit of those who may care
to delve into the derivation of the proper names used in the text,
and thus obtain some slight insight into the language of the race,
there is appended an incomplete glossary taken from some of Lord
Greystoke's notes.
A point of particular interest hinges upon the fact that the names
of all male hairless pithecanthropi begin with a consonant, have
an even number of syllables, and end with a consonant, while the
names of the females of the same species begin with a vowel, have
an odd number of syllables, and end with a vowel. On the contrary,
the names of the male hairy black pithecanthropi while having an
even number of syllables begin with a vowel and end with a consonant;
while the females of this species have an odd number of syllables
in their names which begin always with a consonant and end with a
vowel.
A. Light.
ab. Boy.
Ab-on. Acting gund of Kor-ul-ja.
Ad. Three.
Adad. Six.
Adadad. Nine.
Adaden. Seven.
Aden. Four.
Adenaden. Eight.
Adenen. Five.
A-lur. City of light.
An. Spear.
An-un. Father of Pan-at-lee.
As. The sun.
At. Tail.
Bal. Gold or golden.
Bar. Battle.
Ben. Great.
Bu. Moon.
Bu-lot (moon face). Son of chief Mo-sar.
Bu-lur (moon city). The city of the Waz-ho-don.
Dak. Fat.
Dak-at (fat tail). Chief of a Ho-don village.
Dak-lot. One of Ko-tan's palace warriors.
Dan. Rock.
Den. Tree.
Don. Man.
Dor. Son.
Dor-ul-Otho
(son of god). Tarzan.
E. Where.
Ed. Seventy.
El. Grace or graceful.
En. One.
Enen. Two.
Es. Rough.
Es-sat (rough skin). Chief of Om-at's tribe of hairy blacks.
Et. Eighty.
Fur. Thirty.
Ged. Forty.
Go. Clear.
Gryf. "Triceratops. A genus of huge
herbivorous dinosaurs of the group
Ceratopsia. The skull had two large
horns above the eyes, a median
horn on the nose, a horny beak, and a
great bony hood or transverse crest over
the neck. Their toes, five in front and
three behind, were provided with hoofs,
and the tail was large and strong."
Webster's Dict. The gryf of Pal-ul-don
is similar except that it is
omnivorous, has strong, powerfully
armed jaws and talons instead of hoofs.
Coloration: face yellow with blue bands
encircling the eyes; hood red on top,
yellow underneath; belly yellow; body a
dirty slate blue; legs same. Bony
protuberances yellow except along the
spine--these are red. Tail conforms with
body and belly. Horns, ivory.
Gund. Chief.
Guru. Terrible.
Het. Fifty.
Ho. White.
Ho-don. The hairless white men of Pal-ul-don.
Id. Silver.
Id-an. One of Pan-at-lee's two brothers.
In. Dark.
In-sad. Kor-ul-ja warrior accompanying Tarzan, Om-at,
and Ta-den in search of Pan-at-lee.
In-tan. Kor-ul-lul left to guard Tarzan
Ja. Lion.
Jad. The
Jad-bal-lul. The golden lake.
Jad-ben-lul. The big lake.
Jad-ben-Otho. The Great God.
Jad-guru-don. The terrible man.
Jad-in-lul. The dark lake.
Ja-don (the lion-man). Chief of a Ho-don village and father of Ta-den.
Jad Pele ul
Jad-ben-Otho. The valley of the Great God.
Ja-lur (lion city). Ja-don's capital.
Jar. Strange.
Jar-don. Name given Korak by Om-at.
Jato. Saber-tooth hybrid.
Ko. Mighty.
Kor. Gorge.
Kor-ul-gryf. Gorge of the gryf.
Kor-ul-ja. Name of Es-sat's gorge and tribe.
Kor-ul-lul. Name of another Waz-don gorge and tribe.
Ko-tan. King of the Ho-don.
Lav. Run or running.
Lee. Doe.
Lo. Star.
Lot. Face.
Lu. Fierce.
Lu-don (fierce man). High priest of A-lur.
Lul. Water.
Lur. City.
Ma. Child.
Mo. Short.
Mo-sar (short nose). Chief and pretender.
Mu. Strong.
No. Brook.
O. Like or similar.
Od. Ninety.
O-dan. Kor-ul-ja warrior accompanying Tarzan, Om-at,
and Ta-den in search of Pan-at-lee.
Og. Sixty.
O-lo-a
(like-star-light). Ko-tan's daughter
Om. Long.
Om-at (long tail). A black.
On. Ten.
Otho. God.
Pal. Place; land; country.
Pal-e-don-so
(place where men eat). Banquet hall.
Pal-ul-don
(land of man). Name of the country.
Pal-ul-ja. Place of lions.
Pan. Soft.
Pan-at-lee. Om-at's sweetheart.
Pan-sat (soft skin). A priest.
Pastar. Father.
Pastar-ul-ved. Father of Mountains.
Pele. Valley.
Ro. Flower.
Sad. Forest.
San. One hundred
Sar. Nose.
Sat. Skin.
So. Eat.
Sod. Eaten.
Sog. Eating.
Son. Ate.
Ta. Tall.
Ta-den (tall tree). A white.
Tan. Warrior.
Tarzan-jad-guru. Tarzan the Terrible.
To. Purple.
Ton. Twenty.
Tor. Beast.
Tor-o-don. Beastlike man.
Tu. Bright.
Tu-lur (bright city). Mo-sar's city.
Ul. Of.
Un. Eye.
Ut. Corn.
Ved. Mountain
Waz. Black.
Waz-don. The hairy black men of Pal-ul-don.
Waz-ho-don
(black white men). A mixed race
Xot. One thousand.
Yo. Friend.
Za. Girl.
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