| 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 |
| 1 | 50 | 99 | 149 | 198 |
|
www.freeclassicebooks.com
The girl shrank from him. "You promised to tell me the origin of the rykor," she
reminded him.
"Ages ago," he commenced, "our bodies were larger and our heads smaller. Our
legs were very weak and we could not travel fast or far. There was a stupid
creature that went upon four legs. It lived in a hole in the ground, to which it
brought its food, so we ran our burrows into this hole and ate the food it brought;
but it did not bring enough for all--for itself and all the kaldanes that lived upon
it, so we had also to go abroad and get food. This was hard work for our weak
legs. Then it was that we commenced to ride upon the backs of these primitive
rykors. It took many ages, undoubtedly, but at last came the time when the
kaldane had found means to guide the rykor, until presently the latter depended
entirely upon the superior brain of his master to guide him to food. The brain of
the rykor grew smaller as time went on. His ears went and his eyes, for he no
longer had use for them--the kaldane saw and heard for him. By similar steps the
rykor came to go upon its hind feet that the kaldane might be able to see farther.
As the brain shrank, so did the head. The mouth was the only feature of the head
that was used and so the mouth alone remains. Members of the red race fell into
the hands of our ancestors from time to time. They saw the beauties and the
advantages of the form that nature had given the red race over that which the
rykor was developing into. By intelligent crossing the present rykor was achieved.
He is really solely the product of the super-intelligence of the kaldane--he is our
body, to do with as we see fit, just as you do what you see fit with your body, only
we have the advantage of possessing an unlimited supply of bodies. Do you not
wish that you were a kaldane?"
For how long they kept her in the subterranean chamber Tara of Helium did not
know. It seemed a very long time. She ate and slept and watched the interminable
lines of creatures that passed the entrance to her prison. There was a laden line
passing from above carrying food, food, food. In the other line they returned
empty handed. When she saw them she knew that it was daylight above. When
they did not pass she knew it was night, and that the banths were about
devouring the rykors that had been abandoned in the fields the previous day. She
commenced to grow pale and thin. She did not like the food they gave her--it was
not suited to her kind--nor would she have eaten overmuch palatable food, for the
fear of becoming fat. The idea of plumpness had a new significance here--a
horrible significance.
Ghek noted that she was growing thin and white. He spoke to her about it and
she told him that she could not thrive thus beneath the ground--that she must
have fresh air and sunshine, or she would wither and die. Evidently he carried
her words to Luud, since it was not long after that he told her that the king had
4
9
Page
Quick Jump
|