"Sadastor" is a

weird fiction Weird fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction originating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Weird fiction either eschews or radically reinterprets traditional antagonists of supernatural horror fiction, such as ghosts, vampires, ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

by American writer

Clark Ashton Smith Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893 – August 14, 1961) was an influential American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction stories and poetry, and an artist. He achieved early recognition in California (largely through the enthusiasm ...

, first published in July 1930,Sadastor in the Bibliography of Clark Ashton Smith
/ref> in the magazine''

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, printe ...

''.

Plot summary

An example of a narrative within a narrative, the

frame story A frame story (also known as a frame tale, frame narrative, sandwich narrative, or intercalation) is a literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either fo ...

begins in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

when the "sphinx was young," with an (unnamed)

lamia Lamia (; ), in ancient Greek mythology, was a child-eating monster and, in later tradition, was regarded as a type of night-haunting spirit or "daimon". In the earliest myths, Lamia was a beautiful queen of ancient Libya who had an affair with ...

sitting upon a ridge near the

Nile River The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the longest river i ...

, who, due to her infamy, has been unable to procure a lover for a fortnight. Charnadis, a demon speaking with the lamia, provides the narrative for the further story, told to brighten the lamia's day. In his youth, Charnadis was accustomed to use his wings to travel through space and explore remote and distant places. One day, traveling through a particularly remote and distant galaxy, Charnadis encounters a grey, desert planet orbiting a dying sun: the world of Sadastor. Flying over its equator, Charnadis finds a deep gorge in the former ocean beds and comes eventually nigh to a tiny, green pool, the last of the oceans. About to leave, a voice calls to him, asking him why he is there, and then relating its tale: it is a Siren, called Lyspial, the last of her kind on their world. After recounting her memories of Sadastor in its earlier days, when the seas were nearly boundless and she could easily prey upon sailors, Charnadis offers her transport to another world. Sobbing, Lyspial explains that she, being born of the seas of Sadastor, is bound to them and must perish with them. The narrative ends with Charnadis chiding the lamia, and advising that she reflect on the siren's fate, which was infinitely worse than the Lamia's own present predicament.

References

Sources

* Definitive version.

External links

(Online Copy) * 1930 short stories Fantasy short stories Short stories by Clark Ashton Smith Works originally published in Weird Tales Frame stories Lamia Short stories set in Egypt Sirens (mythology) {{1930s-fantasy-story-stub